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Sebastian woman sentenced to prison for taking dead mother’s military pension checks : T…¶
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Sebastian woman sentenced to prison for taking dead mother’s military pension checks¶
By Melissa E. Holsman¶
Monday, September 21, 2009¶
FORT PIERCE — A Sebastian woman who pleaded guilty to a criminal charge related to collecting her dead mother’s federal benefits for six years was ordered Monday to serve one year and one day in prison.¶
Penelope Jordan, 61, was arrested in late March by Sebastian police after they found the decaying body of her mother, Timmie Jordan, in a barricaded bedroom of their Wimbrow Drive home. Jordan told officials she kept the corpse there since her mother’s death in early 2003.¶
Jordan, who in June pleaded guilty to theft of public money or property, was also ordered by U.S. District Judge Donald Graham to pay $237,876 in restitution and serve three years of supervised release.¶
She had faced up to two years in prison on the charge.¶
The theft of public money charge refers to Jordan collecting military pension benefits being sent to her mother for Col. Ashford Travis “A.T.” Jordan, her mother’s late husband, after her mother’s death. Ashford Jordan was a World War II veteran and city clerk for Sebastian, records show.¶
Standing before Graham on Monday dressed in a long black skirt and a print top covered by an oversized blue windbreaker, Jordan apologized to the court and talked about the financial struggles she’d been facing prior to her arrest in March.¶
“I was trying to … keep a roof over my head and I take responsibility for what I did. It was wrong,” Jordan said in a low soft voice. “I’ve never had a whole lot but I do have faith in God and people.¶
Added Jordan: “I am asking for a second chance to do right.”¶
Her attorney, Assistant Federal Public Defender Panayotta Augustin-Birch, who characterized the unemployed Jordan as “very remorseful,” recommended she be punished with a term of home detention, followed by supervised release.¶
As part of a plea bargain, federal prosecutors dropped a charge of failure to disclose¶
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Sebastian woman sentenced to prison for taking dead mother’s military pension checks : T…¶
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an occurrence that would alter distribution of Social Security benefits, which could have added an additional five years in prison.¶
In announcing Jordan’s sentence, Graham noted the “conduct in this matter has some interesting and unusual facts surrounding the fraud that was perpetrated.”¶
“It’s apparent to the court,” he continued, “that the defendant has some issues, some social issues in this case.”¶
The court, Graham said, “does not believe the public will have a problem with future crimes from the defendant and a variance is warranted, but not what has been recommended by the defense.”¶
An animal control complaint about stray cats led police to Jordan’s home in late March, which is when they asked about the whereabouts of her mother. The city also cited Jordan for faulty wiring and large amounts of debris and animal waste at the home.¶
© 2009 Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers¶
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