A 62-year-old East Chicago woman has been sentenced to more than a year in prison after admitting to a long-running scheme to defraud the Social Security Administration of hundreds of thousands of dollars, federal officials revealed.
On March 18, 2026, Rose Henderson was sentenced to 12 months and one day in prison by U.S. District Court Judge Gretchen S. Lund after pleading guilty to wire fraud. In addition to her prison sentence, Henderson was forced to pay $364,779 in restitution.
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Henderson’s scam, according to court documents, began in the 1990s. Her mother began receiving Social Security payments in 1989, and Henderson was appointed as her representative payee in 1995, responsible for handling the monies for her mother’s care. However, when her mother died the next year, Henderson forgot to notify the Social Security Administration and continued to receive monthly payments.
According to prosecutors, Henderson went to considerable measures to conceal the deception, submitting false documents indicating her mother was still alive on a regular basis. Instead of using the monies for the intended purpose, she spent them on personal costs such as cruises, vacations to Las Vegas, and large cash withdrawals from area casinos.
Authorities discovered that Henderson fraudulently collected $364,779 between September 1996 and March 2021.
“This defendant took advantage of a program designed to help vulnerable people and used it to fund a lifestyle that many people couldn’t afford,” said Adam L. Mildred, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Indiana. He thanked the investigation conducted by the Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General and federal prosecutors for bringing the case to justice.
Steven J. Lupa and Zachary D. Heater, Assistant US Attorneys, prosecuted the case.
Federal officials highlighted that they will continue to investigate individuals who abuse government aid programs, noting that such fraud jeopardizes essential benefits for those who rely on them.
