Former New Yorker’s pension funds stole son after her death: watchdog

It was a disgusting adventure.

Authorities said the conniving son allegedly disposed of his 90-year-old mother’s body after she died of natural causes and then pocketed her Social Security and pension payments for a year.

Elizabeth Dorothy Case, a former Jamaican, Queens resident, was a retired chief accountant for the agency now known as the State Office of Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD). She moved to Maryland “at least 20 years ago” and moved in with her son, Charles Alton Bump Jr., 62, from Somerset, Maryland, according to State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli’s office.

In 2019, a worried neighbor reported to the Social Security Administration that Case, who was about 90 at the time, had not been seen for over a year.

According to DiNapoli, after “repeated attempts” to contact Case, the SSA required her to appear in person at their offices in order to continue receiving payments.

When her son showed up instead of her, skeptical SSA investigators questioned him, authorities said.

According to DiNapoli, Bump claimed his mom was on a world cruise and could only be contacted by email.

But Case never left the country — and he didn’t even have a passport, DiNapoli said.

Faced with the truth, Bump “eventually” admitted that his mom was dead. “The investigators believe that he disposed of her body,” said the controller, without going into details.

Investigators believe Case’s son pocketed about $53,000 of his mother’s pension checks — $24,641 from the Social Security Administration and $28,679 from the New York State Pension Fund, the DiNapoli office said.

For pension payments, Keyes received monthly deposits into her bank account, according to the controller. She also received direct deposit payments from the SSA. “Every month, Bump went to the bank and withdrew SSA and pension payments from her account in full,” the New York State Supervisory Service said.

Bump is being pursued in Maryland and was arrested and arraigned Jan. 19 on three counts of theft, the DiNapoli office said. Bail was set at $5,000.

In another twist in the creepy case, Bump answered his mother’s cell phone on Friday when he got a call from a Post reporter.

Bump said his “wonderful, loving mom” moved in with him in 1996 and he last saw her on March 30, 2021, on his 60th birthday. He claimed that she died “peacefully of old age” in March 2022. “She was on holiday abroad and her last wish was to be buried at sea,” he insisted.

Bump added: “She was lucky enough to live to be almost 92 years old. She never gave up.”

Upon learning that the prosecutor’s office claims that his mother never left the country and believes that he got rid of her corpse, the “builder” fell silent. “At the moment I am looking for a lawyer. I appreciate it,” he said politely.

“Mr. Bump’s alleged crimes were callous and driven by greed. This case should be a warning to anyone and everywhere who thinks of trying to cheat the pension system: you will be caught,” DiNapoli said.