Washington, D.C. rooming house operator sentenced for taking tenants' Social Security and VA benefits
Rosemary Ogbenna, 46, of the District of Columbia, was sentenced on February 28, 2023 to 32 months in prison for a scheme to steal more than $400,000 in Social Security and Veterans Affairs benefits intended for the care of elderly, mentally ill, disabled and veteran tenants of her rooming house business. Between at least March 19, 2009 and February 23, 2020 she became the representative payee of some tenants' Social Security benefits and used a portion for herself, and gained control of some tenants' monthly VA benefits and used a portion of those too. She pleaded guilty to mail fraud and false statements in June 2022 and was ordered to pay restitution of $523,696 and forfeit the same amount.
- Year
- 2023
- Where
- United States
- Outcome
- Sentenced
- Reported loss
- $523,696
- Victims
- Not stated in the sources
- Schemes
- Representative payee fraud
- Last reviewed
- 2026-10-20
The facts, as recorded
- Ogbenna's rooming house business housed tenants who were elderly, mentally ill, disabled and veterans, and she became the representative payee of the Social Security benefits of some of them.
- A representative payee has a duty to use Social Security benefits solely on behalf of the beneficiary. Ogbenna used a portion of the funds for her own personal use and benefit.
- She also gained control over some tenants' monthly Veterans Affairs benefits and used a portion of those funds for her personal use and benefit without authority.
- The scheme ran between at least March 19, 2009 and February 23, 2020, and involved more than $400,000 in government benefit funds.
- Ogbenna made false statements to investigating agents, claiming she had paid back a beneficiary for using their intended funds when she had not.
- She pleaded guilty on June 28, 2022 in US District Court for the District of Columbia to mail fraud and false statements.
- On February 28, 2023 Judge Trevor N. McFadden sentenced her to 32 months in prison and 36 months of supervised release, and ordered restitution of $523,696 and forfeiture in the same amount. The sentences on the two counts ran concurrently.
- The case was investigated by the Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General, the VA Office of Inspector General and the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program.
Why this case matters
It shows the scheme in its institutional form. The payee was not a relative but the operator of the rooming house business the beneficiaries were tenants of. According to the release, the same person controlled both their Social Security payments, through the payee role, and some of their Veterans Affairs benefits.
A duty with one rule
The release states the rule plainly: a representative payee has a duty to use the benefits solely on behalf of the beneficiary. The government’s account is that Ogbenna used a portion for herself, and that when agents investigated she claimed she had paid a beneficiary back when she had not.
The caveat
Ogbenna pleaded guilty and has been sentenced, so the conduct above is what she admitted, taken from the Justice Department’s own release as reproduced by the SSA’s Office of the Inspector General. It reports “more than $400,000” stolen and a restitution and forfeiture figure of $523,696, and it does not explain the difference, so this page does not either. It does not name or describe the beneficiaries.
Sources
- D.C. Woman Sentenced to 32 Months in Prison For Stealing Government Benefit Funds. Social Security Administration, Office of the Inspector General (reproducing a US Attorney's Office, District of Columbia release). Accessed 2026-10-20. Supports: Every fact above: the rooming house tenants, the representative payee role and her use of the funds, the VA benefits, the March 2009 to February 2020 period, the $400,000, the false statement to agents, the June 2022 plea, the 32-month sentence, restitution and forfeiture and the investigating agencies.