BURLINGTON — A 43-year old White River Junction man pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Burlington on Thursday to a federal charge of diverting his deceased father’s Social Security checks into his own bank account, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Vermont announced.
John O’Hara Jr. pleaded guilty to a charge that he fraudulently converted tens of thousands of dollars in Social Security benefits that were issued to his father, John O’Hara Sr., who died in 2018, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a news release.
O’Hara Jr. was charged on June 10, 2022 with diverting his late father’s monthly Social Security payments, which should have been terminated upon’s his father’s death, from O’Hara Sr.’s bank account in Florida into a bank account controlled by O’Hara Jr. in North Carolina for his “personal use” over a 32 month period from February, 2018 to October, 2020, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The total amount of Social Security money which O’Hara Jr. diverted was about $51,000, the government said.
U.S. District Judge Christina Reiss released O’Hara Jr. on conditions pending sentencing, which is scheduled for November 3.
O’Hara Jr. faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000, although the actual sentence will be determined with reference to federal sentencing guidelines, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.