WBAL-TV in Baltimore is reporting that Rose Hagner of Maryland received a $250 stimulus check from the federal government. Nothing unusual there, other than that Mrs. Hagner is deceased ... and has been for 40 years.
The woman's son, 83-year-old James Hagner, got the surprise of his life when he checked his mailbox late last week.
"It
shocked me and I laughed all at the same time," Hagner said. "I don't
even expect to get one my own self, and I get one for my mother for 43
years ago?" His mother died on Memorial Day in 1967.
She's not the only one either. The Social Security Administration expect that as many as 10,000 deceased Americans will receive stimulus checks, out of the 52 million or so to be mailed out by mid-June. Officials say they didn't have much time to clean out records before the mailing deadline.
How that explanation applies to someone who's been dead 43 years, we're not sure.
Officials say they don't expect much fraud since it is a federal offense to cash someone else's Social Security check. They are asking people who receive a mistaken check to simply return it to the government.
Mrs. Hagner's son has other plans. "I just want to keep it as a souvenir, that's all. I'll never cash it," he said.