Gloucester County Man Admits Stealing over $200,000 in Social Security and Medicaid Benefits

Franklinville resident faces up to five years in prison for defrauding government programs over a 14-year period

FRANKLINVILLE, N.J. -A Gloucester County, New Jersey, man admitted today that he defrauded the government of more than $200,000 in Social Security and Medicaid benefits, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.

Dennis Gaudette, 72, of Franklinville, New Jersey, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Christine P. O’Hearn in Camden federal court to an information charging him with Social Security fraud.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court, beginning in March 2009, Gaudette used the identity of a deceased individual to apply for and receive Social Security and Medicaid benefits. Between 2009 and 2023, Gaudette collected $43,464 in Social Security Retirement Income Benefits and $85,332.50 in Supplemental Security Income benefits that he was not entitled to receive. During the same period, the state of New Jersey paid $88,993 in Medicaid benefits for medical care, testing, and medications that Gaudette received using the name of the deceased individual. Over the course of the scheme, Gaudette concealed and failed to disclose that he was ineligible for these government benefits because he was not, in fact, the deceased individual, and his actual age, income, and resources did not qualify him for these programs.

The Social Security fraud charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross profits or gross loss, whichever is greatest. Sentencing is scheduled for October 15, 2024.

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents of the Social Security Administration, Office of the Inspector General, New York Field Division, under the direction of Acting Special Agent in Charge Bradley Parker, and special agents of the U.S. Department of State, Diplomatic Security Service, Philadelphia Resident Office, under the direction of Resident Agent-in-Charge Robert Picco, with the investigation leading to today’s guilty plea.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel A. Friedman of the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Criminal Division in Camden.