Woman Pleads Guilty Taking VA Benefits of Dead Widow

Portland woman pleads guilty to receiving dead roommate’s veterans benefits
Press Herald
Scott Dolan
Staff Writer
January 8, 2016

Tammy J. McKenney, 49, held a joint account into which the benefits were deposited.

A Portland woman pleaded guilty Friday to a federal charge of stealing more than $25,000 in Veterans Administration benefits intended for her roommate after her roommate had died.

Tammy J. McKenney, 49, who also has a listed address in Gray, appeared before Judge D. Brock Hornby in U.S. District Court in Portland and waived her right to have the case against her presented to a grand jury.

McKenney and her friend, Barbara Winter, opened a joint bank account in September 2001. Winter received direct deposits from the Veterans Administration, which she began receiving as a spouse of a military veteran after her husband died in 1989, according to a prosecution document in court records.
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