February 10, 2015

Winnebago Resident Sentenced for Social Security Fraud and Theft from a Tribal Casino

United States Attorney Deborah R. Gilg announced that Susan Marr, age 39, of Winnebago, Nebraska, was sentenced for her convictions in two separate cases. In the first case, Marr was convicted of knowingly stealing funds from the Social Security Administration. In the second case, Marr was convicted of stealing funds from an Indian tribal organization. On February 9, 2015, Chief United States District Court Judge Laurie Smith Camp sentenced Marr to five years’ probation. While on probation, Marr will have to perform 200 hours of community service and pay $38,171.64 in restitution to the Social Security Administration.. No restitution was ordered in the second case as Marr had made restitution prior to sentencing.

Marr is the mother of a disabled child and served as his representative payee. In July of 2007, she applied for Supplemental Security Income benefits for her son. SSI benefits were awarded based upon information provided by Marr in the application, and benefits were paid through October 19, 2012. However, the Social Security Administration discovered that Marr had failed to list all of her household income and resources and that she subsequently failed to advise the Social Security Administration of her marriage and the related income and resources of her husband. The Social Security Administration determined that Marr’s household resources always exceeded the allowable amount such that her son would not have been entitled to any of the $38,171.64 in SSI benefits that were paid.

Marr had been employed as the Manager of the Lucky 77 Casino in Walthill, Nebraska, on the Omaha Indian Reservation. That casino is owned by the Omaha Tribe of Nebraska. She was terminated from her position when the first Indictment was returned. The casino paid Marr all of her wages and vacation pay at the time of her termination. However, Marr subsequently gained access to the payroll system under the guise of showing a new employee how to process payroll and caused three additional checks to be issued to herself to which she was not entitled. The checks were in the amounts of $2,078.86 , $931.54 and $1,639.80. Marr was able to cash the first two of those unauthorized checks before the Omaha Tribe learned that they had been improperly issued.

These cases were investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General.