BOSTON, Oct. 15, 2014— Two Brighton women appeared in court today on charges they stole nearly $200,000 in public benefits using the same “identity shifting” scheme that led to prior indictments for elder exploitation and doctor shopping, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

RANDI BERKOWITZ (D.O.B. 12/11/50) and PATRICIA DiGIACOMO (D.O.B. 1/18/56) were arraigned this morning in Suffolk Superior Court on two counts each of larceny by continuing scheme over $250 and one count each of receiving stolen property by continuing scheme.  Assistant District Attorney Michele Granda of the DA’s Special Prosecutions Unit requested bail of $1,000 and orders that the women refrain from using aliases in the event they are released on bail.  Clerk Magistrate Gary Wilson released both defendants on their own recognizance and imposed the same conditions of release that were imposed in the women’s prior cases – that they report weekly to probation and stay away and have no contact with the elderly victim of the earlier case.

According to prosecutors, Berkowitz began receiving Social Security Disability Insurance benefits in 1994 based on two diagnoses, one of which was a back disorder.  Berkowitz went on to pose as DiGiacomo in order to obtain SSDI benefits under DiGiacomo’s name but using Berkowitz’s diagnosed back disorder in order to qualify for the benefit, prosecutors said.  The fraudulent claim was approved at the end of 2001, and DiGiacomo began receiving $673 a month in Jan. 2002.  As a recipient of SSDI, DiGiacomo also began to receive Medicare benefits for which she would not otherwise be eligible.

This fraud resulted in at least $198,428 in losses to the Social Security Administration and Medicare.  In addition, prosecutors allege that both women fraudulently received Supplemental Security Income at times that their available resources exceeded the need-based benefit program’s limit for qualified applicants.  According to prosecutors, Berkowitz received approximately $7,461 in fraudulent SSI benefits during the past six years, while DiGiacomo is alleged to have fraudulently received $603 during that time period.

The identity shifting scheme allegedly used in these offenses is the same scheme that prosecutors say the women utilized in their previously charged cases.  Berkowitz began posing as DiGiacomo in the 1990’s, obtaining a driver’s license with her own photo and DiGiacomo’s identifying information in order to obtain prescription painkillers under her own name and that of DiGiacomo from multiple doctors, prosecutors said.  She continued to pose as DiGiacomo in order to befriend an elderly neighbor suffering from dementia in order to gain control over the woman’s finances, her home, and her beloved cat for whose care she had set up a trust; during that time, the victim new the real DiGiacomo by the name Devon.  The women used their position of trust with the victim to drain her of $450,000.

The new case was investigated by police and prosecutors assigned to the DA’s Special Prosecutions Unit, the Social Security Administration’s Office of the Inspector General, and the Department of Health & Human Service’s Office of the Inspector General.

Berkowitz and DiGiacomo are due back in court on Nov. 13.  They are represented by attorneys Susan Rayburn and Srikanth Reddy.

–30–

All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.