SNELLVILLE, Ga. — An 87-year-old Gwinnett County woman and her husband have been arrested in a case of identity theft, accused of pocketing more than $1 million in her deceased mother’s pension payments for over a decade, according to arrest warrants.
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Mary Ann Arceneaux, 87, and Ernest Arceneaux, 89, of Snellville were charged with identity theft fraud and theft by deception after an investigation by the Gwinnett County Police Department’s Financial Electronic Crimes Unit.
According to arrest warrants issued Dec. 10, Arceneaux’s mother had been a California teacher who moved to Georgia after retiring in 1991. The mother died in June 2010, but authorities allege the Arceneaux couple never told the California State Teachers’ Retirement System of her mother’s death then doctored documents to give the appearance she was still alive.
“The daughter failed to notify anybody, the bank, the California Teacher Retirement System, or anybody that she had passed away,” said Cpl. Ryan Winderweedle with the Gwinnett County Police Department.
The investigation revealed that beginning in May 2018, Arceneaux allegedly forged documents and submitted fraudulent proof of life forms to continue receiving her mother’s pension payments. According to the affidavit, she created “a new proof of life form with [her mother’s] name and forged signature” each year.
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Investigators allege these documents were notarized and mailed to the California State Teachers’ Retirement System to maintain the flow of payments. The alleged fraud was discovered when officials found the mother’s death certificate from 2010 while retirement system officials were conducting routine verification procedures.
“They were able to locate a death certificate on that former employee who was deceased in 2010,” Winderweedle said.
The investigation found that the pension payments were deposited into a bank account and then moved to other accounts associated with Arceneaux, police said. The total amount allegedly defrauded since 2010 is listed as $1,166,862.69, according to arrest warrants.
When asked about the allegations Tuesday, Mary Arceneaux denied them at her Snellville-area home but did not open her door to provide additional comments.
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Arceneaux and her husband both posted bail after their arrests last week and are awaiting their trial dates.
It remains unclear whether California will seek to recover the money.
“That would be potentially for the courts or the retirement system to try to work through and figure out,” Winderweedle said.
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