A 68-year-old Dalton woman has pleaded guilty in federal court to theft of government funds for stealing her granddaughter’s social security benefits.
Margie Sue Goad was the girl’s only family and had been put in charge of her granddaughter’s SSI checks in 2002 — checks that were to be spent solely on the granddaughter, authorities said.
However, in 2002 Goad turned over custody of the girl to the state, without notifying the social security agency. Meanwhile she continued to get and spend the girl’s SSI benefits on herself, while the child was growing up in foster care and group homes, authorities said.
“Goad’s guilty plea cannot undo the harm done to her granddaughter,” U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said. “It does, however, show our commitment to justice and it should serve as a deterrent to others.”
Sentencing for Goad is set for 10 a.m. on July 31, 2014, before U.S. District Judge Robert L. Vining Jr.