To keep receiving her son’s disability benefits after he left her custody, a Michigan mother lied to the Social Security Administration about where he lived, and even had another person impersonate him during an SSA review, according to the Justice Department. She is Keshaune Pace, also known as Keshaune Jenkins, and the department says she stole and misused $30,000 of the Supplemental Security Income paid on behalf of her son. She has been charged, not convicted.

A complaint from the southeast Michigan district

The case is one line in a September 29, 2026 Justice Department release announcing 17 Social Security benefit-theft cases. Pace’s entry lists the Southeast Michigan district and the word “Complaint,” meaning she was charged by criminal complaint, an accusation filed before any trial. The release cites two statutes: 18 U.S.C. 641, theft of government property, and 42 U.S.C. 1383a(a)(4), which it labels Social Security representative payee fraud, with maximum penalties of 10 years and 5 years in prison.

The practical question for a family is who is exposed and what they can check. Anyone whose benefits are managed by another person, and anyone who manages a relative’s benefits, is in the picture that this complaint describes. The agency’s own representative payee page describes the role and states that payees manage payments “on behalf of the beneficiaries,” that “all payees are responsible for keeping records of how the payments are spent or saved, and making all records available for review if requested by SSA,” and that a required annual Representative Payee Report is mailed to payees. Those three duties, managing for the beneficiary, keeping records and reporting, are the yardstick for noticing when something is off.

Whether this complaint produces a plea, an indictment or a trial is the next development in a case that The Retirement Money Brief can follow along with other benefit-protection news.

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In the complaint, the son is described as a minor who receives SSI because of a disability. SSI is the needs-based program that pays benefits to people with disabilities and limited income, and when the recipient is a child the money is typically managed by an adult. In this case that adult was his mother, serving as his representative payee.

How the department splits the $30,000

The release does not treat the whole sum as one kind of loss. It says Pace “stole and misused $30,000 of the benefits paid on behalf of her son.” Of that, $6,000 “should have been used for her son’s needs and were not,” and $24,000 “should have been paid to no one at all.” The second figure follows from the alleged deception: the department says she kept the payments coming after her son left her custody by misreporting his living arrangements. The $30,000 is the department’s alleged total in this one case; it is not a program-wide loss figure and not a court-ordered repayment.

The same release lists four other defendants who were charged in cases tied to relatives, including a deceased mother, brother and father and an elderly uncle for whom the defendant was payee, making five family-linked cases among the 17. The remaining entries give only a district and an amount.

What a payee is supposed to keep

SSA says it can select any payee for an educational visit and payee review. That oversight exists because a payee, often a parent, spouse or other relative, controls money the beneficiary needs for food, housing and care. The department’s Assistant Attorney General for the National Fraud Enforcement Division, Colin M. McDonald, said in the release: “Every dollar stolen is a dollar taken from a retiree’s medicine, meals, or housing.” Pace’s alleged conduct involved a child’s benefit rather than a retiree’s, but the principle in the quotation applies the same way: the payments are meant for the beneficiary’s needs.

Whether the allegations are proved is for the court to decide. The release reports no conviction, plea or sentence for any of the 17 defendants, Pace included.

Checking a payee arrangement against SSA’s records

The free first step is the SSA representative payee page at ssa.gov/payee. It says anyone concerned about a beneficiary who cannot manage or direct the management of benefits can call SSA at 1-800-772-1213, and it links a secure portal for reporting fraud.

A family reviewing an arrangement can ask the payee how the money is being spent and saved, ask to see the records SSA says every payee must keep, and confirm that the annual Representative Payee Report has been completed if one was mailed. Changes in where the beneficiary lives matter most, since the allegation in this case turns on a misreported living arrangement.

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This piece was drafted with AI assistance; the figures and dates were checked against the Justice Department release and the SSA representative payee page linked above.