A Virginia man hid his dead grandmother in a freezer and a barrel for nine months so he could collect her Social Security payments.
Robert Wozniak pled guilty to stealing government funds and faces up to $500,000 in fines and up to 15 years in prison.
"Wozniak admitted today that from July 2015 through April 2016 he stole Social Security Administration funds, namely retirement benefit payments, intended for Wozniak’s deceased grandmother, for which he was not entitled," the Social Security Administration's inspector general said. "The indictment specifically claims that Wozniak intentionally concealed his grandmother’s death in order to continue to receive and spend the retirement benefit payments made by the Social Security Admiration to his grandmother."
Wozniak hid his grandmother's body in a "freezer and later a barrel for months after she died in order to continue receiving her Social Security payments," the inspector general said.
The News and Advance in Lynchburg, Va. reported that Wozniak also used his grandmother's bankcard to buy sportswear and items from bodybuilding stores.
Wozniak put his grandmother's body in a 55-gallon barrel, which was discovered by his landlord.
Witnesses said Wozniak said he "couldn’t wait for her to die" and called his grandmother a "bitter and mean old lady," according to the report.