I've heard of getting blood from a turnip, but this is nuts:
MIAMI (Reuters) - A Florida woman was sentenced on Monday to a year and a day in prison for keeping her dead mother's body in a bedroom for years while collecting more than $230,000 in pension benefits, prosecutors said.Penelope Sharon Jordan, 61, of Sebastian, Florida, pleaded guilty to theft of government funds in June, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Miami said.
I can't even begin to imagine what has to be going through your mind to do something like this. To say that it's heinous is the understatement of the Century. The worst part is, I know someone is out there right now saying, "I'm sure she had her reasons..." Let the cringing begin.
Jordan told the court she concealed her mother's death in order to continue collecting her Social Security and military pension benefits. Over a six-year period she received $61,415 in Social Security payments and $176,461 from the military pension.
She was ordered to repay $237,876 to the government.
I can haz phat lewtz?
Because at the end of the day, that's what it's all about. Let's forget all about this woman's greedy, ghoulish acts for money, who cares? The government is going to get their money back! After all, we're sending the rest of Society a message. If you hide your mother's dead body in your spare bedroom and collect her pension for more than six years, all you'll have to do is one year and one day in prison and pay the money back.
I'm sure by the time Penny gets out she'll be able to declare bankruptcy and not have to pay back a dime, if they don't just auction off her house. Either way, the punishment definitely does not fit the crime. It just seems to me like we would want to put more value on human life and on dignity in death.
