An ex-NYPD cop lied on his tax forms to pocket more than $130,000 in Social Security benefits that were supposed to go to the care of his children, authorities charged Wednesday.
Michael Conway, 60, who left the department on disability as lieutenant in 2007, applied for the federal benefits, totaling around $650 per month, by saying the kids lived with him in Queens and that the children had no other relatives to help out, according to an indictment unsealed in Brooklyn federal court on Wednesday.
But the mother of the children told authorities the children have lived with her since they were born in 2000 — and Conway only saw them every other weekend after she got custody in 2002, the court papers say.
Still, Conway refiled the social security paperwork annually for eight years for the “care and support” of the kids, according to the indictment.
The scam was only realized last September when his son, who is blind, turned 18 and applied for supplemental security income with his mother, according to the court documents.
Conway faces a charge of wire fraud, according to authorities. He was released on $200,000 bond following his presentment in Brooklyn federal court Wednesday afternoon.
His lawyer declined to comment after court.