Matawan Man Got Half A Million In Disability Benefits While Skiing In Italian Alps

MATAWAN, NJ — A Matawan man who received $585,000 in disability benefits while he went skiing in the Italian Alps and Park City, Utah is currently serving one year and a day in prison.

Steven D. Stankovits, 57, of Matawan, was sentenced in Trenton federal court on July 21. He was previously convicted of defrauding the Social Security Administration. Stankovits was convicted in March, when a jury found him guilty of four counts of wire fraud and one count of lying to the Social Security Administration.

U.S. Attorney Robert Frazer announced Stankovits' sentencing in this press release on Monday.

Federal prosecutors say Stankovits lied to the Social Security Administration, telling them he was unable to work, could not comfortably sit for more than 15 minutes, could not bend down to put on his clothes, struggled to lift a carton of milk and had been forced to give up skiing.

The feds say he lied repeatedly to the Social Security Administration for nearly 15 years. As a result, the Social Security Administration paid him more than $585,000 in disability benefits. He was found eligible for Social Security Disability Insurance Benefits in 2010, and he received benefits retroactive to 2007.

In fact, during that time Stankovits was a licensed funeral director working at two different funeral homes. His work included gardening, shoveling snow, carrying 160-pound caskets down a flight of stairs, and climbing a ladder onto the roof to install a sign.

In addition, Stankovits took long flights to go skiing in Cortina, Italy, Lake Tahoe, and Park City, Utah, and purchased a skiing season pass in Killington, Vermont during those 15 years.

Stankovits was also ordered to pay a $50,000 fine, restitution of $585,629 and to forfeit $480,968 in ill-gotten proceeds.