A 53-year-old Massachusetts woman is facing years in federal prison after admitting she spent a decade pocketing Social Security disability payments she wasn’t entitled to.
Michelle M. DiSalvo pleaded guilty in Worcester federal court on Wednesday to a trio of charges, including receipt of stolen government money, Social Security fraud, and making false statements.
The scheme dates back to 2014, though DiSalvo’s history with the Social Security Administration (SSA) began much earlier.
While she started receiving Supplemental Security Income (SSI) disability benefits in 2001, the government says she began gaming the system in June 2014. At that time, DiSalvo told the SSA she was married but claimed she and her husband had been separated since 2013. In reality, the couple was living under the same roof.
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Because SSI is a needs-based program, the SSA factors in a spouse’s income and assets when determining if someone qualifies for help. Federal prosecutors say DiSalvo knew that if she admitted her husband lived with her, his paycheck would have wiped out her eligibility for the monthly checks.
The deception wasn’t a one-time slip-up. Between December 2014 and August 2023, DiSalvo sat through five different “redetermination” interviews, repeatedly hiding her living situation from officials.
Investigators say she even went so far as to submit a fake lease agreement in October 2023 that scrubbed her husband’s name from the document. By the time the fraud was uncovered, she had collected $93,640 in benefits she didn’t qualify for.
U.S. District Court Judge Margaret R. Guzman has scheduled sentencing for July 16, 2026. The legal stakes are high: the charge of stealing government property alone carries a maximum of 10 years in prison.
The fraud and false statement charges each carry up to an additional five years. DiSalvo could also be ordered to pay back the money or face fines of up to $250,000.
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