Woman convicted of using dead child’s identity to steal $200,000

A woman who used the identity of a dead child for a decade and a half to obtain nearly $200,000 in welfare benefits was sentenced to 24 months in prison Tuesday.

According to prosecutors, 56-year-old Christina Vaskovsky initially used the child’s identity to evade a 2008 arrest warrant. Vaskovsky, of Colerain Township, also used the child’s identity to file for bankruptcy and unsuccessfully apply for a pandemic relief loan.

When Vaskovsky was arrested along with her daughter for shoplifting in Kentucky in 2019, she used a false identity.

In imposing the prison sentence in federal court in Cincinnati, U.S. District Judge Jeffery Hopkins called Vaskovsky’s conduct “outrageous” and said she had engaged in illegal behavior for many years but “never faced any consequences for it.”