Former Social Security worker in Fountain Valley is sentenced to federal prison for stealing benefits

A former employee of the Social Security Administration’s field office in Fountain Valley was sentenced Monday to 15 months in federal prison for stealing about $176,000 in Social Security benefits designated for elderly and disabled people.

Rowena Isabel Lokeni, 36, of Garden Grove also was ordered by U.S. District Judge John Walter to pay $176,015 in restitution to the SSA, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.

Lokeni resigned from the SSA shortly after her arrest in September and pleaded guilty a month later to one count of wire fraud for fraudulently obtaining $176,015 in Social Security payments, prosecutors said.

The SSA hired Lokeni in 2007 and she was a lead customer service representative in the Fountain Valley office, responsible for providing direct services to the public, including determining the nature of a visit or call, resolving problems, screening for eligibility and explaining benefit inquiries. In that capacity, she had computer access to electronic records of SSA beneficiaries, according to court papers.

Between April 2017 and August 2019, Lokeni accessed the SSA computer databases and queried the records of 10 Social Security beneficiaries. Once she accessed the records, Lokeni fraudulently changed each victim’s direct deposit bank account and routing numbers to reflect those of her personal bank account, according to federal prosecutors.

Eight of the 10 people whose Social Security benefits were affected were supposed to be receiving disabled adult children benefits because they were unmarried adults who had a disability that began before their 22nd birthday. Many of them were staying at adult care facilities.

A ninth victim was supposed to be receiving disability insurance benefits, while the 10th was supposed to be receiving retirement insurance benefits, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.

Lokeni’s actions showed “an utter disregard for the responsibility of her position, for the hard-working Americans who pay their fair share to sustain the SSA program benefits and for the most vulnerable members of society,” the prosecution wrote in a sentencing memorandum.

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