United States Attorney’s Office Southern District of Florida¶
NEWS BRIEFING¶
To:¶
Acting United States Attorney¶
Acting First Assistant¶
Executive Assistant¶
Special Counsel¶
Acting Chief, Criminal Division¶
Deputy Chief, Criminal Division¶
Chief, Appellate Division¶
Chief, Asset Forfeiture Division¶
Chief, Civil Division¶
Acting Chief, PINS¶
Chief, Narcotics¶
Chief, Economic and Environmental Crimes Section¶
Chief, Major Crimes Section¶
Chief, Special Prosecutions¶
Acting Deputy Chief, Ft. Lauderdale¶
Deputy Chief, West Palm Beach¶
Deputy Chief, Ft. Pierce¶
From:¶
September 22, 2009¶
EFTA00189849¶
Southern District of Florida - Press Release¶
Page 1 of 1¶
The United States Attorney’s Office¶
Southern District of Florida¶
Press Release¶
SEBASTIAN WOMAN SENTENCED ON FRAUD CHARGES¶
September 21, 2009¶
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE¶
Jeffrey H. Sloman, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Guy P. Fallen, Special Agent in Charge, Social Security Administration, Office of Inspector General, and Amie R. Tanchak, Resident Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Department of Defense, Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS), announced that defendant Penelope Sharon Jordan, 61, of Sebastian, FL, was sentenced today on charges of theft of government funds, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 641. Jordan had pled guilty to this charge on June 22, 2009. U.S. District Judge Donald Graham sentenced Jordan to one year and one day in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. In addition, the Judge ordered that Jordan repay to the Government $237,876 in restitution for Social Security payments and military pension payments she had unlawfully received and kept.¶
According to an affidavit filed by a Sebastian Police Department detective in support of an application for a state court search warrant, Penelope Jordan lived in a Sebastian home owned by her mother. In late March 2009, the Sebastian Police Department obtained the defendant’s consent to look inside the home, where they found the dead body of her mother in a spare bedroom. The defendant told Sebastian Police that her mother had been dead for at least six years. Evidence presented during sentencing indicated that, in December 2001, Penelope Jordan had told her visiting sister that their mother had already died before that earlier date.¶
According to in-court statements during the plea, the defendant concealed the death of her mother and withheld reporting her death in order to continue receiving both her mother’s Social Security survivor’s benefit payments and her mother’s military pension survivor’s benefit payments. From January 2003 through March 2009, the defendant received approximately $61,415 in Social Security payments, plus $176,461 of military pension benefits, to which she was not entitled.¶
Mr. Sloman commended the investigative efforts of the Social Security Administration-Office of Inspector General, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS), the efforts of City of Sebastian animal control and building code officers, and the Sebastian Police Department. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Theodore Cooperstein.¶
A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.¶
Technical comments about this website can be e-mailed to the Webmaster. PLEASE NOTE: The United States Attorney’s Office does not respond to non-technical inquiries made to this website. If you wish to make a request for information, you may contact our office at 305-961-9001, or you may send a written inquiry to the United States Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Florida, 99 NE 4th Street, Miami, FL. 33132.¶
http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls/PressReleases/090921-01.html¶
9/22/2009¶