A former employee of the U.S. Social Security Administration has pleaded guilty to stealing $65,118 in funds from seven different people including one who had passed away.
A promise of full payment in restitution was signed by Nam-Phong Hung Le, 37, when he pleaded guilty to Social Security fraud and theft of public property in U.S. District Court in San Diego.
Le, of Chula Vista, will be sentenced on July 12 by U.S. Judge Janis Sammartino, who allowed him to remain free on $20,000 bond.
The maximum sentence Le faces is 20 years in federal prison. If he comes up with restitution, a lesser sentence is likely.
“The taxpayer has a right to expect that public servants will perform their duties honorably, and that programs intended to assist our nation’s most vulnerable individuals will not be compromised from within,” said U.S. Attorney Robert Brewer.
Brewer added that his office is committed to ensure the integrity of Social Security employees and “maintaining the public’s trust in one of our nation’s oldest and most important aid programs.”
Court documents show that Le learned of a death of a Social Security recipient and directed that funds be deposited in one of Le’s bank accounts in November 2018.
Court records show that Le learned a married couple who received Social Security was moving to Vietnam. Under federal law, residents would not be able to collect Social Security in another country. Le arranged for their funds to go to a bank account he controlled.
Several people were supposed to receive underpayments from Social Security, but Le directed those checks be deposited in a bank account he controlled, according to court records.
“There is nothing more important to federal employment than public trust,” said Robb Stickley, the special agent in charge of the Social Security field division.
“When that trust is violated, it impacts the entire federal workforce and those they serve,” said Stickley.
Court documents say Lee took $44,306.54 in Social Security funds for others and $20,811.59 from the California Department of Health Care Services.
Le began working for the Social Security Administration in August 2010 and ended his employment on Jan. 6, 2018. He was hired back as a Social Security technical expert until the scheme unraveled this year.
Brewer praised the work of federal prosecutor Jeffrey D. Hill and investigators with the Social Security Administration and office of the Inspector General.
