Disabled veteran’s widow, 61, sentenced to 14 months in prison for stealing more than $100K in federal benefits by claiming she had a son
- Elizabeth Hayes Cox, 61, stole more than $68,000 in Social Security money
- She took another $44,000 from the Department of Veterans Affairs between 2000 and 2017 on behalf of a fictitious son
- Prosecutors said Wednesday that Cox had married a disabled veteran while he was in prison
- Cox then presented a fraudulent birth certificate to receive payments for their made-up dependent child named Oliver
- Attorney Kevin Marcilliat asked for a more lenient sentence so she could spend half the time with daughter Aimee Newman, a retired Army captain
Elizabeth Hayes Cox, 61, stole more than $68,000 in Social Security money and another $44,000 from the Department of Veterans Affairs between 2000 and 2017 on behalf of a fictitious son
A military widow has been sentenced to 14 months in prison for falsely claiming to have a son so she could collect more than $100,000 in veterans and Social Security benefits, federal prosecutors say.
Elizabeth Hayes Cox, 61, stole more than $68,000 in Social Security money and another $44,000 from the Department of Veterans Affairs between 2000 and 2017 on behalf of a fictitious son.
‘More than a decade ago,’ said Cox. ‘I made a bad decision on both a practical and moral level.’
Prosecutors said Wednesday that Cox had married a disabled veteran while he was in prison and presented a fraudulent birth certificate to receive payments for their made-up dependent child named Oliver.
Cox’s attorney, Kevin Marcilliat, asked for a more lenient sentence that would let Cox spend half the time at home with her daughter Aimee Newman, a retired Army captain.
He said that his client, who is using a walker while recovering from a hernia surgery, was receiving mental health treatment in Virginia. Maricilliat added that the VA had recovered $9,000 of the money as of 2017, the News & Observer reports.
But U.S. District Court Judge Terrence Boyle focused his questions on Cox’s relationship history, which includes a husband who was slain and a boyfriend lost to suicide.
Her husband, Randall Cox, was shot in the head at home in High Point in 2006, according to testimony. The case remains unsolved
Her husband, Randall Cox, was shot in the head at home in High Point in 2006, according to testimony. The case remains unsolved.
Cox said her boyfriend killed himself in the home they shared in 2014. Cox told Boyle she found him in the kitchen but did not know where he got the gun or what type he used.
Marcilliat filed a motion, last week, asking the court to consider the history of abuse that he described as ‘sobering history of victimization at the hands of nearly all the men in her early life, as well as her advance physical and mental ailments with which (Bureau of Prisons) would be ill-equipped to manage.’
Boyle ordered Cox to report to federal prison by the end of February and pay $113,000 restitution.