Man who tried to get a brand new social safety card to keep away from alimony and little one assist to serve 18 months
A former Maine man was sentenced to 18 months federal prison by the U.S. District Court in Portland on Wednesday for lying to get a new Social Security number in August 2017.
Lachlan Olen Granite, formerly known as Scott Edward Bounds, 54, of Center Ossipee, New Hampshire, believed a new Social Security number would allow him to avoid child support and child support, according to US prosecutors.
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He also thought that if he had a new Social Security number and card, he would get a new driver’s license, according to court documents. Granite’s license had been suspended for failure to pay child support.
The exact amount he owed in child support and child support was not listed in court documents, but court documents indicate that a garnishment order was filed a week after Granite applied for a new card. It ordered to withhold more than $ 1,948 per month from any benefits Granite could get.
Granite was living in Parsonsfield in August 2017 when he applied for the new card at the Social Security office in Saco, court documents say.
In July 2018, he pleaded guilty to a social security fraud case, but remained free with $ 10,000 unsecured bail.
The investigation into Granite’s past began after he searched for a Social Security number claiming he had never had one before or received government benefits, according to the prosecuting version of the events he pleaded guilty to. Granite told the Social Security worker at the Saco office that he recently moved to Maine after being excommunicated from an Amish community in Illinois.
The employee learned that Granite had been granted a name change by the Newport, New Hampshire District Court in June 2017, according to court records. Further research showed that Bounds was first issued a social security card in 1976 and a replacement card in 1987.
In addition to his sentence, US District Judge George Singal sentenced Granite to three years of supervised release. He also ordered Granite to repay child support and child support
Granite faced between 12 and 18 months in prison under state sentencing guidelines. The federal prosecutor recommended the sentence imposed.
Granite’s Portland attorney Clifford Strike has asked the judge to put his client on parole or to give a short sentence.
Strike is appealing the verdict against Granite in the US Court of Appeals in Boston.
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