GUILTY NY - Peter Spino for pension fraud, Briarcliff Manor, 2012

'A man who cashed his dead father's retirement checks for nearly 30 years and pocketed roughly half a million dollars has been sentenced to a year of home confinement, followed by two years probation.'

He 'never told the U.S. Railroad Retirement Board to stop sending retirement payments to his father, who died in 1983, according to federal court records.'

Peter Spino, 78, has also had to pay full restitution and a $45,000 fine on top now. Feds caught up with him in 2012 when, after using up various excuses about where his father was, Spino eventually admitted he'd died. Defence asked for mitigation because Spino had lost three fingers in a work accident and also been badly burnt in a home fire.

However: 'Spino has a prior state conviction in 1984 for second-degree insurance fraud and was sentenced to five years probation in that case.'

http://www.wwltv.com/home/Man-cashed-272402771.html

Being that the son is 78 years old, I would imagine the father, if he were still alive, would be around 100 years old or more - and THAT is the huge red-flag that probably got the attention of the Railroad Retirement Board. All too often, criminals just don't use any common sense and that is how they are caught.

:doh: