Mavious Redmond, a 54-year-old resident of Austin, Minnesota, has been sentenced to one year and one day in prison, followed by a year of supervised release. The sentencing follows her conviction for orchestrating a scheme that lasted 25 years and involved stealing over $360,000 in Social Security benefits intended for her deceased mother.
Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Thompson commented on the case: “Redmond’s scheme was brazen and shameless,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Thompson. “For 25 years, she posed as her dead mother to steal more than $360,000 in social security benefits. This wasn’t free money. It was taxpayer money, stolen from a program built on the hard work of Minnesotans who paid in every paycheck. Cases like this are part of the broader fraud crisis gripping our state, where too many see taxpayer programs as their own personal piggy banks. We will not let it stand. We will keep bringing prosecutions until every fraudster in Minnesota understands there is a price for stealing from the taxpayers.”
Court documents reveal that Redmond began the fraudulent activity shortly after her mother’s death in 1999 and continued through June 2024. She initially contacted the Social Security Administration (SSA) to inquire about procedures following a hypothetical death but chose not to report her mother’s passing as required by law.
Instead, Redmond repeatedly assumed her late mother’s identity over two decades by forging signatures and using personal information such as date of birth and Social Security number on official forms. She also changed addresses associated with her mother’s records to match her own relocations and impersonated her mother both via telephone and during an in-person visit to an SSA office on June 4, 2024.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) was also misled into believing Redmond’s mother was alive, resulting in $3,200 worth of COVID-19 Economic Impact Payments being deposited into accounts accessed by Redmond.
Judge Brasel considered the length of time over which the fraud occurred and Redmond’s repeated impersonation before multiple federal agencies as aggravating factors during sentencing.
The investigation was conducted by the Social Security Administration – Office of Inspector General and the IRS. Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew D. Evans prosecuted the case.
