Man found guilty of stealing his missing mother's Social Security benefits

KLAMATH COUNTY, Ore. – A Klamath County man was found guilty of stealing more than $30,000 in Social Security benefits.

The U.S. Department of Justice said 64-year-old Theodore Martin Kirk claimed money that was supposed to go to his mother, Nadine Kirk, who has been missing since 2010 and is presumed to be dead.

Court documents show in 2015, a concerned citizen called the Klamath County Sheriff’s Office regarding Nadine Kirk, who at that time would have been 98 years old. A deputy visited the home of Theodore Kirk looking for his mother, who he claimed left on a trip to California.

In a subsequent interview with Mr. Kirk, he told investigators his mother had been gone for “quite some time” and he admitted to sharing a joint checking account with his her, where over $1,000 of Nadine Kirk’s Social Security benefits were being deposited each month.

The Justice Department said Theodore Kirk kept a calendar documenting his daily activities. It detailed a series of strokes his mother suffered that suddenly stopped at the beginning of 2010 after she suffered two strokes in the span of three days. No more mentions of his mother were made after those dates.

Eventually, Theodore Kirk was put on trial for stealing over $30,000 in Social Security benefits. He was found guilty in a federal court on Wednesday, March 13, 2019. He faces a maximum of ten years behind bars. Kirk will be sentenced in June.