Two Sacramento women plead guilty to stealing Social Security benefits

Two Sacramento women have pleaded guilty to stealing Social Security benefits totaling nearly $500,000, according to press releases from the U.S. District Court.

Toni Teresi, 75, and Shonda Mayshack, 42, both of Sacramento, pleaded guilty in separate cases to theft of government property, the releases said.

Mayshack, who pleaded guilty Monday, failed to report her grandmother’s death in 2001 and continued to deposit her grandmother’s benefit checks until 2017, totaling approximately $247,933, according to documents from the federal court. .

Mayshack called the Social Security Administration in 2015 and posed as her grandmother to update the address to which benefits were sent, and also falsely endorsed checks with her grandmother’s signature, according to Mayshack’s plea deal.

Teresi, who pleaded guilty Thursday, knowingly used benefit funds intended for her mother for 27 years, from 1987 to 2014, officials said.

Teresi’s mother died in 1987 and her death went unreported, resulting in a total of approximately $247,236 being used fraudulently, according to the press release.

Teresi’s plea deal said that Teresi had access to a joint bank account into which the funds were deposited.

Both Mayshack and Teresi face a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, but their exact sentences will be decided by the court at sentencing, according to the press releases.