Greenbelt

Laurel Woman Sentenced for Stealing Benefits Checks

A woman who pleaded guilty to cashing a friend's Social Security checks for 19 years after the friend died has been sentenced to a year in prison.

Fifty-nine-year-old Yolando Guerrero of Laurel was also ordered to pay more than $335,000 in restitution at sentencing Wednesday in federal court in Greenbelt.

According to her plea agreement, Guerrero lived with a woman whom she considered to be her adopted mother. Prosecutors said the woman died in 1994, but Guerrero did not report her death to Social Security officials.

Prosecutors said Guerrero cashed the checks and used the money for her own benefit.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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