21 October – LAWFUEL – The Law News Network – Kevin J. O’Connor, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that a federal grand jury sitting in New Haven today returned a one-count Indictment charging RENEE C. SPIRO, age 71, of 9236 Pioneer Lane, Corona, California, with mail fraud.
As alleged in the Indictment, SPIRO was a joint owner of a checking account with Beatrice Burnham, a retired teacher from the State of Connecticut. Burnham was entitled to receive a monthly retirement allowance from the State of Connecticut Teachers’ Retirement Board during her lifetime. Burnham died in March 1990. The Indictment alleges that SPIRO falsely led the State of Connecticut Teachers’ Retirement Board to believe for more than a decade that Beatrice Burnham was alive, thereby allowing SPIRO to collect monthly retirement checks that were payable to Beatrice Burnham in the total amount of approximately $142,419.
If convicted, SPIRO could be sentenced to a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years and a fine of up to $250,000.
United States Attorney Kevin J. O’Connor stressed that an indictment is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. The defendant is entitled to a fair trial at which it is the Government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
The case was investigated by Special Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Geoffrey M. Stone.
