Casey aims to close Social Security loophole

It's one of the disturbing mysteries in the case against Linda Ann Weston, an ex-offender accused of imprisoning four intellectually challenged adults in a Frankford basement and stealing their benefits: Why did the Social Security Administration allow her to collect their money?

As investigators try to answer that, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey (D., Pa.) is proposing a bill that would close a loophole in the Social Security system to prevent an ex-offender like Weston from bilking victims.

Weston was convicted in 1984 of third-degree murder for starving to death her sister's boyfriend. She was paroled in 1987, but repeatedly violated the terms of her release.

Casey's bill would allow Social Security staff to access existing government databases that identify violent criminals.

Under a 2004 law - the Social Security Protection Act - individuals who have been imprisoned for more than a year are barred from collecting benefits on behalf of a disabled individual who is not capable of managing his or her finances.

But a 2010 review of the agency found that the administration staff routinely failed to perform thorough criminal background checks and relied on self-reporting.

Casey's bill would give Social Security direct access to information like the FBI's National Crime Information Center, as well as more resources to conduct background checks on every person who applies to be a "representative payee."

Casey said 5.6 million people collect and manage $60 billion in benefits on behalf of seven million beneficiaries.

At a news conference Monday at 30th Street Station, before boarding a train to return to Washington, Casey said his bill would "make sure the Social Security Administration has a better system of checking something as basic as a background check."

"I can't understand why the federal government is not using existing databases to flag something as outrageous as a conviction for homicide," Casey said.

"What the Social Security Administration needs is a real-time, robust system - or at least access to one - to know who these people are," he added.

Dorothy Clark, a press officer for the Social Security Administration, said the agency looked forward to working with Casey. "Access to appropriate federal databases would greatly enhance our ability to detect inappropriate representative payees," Clark said.

When Weston was arrested in October, a sweep of the Tacony apartment house where she was staying turned up identification records for as many as 50 people.

It included power-of-attorney paperwork, forms of identification, and Social Security numbers. Police said it suggested a vast fraud operation.

According to sources, Weston was designated by Social Security to be the official payee for some of those people.

Convicted felons are barred from being payees, but claims representatives for Social Security do not conduct background checks. A person applying for benefits on behalf of another is supposed to self-report crimes by checking a box.

A 2010 audit by the Social Security Administration by its inspector general recommended that the agency find a cost-effective way to do background checks.