At least two women were charged with unlawful disposal of remains, mutilating, or disinterring human remains and theft after deputies found out that they hid a man’s dead body inside a cooler in order to collect the decedent’s social security disability checks.Through the DNA test conducted by the coroner’s office, the dead body was identified as Charles Fisher, a social security disability recipient during his lifetime. The decedent was actually the father of one of the two accused women, Debra Fisher, 58.
According to reports, Fisher and her roommate, Heidi Todd, 44, hid the man’s body inside a huge ice chest in their apartment in South Military Road. Upon discovering the body, the deputies found out that the man’s hands were sliced off, probably to shrink the body to fit inside the cooler.
Based on the investigation, the man died of natural causes about 12 months to 2 years before the discovery of his body and since his death, Fisher and Todd started collecting the man’s social security disability checks.
Accordingly, authorities from St. Tammy Parish concluded that the two stole nearly $34,000.00 worth of social security disability funds before their misdeed was discovered last March.
The Sheriff’s Office explained that the man was receiving $1,315.00 monthly as his social security disability payment during his lifetime. The payment was deposited directly to his checking account. Therefore, authorities believed that the women transferred the man’s fund to Debra Fisher’s bank account via electronic means.
Accordingly, Fisher and Todd are now in jail facing multiple charges, including theft. They both remain in police custody. Additionally, Debra was not allowed to pay for her bond while Todd’s bond was set at $50,000.00.
Los Angeles social security disability lawyers believe that this is just one of the rare cases of social security disability fraud. In fact, among millions of applicants and recipients of the program, a great part of them accounts for scams and frauds. The Social Security Administration (SSA) is quite aware of issues similar to this case. Therefore, the agency provided several options for people on how to report such frauds to help the federal government get rid of them.
