A Social Security employee has been slapped with a two-year prison sentence after he admitted to stealing government benefits by creating profiles for fake children and a dead person.

He not only collected Social Security funds but also received two $1,400 pandemic stimulus checks in the name of the fake children.

All told, Lee Marvin Nichols admitted to collecting more than $75,000 in fraudulent funds.

In his plea agreement, Nichols admitted he used his inside access as a claims specialist to create profiles for two children who didn’t exist, then linked them to a recently deceased man.

He then linked the files to a disabled woman in Mexico to make it appear that she had signed up to receive survivor’s benefits on behalf of the children. In reality, he made the payment cards go to an address of a friend of his, who then provided him with the cards in exchange for a payoff.

The IRS also made the $1,400 stimulus payments to each of the fictitious children in April 2021.

“The defendant not only stole from the American taxpayer, but he also abused the trust given him as a public servant,” Nicholas J. Ganjei, the U.S. attorney in southern Texas, said on Wednesday in announcing the two-year sentence.

That sentence included 18 months for the fraud and six months for skipping out on the court.

Nichols pleaded guilty in October 2023 and was supposed to be sentenced a year ago. But he failed to appeal for his sentencing and fled to Mexico in what prosecutors called his “luxury pickup truck.” Taking the truck to Mexico meant it couldn’t be sold to help pay his restitution.

Nichols was arrested again after he returned to the U.S. in September, and pleaded guilty to the additional flight charge in December.

U.S. District Judge Rolando Olvera ordered repayment of $85,316 to Nichols’ former employers at Social Security and $2,800 to the IRS.

• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.