Baton Rouge Man Cashed Dead Dad’s Benefit Check For 18 Years

A Baton Rouge man is accused of fradulently receiving more than $400,000 in benefits from the Louisiana Teacher's Retirement System over an 18 year span.

How did he do this? According to Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry, 42-year-old Lester Joseph II forged his dead father's signature on beneficiary checks and cashed them.

Landry said that Joseph's mother died in 1997, listing her husband as her beneficiary. Then her husband died in October 1998. However, the teacher retirement system was unaware of his death and kept sending in checks, which were cashed from 1999 until last year.

Joseph faces 201 felony theft counts and two counts of identity theft.