A Queens man who let his father’s body remain unclaimed in a morgue in order to steal his pension and Social Security benefits for more than a year will be sentenced this week, New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli announced Monday.
Christopher Bunn is slated to be sentenced Tuesday for his October guilty plea to grand larceny in the third degree for collecting his father, James Bunn’s, pension payments of $7,542 and Social Security benefits of $17,790 after James Bunn’s death.
In order to do this Bunn concealed his father’s death, going so far as to leave his deceased father’s remains unclaimed in the morgue.
“Mr. Bunn left his deceased father’s body unclaimed at the Nassau County morgue for more than a year so he could steal his pension and social security payments,” DiNapoli said in a statement Monday.
According to the comptroller’s office, the funds were transferred to James Bunn’s account electronically from February 2010 through April 2011 after Bunn’s death on February 24, 2010.
In May 2011, the Social Security Inspector General told authorities that Bunn was in fact dead and his body remained unclaimed. Investigation into the facts revealed Bunn to have stolen the money from his father’s account.
“The defendant has admitted to receiving his deceased father’s social security and pension payments for well over a year, following his death,” Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said in a statement. “Thus robbing the New York pension system and the federal government of tens of thousands of dollars in unlawfully obtained benefits..”
Bunn has already served six months in prison. He is expected to pay full restitution.