LinkFor nearly 20 years - ever since he was 8 - Pete Costello's mother has collected disability benefits on his behalf. In meetings with Social Security officials and psychologists, he appeared mentally retarded and unable to communicate. His mom insisted he couldn't read or write, shower, take care of himself or drive a car.
But video of Pete contesting a traffic ticket in a Clark County courtroom earlier this year seems to refute that, according to federal prosecutors who are pursuing fraud charges against the Vancouver pair.
"He's like any other person trying to get out of a traffic ticket," Assistant U.S. Attorney Norman Barbosa said Tuesday.
Pete and Rosie Marie Costello were indicted in September on counts of conspiracy to defraud the government and Social Security fraud, and the case was unsealed Tuesday. They were scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in Tacoma on Tuesday afternoon. Barbosa said he planned to file with the court two videos of Pete Costello taken this year: In one, he allegedly feigns retardation during an interview with Social Security workers; the other is of him contesting the traffic ticket in Clark County District Court, with no indications of retardation.
The indictment accuses Costello of faking - or at least exaggerating - retardation since August 1997 because that's what prosecutors are confident they can prove, Barbosa said. But the pair first received benefits 10 years before that. The benefits cited in the indictment totaled $111,000.
Barbosa said the government doesn't know whether Costello is mentally retarded at all, but he clearly has been "exaggerating whatever he may have, if any."
"This person isn't being honest with the government about his condition," Barbosa said. "It makes it impossible to sort out."
It was not immediately known if the Costellos had obtained attorneys.
Previous Topic
Index
