TAMPA — A 64-year-old Tampa woman wrapped her dead aunt’s body in blankets, sheets and plastic bags and dumped it in a wooded lot next to a wastewater treatment plant to keep collecting more than $75,000 in Social Security and pension benefits, according to a federal indictment announced by U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe.

Rebecca Stewart Vaughn faces four counts of wire fraud, each carrying a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison, and one count of theft of government money punishable by up to 10 years. The indictment also seeks forfeiture of more than $75,000, which prosecutors say represents the proceeds of the scheme.

According to the charging document, Vaughn’s aunt — identified only as J.C. — had been receiving monthly payments from the Social Security Administration and the Teacher’s Retirement System of the City of New York. When J.C. died, Vaughn concealed the death by placing the body in a mattress bag and disposing of it in the wooded lot. She also falsely told law enforcement officers that J.C. was still alive, prosecutors said, fraudulently inducing both agencies to continue issuing benefits that Vaughn then spent on herself and others.

An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed one or more violations of federal criminal law, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless, and until, proven guilty.

The case was investigated by the Social Security Administration Office of the Inspector General and the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office. Special Assistant United States Attorney Matthew Del Mastro is prosecuting the case in the Middle District of Florida.

The charges come roughly a month after the Department of Justice announced the creation of the National Fraud Enforcement Division on April 7. That division’s core mission is to investigate and prosecute those who steal or fraudulently misuse taxpayer dollars, supporting President Trump’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud — a whole-of-government effort chaired by Vice President J.D. Vance to root out fraud, waste and abuse within federal benefit programs.