LAUDERDALE LAKES, Fla. – Terri Lynn Hankerson’s father collected tens of thousands of dollars worth of Social Security benefits from July 2016 to February 2020, according to federal authorities.
Problem is — he died in June 2016.
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Hankerson will spend time behind bars for knowingly taking the money and spending it on, among other things, family — and adult — entertainment, prosecutors said.
A federal judge sentenced the 59-year-old Lauderdale Lakes woman to five months imprisonment and five months of home confinement, prosecutors said Wednesday.
She will also have to pay restitution.
A jury had convicted Hankerson following a four-day trial in December.
Prosecutors alleged that Hankerson, who shared a joint retirement account with her father, never told the government or the bank that he had died, which meant the direct deposits kept coming.
It appears she lived the good life while it lasted: prosecutors said Hankerson spent the nearly $50,000 in benefits at concerts, a local strip club, Miami Heat games, Costco, hotels, bars and more.
Hankerson had been charged with theft of government funds, court documents stated.