Ashland Man Sentenced to Prison for Representative Payee Fraud

LEXINGTON, Ky. - An Ashland, Kentucky man, Michael Allen Artrip, 68, was sentenced in federal court on Friday, to 13 months in federal prison, by U.S. District Judge David Bunning, for unlawfully utilizing representative payee funds, which were received on behalf of individuals living in the Artrip Personal Care Home in Ashland.           

Artrip admitted in his plea agreement that, in his role as part owner of Artrip Personal Care home, he received representative payee benefits from the Social Security Administration, on behalf of certain individuals living in his personal care home.  According to the plea agreement, between November 2013 and November 2017, Artrip received representative payee funds for more than twenty individuals, totaling $241,142.  Artrip admitted he spent a total of $97,806 of those representative payee funds on expenses unrelated to the use and benefit of the beneficiaries, including on his two rental properties and personal farm.

Artrip pled guilty in August 2019. As part of his plea agreement, Artrip agreed pay $97,806 in restitution to the victims. Pursuant to the plea agreement, Artrip also agreed to sell the personal care home and withdraw as the representative payee for any current Social Security beneficiaries.           

Under federal law, Artrip must serve 85 percent of his prison sentence and will be under the supervision of the U.S. Probation Office for three years.

Robert M. Duncan, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky, and Wayne R. Warren, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Atlanta Field Division of the Social Security Administration, Office of Inspector General, jointly made the announcement. 

The investigation is part of the Department of Justice’s Elder Justice Initiative and was assisted by the Kentucky Elder Justice Task Force, which is comprised of federal, state, and local law enforcement and government agencies working together to protect the Commonwealth’s elderly population from fraud and abuse.

The investigation was directed by the SSA-OIG.  The United States was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kate K. Smith.

The year 2020 marks the 150th anniversary of the Department of Justice. Learn more about the history of our agency at www.Justice.gov/Celebrating150Years.

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