by Mike Donoghue, Vermont News First

A Wolcott woman, who stole about $120,000 in Social Security benefits intended for her dead brother, was placed on federal probation Monday for two years.

Chief Federal Judge Christina Reiss said that Maryann Manning, 63, also must repay $119,978 to the Social Security Administration as part of her court sentence.

Manning pleaded guilty in June in U.S. District Court to a single felony charge of receiving stolen government money in Massachusetts and Vermont.

Manning’s brother had received disability insurance benefit payments from the Social Security Administration, and those checks should have ended when he died in October 2015, records show.

Court records show that Manning continued to fraudulently collect her brother’s SSA benefits by withdrawing money from his accounts until February 2024.

Manning admitted to investigators that she knew she stole the money that did not belong to her.

“She told law enforcement that she ‘saw an opportunity and took it’ and later added, ‘I knew this day would come,” court records note.

The federal sentencing guidelines, which are advisory, had recommended a prison term between 6 and 21 months.

Records show that the U.S. Attorney’s Office agreed in a plea bargain even before Manning was arraigned and a presentence investigation was completed that she should not go to prison for stealing the $120,000.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Zachary Stendig argued that the court in shaping the penalty needed to “promote respect for the law. The defendant’s sentence should deter potential theft from SSA and help instill public confidence in SSA …” he said in his sentencing memo.

Stendig said Social Security money should go to the needy. He said the SSA will provide financial assistance to almost 68 million elderly, widowed or disabled Americans in 2024.

Defense attorney Robert S. Behrens of Burlington proposed Manning be placed on probation for only one year. He said that would provide significant deterrence and acknowledge her cooperation.

Behrens asked the court to consider all the circumstances. He said that after her divorce in 2004, Manning moved into the family home with her mother, three children and her brother, the late George Velardi. Her lawyer said that she did not work but took care of the three children with help from her mother and brother.

Behrens said when her mother died in 2014 and her brother in October 2015, Manning fell on hard financial times. That is when she began to access her brother’s Social Security payments to try to keep the home afloat and the family together, he said.

“Unfortunately, even with the misappropriated funds, Ms. Manning was unable to keep the house and eventually moved to Vermont in 2018 with her family in search of a better life/financial situation.

Manning took full responsibility for the theft when confronted by investigators on Feb. 16 and has cooperated fully, Behrens noted.

He said she will make restitution based on her future earnings from Social Security.

Behrens reported that manning was crime-free and had a productive life until this incident.

She pleaded guilty to the felony theft charge on June 20 and was released without any active supervision order by the court.

As part of the plea agreement, the government also agreed not to file any additional criminal charges committed by Manning between 2015 and February 2024 in Vermont or Massachusetts.