Mich. Woman Faces Sentence For NFL Pension Fraud
DETROIT (AP) - Prosecutors are recommending no prison time for an Oakland County woman who forged her late father's signature and collected about $70,000 from an NFL pension plan.
Constance Helwig-Langlois returns to federal court Thursday for her sentence. The government is recommending probation and six months in a halfway house.
Helwig-Langlois is the daughter of John Helwig, who played defense for the Chicago Bears in the 1950s. He died in 1994, but pension checks kept coming until fall 2011.
The government says Helwig's wife told the NFL retirement plan that he was still alive and continued to illegally cash the checks. When she died in 2007, their daughter kept the scheme going. Prosecutors say the payments added up to more than $200,000 over 17 years.
According to court documents, Helwig-Langlois also admitted to illegally collecting another $50,000 from an annuity investment after her mother died.
MORE: Ex-NFL Player's Daughter Guilty In Pension Fraud
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