Wilmington woman pleads guilty to collecting her dead mother’s Social Security benefits

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — A Wilmington woman faces up to ten years in prison for using her dead mother’s Social Security benefits for more than a decade.

Antoinette Andrea Colbert, 49, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to Theft of Government Property.

According to a news release from the US Department of Justice, Colbert’s mother died in 2007, but her death was never reported to the Social Security Administration by family.

One year later, Social Security mailings were rerouted to Colbert’s address in Wilmington. Various benefit card replacements were also routed to the defendant’s address. Colbert was also identified on bank footage using her deceased mother’s Social Security benefits.

Colbert will be sentenced in May.