A certified nursing assistant was sentenced to a year and one day in prison by the North Carolina state attorney general for stealing retirement benefits from a disabled veteran. She was also ordered to pay $90,000 in restitution, prosecutors said.

The documentation provided by the prosecutors mentions that Tracey McNeil, 51, had fraudulently obtained the power of attorney for financial and health matters of the veteran, who had dementia, between the dates of February 2015 and February 2017.

The victim, identified as W.R,  had worked for the U.S. Postal Service and the Army for a period of 41 years.

Before the veteran died in 2016 at the age of 68, McNeil had moved him into her house, which gave her permission to deposit all the retirement benefits and The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) benefits in her name. In that year, she filled out forms that identified her as the sole beneficiary of the veteran’s retirement benefits and life insurance policy.

McNeill reportedly received $90,003 in benefits on behalf of W.R. over the next year and a half. Prosecutors said her expenses included rent, utilities, credit card payments and personal expenses.

About $17,533 in life insurance policy payouts were received by McNeill.

Although it wasn't clear how investigators discovered the alleged fraud, court filings say McNeill was arrested on Oct. 29, 2020. She was released later that day. The investigators also found McNeill guilty of one count of wire fraud. Her time at FCI Alderson, a minimum-security prison in West Virginia, was recommended by a federal judge. It has not been determined when she will surrender.