Immigrant Pleads Guilty To Benefits Theft
Woman Received Social Security For Several Years, Despite Status

POSTED: 4:30 pm PDT June 25, 2008
UPDATED: 4:58 pm PDT June 25, 2008

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- A 74-year-old illegal immigrant from Stockton pleaded guilty Wednesday to theft of government property, U.S. attorney McGregor W. Scott said.

Ramona Soto, also known as Feliciana Cortez Castro, crossed the border from Mexico into California sometime around 1960. At some point before 1968, she obtained the birth certificate of a United States citizen and applied for and received a Social Security card, Scott said.

Soto applied for and began getting Social Security benefits in 2000.

Scott said between 2000 and 2007, Soto fraudulently received approximately $30,400 in Title II benefits.

Undocumented, illegal immigrants are not entitled to such benefits, Scott said.

Soto has not yet been sentenced.

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