A Canadian man had control over his mother’s mail since 1995, when he started stealing her Social Security retirement benefits, federal prosecutors said.
Ellis Kingsep, 77, continued collecting his mother’s benefits for the next 28 years — stealing more than $420,000 in what prosecutors are calling a “complex fraud scheme,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Alaska.
On July 8, authorities arrested Kingsep, who also goes by Ellis King, in Los Angeles, where his mother once lived, prosecutors announced in a July 15 news release.
Kingsep’s arrest comes after he was charged with five counts of mail fraud, one count of aggravated identity theft and one count of Social Security fraud in an indictment filed in Alaska federal court on May 23.
“The indictment alleges that the defendant’s mother would be 102 at the time of indictment, and that there has been no record of her since 1993,” prosecutors said.
Information regarding Kingsep’s legal representation wasn’t listed in court records as of July 17.
Changing his mother’s addresses
In 1995, Kingsep started creating private postal mailbox accounts “to hide the fact that he was sending and receiving his mother’s mail,” prosecutors said.
That year, his mother’s Los Angeles home, where she had lived since 1989, was sold by “probate/estate transfer,” according to Kingsep’s indictment.
In addition to Social Security benefits, his mother was also receiving retirement benefits from the Canadian government and the Braille Institute of America, the indictment says.
In 1993, about two years before her home was sold, the Braille Institute received a handwritten letter with her signature that gave Kingsep permission to sign her checks, the indictment says.
Kingsep is accused of repeatedly changing his mother’s addresses, including to a new California mailing address, an address in Vancouver, British Columbia, and one in Alaska, according to prosecutors.
In 2013, the Social Security Administration was alerted to Kingsep’s mother switching her address to Fairbanks, Alaska, in a letter that was signed by her, prosecutors said.
“In order to be closer to family members I am moving to Alaska,” the notice said, according to the indictment.
The new address provided for her was a mail forwarding service address, according to prosecutors.
Kingsep had his mother’s mail sent there to be repackaged in his name before he had the mail service send her mail to two private mailbox services in Vancouver, prosecutors said.
The Vancouver mailbox services “again allegedly per instructions from (Kingsep), would repackage and forward the mail to private mailbox services in Los Angeles, where Kingsep would regularly collect his mail,” prosecutors said.
Withdrawals from a Los Angeles bank
In 1996, the SSA started depositing Kingsep’s mother’s benefits in a new bank account — in his and his mother’s name — until 2023, according to prosecutors.
Kingsep was repeatedly seen withdrawing cash from the bank account in surveillance footage from a Los Angles bank, prosecutors said.
The most recent records of Kingsep’s mother were in July 1993, when a Medicare claim was made for her, and in October 1993, when she was issued a California driver’s license that expired in 1997, according to the indictment.
Since then, there haven’t been any more Medicare claims made for her and her license wasn’t renewed, the indictment says.
If Kingsep is convicted of aggravated identity theft, he will face a mandatory prison sentence of two years, according to prosecutors, who said he would face up to 20 years in prison if convicted on the other charges.
Kingsep appeared in federal court in California on July 11 and will be transported by the U.S. Marshals Service to Alaska, prosecutors said.