GREENBELT, Md. — A Burtonsville man has pleaded guilty to stealing his late father’s Social Security payments for nearly 20 years.

Fifty-year-old Thomas Jefferson Kirby Jr. pleaded guilty to theft of government property in federal court in Greenbelt on Monday. He faces a maximum of 10 years in prison at sentencing Dec. 16.

According to his plea agreement, Kirby’s father received Social Security payments, which were made to a bank account on which the younger Kirby was a co-signer.

Prosecutors say the elder Kirby died in April 1994, but his death was not reported to the Social Security Administration, which paid more than $350,000 in benefits until December 2013.

Prosecutors say Kirby used the money to pay his own expenses.

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