Following an FDLE investigation, Marc Antolin Vega, 42, of Ft. Lauderdale, was arrested for scheme to defraud and grand theft.
FDLE began its investigation at the request of the Florida Department of Management Services (DMS) after the DMS Office of Inspector General (OIG) found irregularities related to a Florida Retirement System pension distribution involving the pension of Vega’s mother, who was a state employee.
Vega’s mother, a divorcee, passed away in 2010. At the time, DMS explained to Vega that because he was over 25 and his mother was divorced at the time of her death, there would be no survivor benefits payable on her state retirement account.
FDLE agents say that in 2011 Vega began contacting DMS claiming to be his mother’s ex-husband. He provided several altered and fictitious documents to establish himself as the former husband and to show his mother was married at the time of her death. Because of his fraud, Vega was able to collect survivor benefits.
Vega was sent to prison for unrelated crimes from 2013 to 2021. During that time, his wife tried to access the benefits. The DMS OIG contacted FDLE after receiving correspondence from what appeared to be more than one person claiming to be the husband (recipient of the benefits). Agents believe Vega stole nearly $90,000 in benefits.
Vega was arrested yesterday by Hollywood PD and booked into the Broward County Jail. Attorney General Ashley Moody’s Office of Statewide Prosecution will prosecute the case.
