Man charged in $171,000 Social Security fraud

By Guillermo Contreras
gcontreras@express-news.net
Published 01:29 a.m., Thursday, July 21, 2011

A San Antonio man was indicted Wednesday on charges of wrongfully collecting $171,000 in Social Security disability insurance benefits while he was running a plumbing company.

Court records said criminal investigators with the Social Security Administration began looking at Ernest Luckett, 52, after getting a tip that he ran First Priority Plumbing, and later confirming the information.

He was approved for disability benefits in 2005, claiming he had injured his back and had a mood disorder. Investigators found Luckett was never given approval to work after being approved for the disability benefits, and collected the benefits since 2005, records show.

Luckett, court records said, has an extensive criminal record dating to 1977 for crimes that include larceny, assault and possession of cocaine. He even did federal time — 118 months — for a cocaine rap in North Carolina from 1992 to 2002, court records state.

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