Clay County man pleads guilty for collecting his dead mother's pension

The man who buried his deceased mother instead of informing the authorities pleaded guilty to theft of government property and aggravated identity theft on Monday.

Brian Lee Adams, 56, from Green Cove Springs, faces a maximum penalty of 12 years in federal prison. This includes a mandatory two-year sentence for aggravated identity theft. A sentencing date has not yet been set.

According to the plea agreement, Adams admitted to authorities that his mother had died of natural causes in July 2014 and, instead of notifying anyone, he buried her in the backyard of her home.

Her remains were found in June 2015 and Adams was charged with one count of bank fraud, one count of theft of government property and four counts of aggravated identity theft in April 2016.

Adams confessed to investigators that he buried his mother so he could continue collecting her Social Security payments and a pension payment that she received monthly.

As part of the theft, Adams said he used his mother’s name on checks that he would write to transfer money between her accounts. He would then use the funds on himself. The total amount Adams stole was $35,345.

This case was investigated by the Clay County Sheriff’s Office, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Social Security Administration.

Cox Media Group