Portage Park woman charged with stealing dead mother’s Social Security benefits
A woman accused of hiding her mother’s body in a freezer while she collected her Social Security benefits is among 17 defendants from across the country who were accused of defrauding the program of up to $1.3 million, according to the U.S. Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division.
Eva Bratcher, 72, was charged in the Northern District of Illinois in August with theft of government property and fraud related to misrepresentation or misuse of Social Security benefits totaling $21,402. She faces up to five years in prison.
“The Social Security Administration’s benefits programs are meant to safeguard America’s elderly and most vulnerable — not to bankroll fraudsters,” Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald said in a statement. “Every dollar stolen is a dollar taken from a retiree’s medicine, meals, or housing.”
The charges come nearly three years after Bratcher pleaded guilty to concealing her mother’s death and possessing a fraudulent ID card, according to court records. She was sentenced to 18 months in prison.
Bratcher was arrested in January 2023 after police conducted a well-being check called in by her daughter, and officers found the body of 96-year-old Regina Michalski in their 5500 block of West Melrose Street home.
Michalski’s body had been stored by Bratcher in a freezer in the home’s garage for two years after she died in 2021. During that time, she is alleged to have collected the woman’s Social Security and SNAP benefits.
A receipt found in the home showed Bratcher had purchased the freezer a week after her mother died. Bratcher is also alleged to have used another Social Security number to receive even more fraudulent SNAP benefits, according to prosecutors.
Officers investigating the home found an ID with Bratcher’s photo that included her mother’s name. Authorities were later told by neighbors that Bratcher claimed her mother was living at an out-of-state nursing home even though she was deceased.
In 2006, Bratcher was found guilty of misdemeanor counts of battery and violating an order of protection in two separate cases, according to court records. She was sentenced to concurrent two-year probation terms, which she later pleaded guilty to violating the terms of her release before being sentenced to concurrent two-year prison terms minus time served.
Bratcher was also sentenced to four years in prison in 2010 for committing forgery in Lake County. She has faced a range of charges that were previously dropped, including battery, assault, retail theft, criminal damage to property, and reckless and disorderly conduct.
She is expected to appear in federal court Thursday.
