A 38-year-old Queens woman today was sentenced to five years' probation and paid full restitution after being convicted of stealing nearly $85,000 in New York state pension payments meant for her deceased father, State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli announced. The defendant, Deanna Hansen, pleaded guilty to felony grand larceny in June.

“People who steal from the state retirement system will be caught and held accountable. Deanna Hansen learned that hard lesson today,” DiNapoli said. “I thank Albany County District Attorney David Soares for partnering with my office to protect the state retirement system.”

Deanna Hansen’s father retired from the state Department of Transportation in March 2003. He was receiving a direct deposit of his pension into a bank account that was in his and his deceased wife’s name. He died in April 2020, at which time, the pension payments should have stopped. In July 2022, the state retirement system learned Hansen’s father had died and stopped payments. At that time, Deanna Hansen also contacted the retirement system about beneficiary information.

Deanna Hansen did not inform the system of her father’s death. Instead, after her father’s death, Hansen accessed her deceased father’s account online to obtain $67,423 through an online payment platform. She also made several thousand dollars of personal purchases and spent an additional $14,914 on payments to the management company of her father’s condominium, where she resided. In total, Hansen stole $84,754.13 in pension payments to which she was not entitled.

Hansen appeared before Judge Roger D. McDonough in Albany County Court.

Since taking office in 2007, DiNapoli has committed to fighting public corruption and encourages the public to help fight fraud and abuse. New Yorkers can report allegations of fraud involving taxpayer money by calling the toll-free Fraud Hotline at 1-888-672-4555, by emailing a complaint to [email protected] or by mailing a complaint to: Office of the State Comptroller, Division of Investigations, 8th Floor, 110 State St., Albany, NY 12236.