Man stole benefits from missing girlfriend’s son, feds say. NJ mom still missing
A judge sentenced a New Jersey man to federal prison after he pleaded guilty to stealing nearly $20,000 in benefits meant for his missing girlfriend’s disabled son, federal prosecutors say.
The Newark woman has been missing for more than seven years, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey. She was last seen in December 2017.
In 2017, the man lived with the woman and her child in Newark, prosecutors say.
Six days after the woman’s disappearance, according to prosecutors, he changed the PIN to her debit card to take “control” of her son’s monthly benefits issued by the Social Security Administration’s Supplemental Security Income program.
The woman is identified as Venika Williams in news reports, including a March 2023 report from the Newark Daily Voice. In federal court filings, she’s only mentioned by her initials, “V.W.”
“Her whereabouts remain unknown,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in an April 14 news release.
Her former boyfriend, who’s now 37 and still lives in Newark, was sentenced April 3 to three years and two months in prison on charges of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, court records show
He was also sentenced to an extra eight months in prison, according to prosecutors, because he violated conditions of his supervised release.
His federal public defender didn’t return McClatchy News’ request for comment April 15.
The woman goes missing
Williams was 28 years old when she went missing in 2017, according to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System. She would be 35 as of April 16.
The Newark Police Division and the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office investigated her disappearance.
In response to McClatchy News’ inquiry for the Newark Police Division, Catherine Adams, a public information officer with the Newark Department of Public Safety, told McClatchy News in an emailed statement on April 16 that the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office is on the case.
According to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, Williams vanished while heading to Jersey City “to do someone’s hair.”
Jersey City is about a 10-mile drive east from Newark.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office says she went missing on Dec. 24. The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System lists her as missing on Dec. 22.
She was reported as missing to law enforcement on Jan. 2, 2018, Patch.com reported that month.
Stolen benefits
Williams’ former boyfriend was arrested in connection with the theft of her son’s benefits on March 3, 2023, McClatchy News reported.
Because Williams’ son was under 18, the Social Security Administration gave her a debit card in her name to receive and access benefits issued to her son under the SSI program in May 2017, according to court filings.
After the man started stealing the child’s benefits, prosecutors say he stole Williams’ identity to keep the payments coming.
In March and April 2018, he used her “name, date of birth, and social security number to receive a replacement debit card to continue accessing and using (the child’s) benefits,” prosecutors say.
In total, $19,797 in SSI payments issued to the missing woman’s debit card was stolen, according to his indictment.
The man “and others acting at his direction” used the money, prosecutors say.
Following the man’s arrest and before he pleaded guilty, the court ordered his detention on Jan. 12, 2024, records show.
He was ordered detained for three reasons, including for having a previous criminal record, participating “in criminal activity while on probation, parole, or supervision,” and “prior failure to appear in court as ordered,” the detention order says.
The man agreed to plead guilty to two counts of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft on June 26, court records show.
Special agents with the Social Security Administration’s Office of the Inspector General and the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office led the investigation into the stolen benefits, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
This story was originally published April 16, 2025 at 9:03 AM with the headline "Man stole benefits from missing girlfriend’s son, feds say. NJ mom still missing."
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