Erie woman sentenced for stealing $128,000 in deceased dad's Social Security benefits

After her father died in December 2006, Erie resident Loraleigh Helen Barber said she became dependent on his Social Security disability insurance benefits because she needed extra income.

The dependency lasted for more than a decade.

Barber — who was her father's designated payee when he was alive — failed to report her father's death to the Social Security Administration.

She told investigators at one point that her father was visiting family in the Catskills.

Barber kept collecting the benefits for 12 years, until 2019. They totaled $127,636.

She must pay the money back and spend a year and day in federal prison and serve two years of supervised release.

U.S. District Judge Susan Paradise Baxter ordered the sentence on Wednesday in federal court in Erie for Barber, 52, who pleaded guilty in January to one felony count of theft of government property.

Barber wanted a sentence of probation, citing her lifelong struggles with mental health issues and substance abuse.

"I apologize for my actions," Barber told Baxter. "I fell on hard times financially and mentally and got dependent on it."

Baxter acknowledged Barber's problems, but said she also had to consider another aspect of the case — "the total loss amount, which was high."

Barber's maximum possible sentence was 10 years in federal prison, though she faced a sentence of a year and three months to a year and nine months under the recommended federal sentencing guidelines. The guidelines consider a defendant's guilty plea, prior record and other factors. Barber's prior record included a DUI from 2006, according to the defense's sentencing memorandum.

Barber's lawyer, Assistant Federal Public Defender Aaron Sontz, also asked for probation, referring to Barber's "personal history and characteristics," including "her non-violent nature," according to the sentencing memo. The prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Sellers, asked Baxter to order a sentence within the guideline range, arguing in court that such a penalty would "reflect the conduct."

By imposing a sentence of a year and a day rather than a year, Baxter made Barber eligible to get credit for good behavior while in prison and reduce her sentence.

A federal grand jury indicted Barber in September 2019 on the one count of theft of government property. The government accused Barber of taking the $127,636 between Jan. 1, 2007, and Aug. 2, 2019.

The Office of the Inspector General for the Social Security Administration investigated Barber as part of a routine audit, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Pittsburgh-based Western District of Pennsylvania, which includes Erie. Barber told an investigator her father was in the Catskills when he had really died 12 years earlier, Sellers said at Barber's plea hearing.

The same day Barber was indicted, the U.S. Attorney's Office said, four other people in the Western District were also indicted on charges they received Social Security benefits after the legal recipients had died. Barber was the only defendant from Erie.

In Barber's case, her father died on Dec. 27, 2006. They had been living together in her apartment, and she had supported him for years, according to Sontz's sentencing memo. Barber, according to the memo, told investigators "she had applied to serve as the representative payee for her father's SSA benefits because her father was an alcoholic."

After her father died, Barber "made the decision to continue to receive her father's benefits," according to the sentencing memo. It said Barber spent the money on rent and other living expenses.

"As time passed," according to the memo, "Ms. Barber grew accustomed to having the extra income, and much like a drug, she became dependent on it."

Contact Ed Palattella at epalattella@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNpalattella.