A Tacoma woman and her son will serve time for faking a mental retardation to collect governmental benefits.
CNN reported that Rosie Costello, 46 will serve three years and pay $288,000 in restitution for coaching her son, 28-year-old Pete, to pretend he was retarded so the pair could collect money at the expense of the American taxpayers.
This charade went on for 20 years–since her son was eight years old. Pete Costello, incidentally, got 13 months.
That’s not where it ends, though. Costello tried the same scheme with her younger daughter, Marie, beginning when she was four-years-old.
CNN reported that investigators weren’t even able to find the girl, who is now in her mid-20s.
A statement from the United States Attorney’s office shows that the judge on the case, Ronald B. Leighton, called Costello a “habitual offender.”
You reap what you sow.