Former FAA engineer in KC pleads guilty to stealing mother’s disability benefits
A Missouri man who previously worked for the Federal Aviation Administration has pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Missouri announced Thursday.
Between 2019 and the end of 2024, Afshin Setoodeh of Blue Springs allegedly stole approximately $55,000 in Social Security Disability benefits from his mother’s checking account, according to a press release.
The 62-year-old, who was a civil engineer for the FAA in Kansas City, became the payee of the benefits in 2018 and was supposed to use them for his mother’s care.
Setoodeh failed to notify the Social Security Administration when his mother moved back to Iran in 2019 and never notified them of her death. After she died, he “continued to assert to SSA that his mother was alive and that he was spending the benefits appropriately,” according to the release.
Setoodeh also took out multiple credit cards using his mother’s identity before and after her death, the release said. He faces up to 20 years in prison without parole at sentencing.
