FORT SMITH -- A member of Sebastian County's Quorum Court falsely reported the employment status and physical condition of her husband, a former member, for years to help him continue receiving disability payments from the federal government.
Rebekah Schwartz, 43, and Stephen Schwartz, 55, admitted to defrauding the Social Security Administration of $167,756.60 from June 2016 through July 2021 after investigators confronted them last year, according to court documents filed in U.S. District Court on March 2.
The Schwartzes pleaded guilty in federal court to felony theft of government money and aiding and abetting the theft of government funds, according to a news release from Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge's office Monday.
Rebekah Schwartz, a Republican, is serving a two-year term as justice of the peace for District 12 on the Quorum Court. Stephen Schwartz was sworn in for the same position after being appointed by Gov. Asa Hutchinson on Aug. 19, 2019, where he remained until his term expired in December 2020.
Rebekah Schwartz' plea agreement states Stephen Schwartz drove a bus for a local school district while receiving Social Security disability payments in 2015. The Social Security Administration got wind of the latter's employment and earnings during this time, which he didn't report. It informed him in June 2016 it would stop his disability payments because the employment and earnings made him ineligible for such benefits.
Rebekah Schwartz assisted her husband in requesting his disability payments be reinstated by filling out forms submitted to the Social Security Administration, court documents state. This included forms and reports in which she misrepresented Stephen Schwartz' true physical condition to make it seem as though he couldn't work due to a medical condition.
She also omitted the fact Stephen Schwartz was working for a roofing company at the time and his wages were being paid to her to conceal the income from the Social Security Administration, who reinstated his payments for 2016 and into 2017 based partly on this material.
Rebekah Schwartz wrote in a report to the Social Security Administration on March 25, 2020, her husband's ability to perform simple daily life skills had "significantly declined," according to her plea agreement. The couple completed another form for the administration on April 8, 2020, in which Rebekah Schwartz wrote her husband's job was being a justice of the peace.
"She wrote on her husband's behalf that: 'I don't actually work,'" the agreement states. "The governor of Arkansas appointed me to my late father's position until his term ends. I am just there to represent my father's seat; I don't work, I was just appointed to sit in my father's seat until the election in November.'"
The Social Security Administration informed Stephen Schwartz on Feb. 22, 2021, he was ineligible for disability payments for the period from June 2016 through February 2021 after learning he worked for the roofing company in 2016, as well as a marble and granite company from late 2016 into 2017, court documents state.
Rebekah Schwartz called the Social Security Administration's Fort Smith office and stated she, not her husband, was the one who worked for the roofing company. She later provided wage documentation to support her claim.
A sentencing for the Schwartzes hasn't been set, according to court records. Signature bonds of $5,000 for the couple were entered March 2.