NJ funeral director who skied, carried caskets while on disability gets prison
Steven Stankovits, 57, was convicted of fraudulently receiving more than $585,000 in Social Security disability benefits.
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Steven D. Stankovits, a 57-year-old Matawan funeral director, was sentenced July 21 to a year and a day in federal prison for fraudulently receiving more than $585,000 in Social Security disability benefits.
A jury convicted Stankovits in March of four counts of wire fraud and one count of making false statements to the Social Security Administration, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Prosecutors said Stankovits received disability benefits after claiming he was unable to work, could not comfortably sit for more than 15 minutes and struggled to lift a carton of milk. He also claimed he had been forced to give up skiing.
Stankovits worked as a licensed funeral director at two funeral homes. His work included shoveling snow, climbing a ladder onto a roof and carrying 160-pound caskets down a flight of stairs, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said Stankovits also traveled to ski in Cortina, Italy, Lake Tahoe, and Park City, Utah, and bought a season pass in Killington, Vermont.
Stankovits was ordered to pay $585,629.80 in restitution and a $50,000 fine and to forfeit $480,968 in proceeds.
