Commercial truck driver sentenced for illegally collecting $371K in disability, food stamp, and unemployment benefits

A Connecticut man was sentenced to prison for lying to the federal government to obtain hundreds of thousands of dollars in benefits while earning wages as a commercial truck driver.

On March 9, 2026, Hartford resident Ricardo Santiago, 60, was sentenced to 57 months of imprisonment to be followed by 3 years of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay $371,686 in restitution, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut.

Santiago was arrested on May 7, 2024, and he pleaded guilty to wire fraud in February 2025.

Official say that between 2002 and 2024, Santiago held jobs with more than 20 employers, including work as a truck driver with a commercial driver’s license for Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration-regulated entities, and earned income totaling more than $580,000. 

In 2002, Santiago represented to the Social Security Administration that he was unable to work due to disability and collected Retirement Survivors Disability Insurance (RSDI) benefits “to which he was not entitled” totaling more than $316,000. To continue collecting the benefits, he completed paperwork in 2017 claiming that he was still disabled and had not worked in the past two years.

Santiago also began receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, also known as food stamps, in March 2017 after asserting to federal and Connecticut authorities that he earned no income from employment. Santiago made more than $18,000 in purchases with SNAP benefits to which he was not entitled, authorities said.

In April 2020, Santiago used a Social Security number belonging to another individual to apply for Unemployment Insurance benefits, representing to Connecticut and federal authorities that he was “unemployed but available for work and physically able to work.” Between April 2020 through February 2021, Santiago reportedly received more than $36,000 in unemployment benefits to which he was not entitled.

“In September 2025, while released on bond and awaiting sentencing, Santiago staged his and his daughter’s drowning in the Connecticut River and attempted to flee.  Hartford Police located Santiago and his daughter in Hartford on September 20, 2025. Santiago has been detained since that date,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office stated.

This case was investigated by the Social Security Administration Office of the Inspector General, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Office of the Inspector General, the U.S. Department of Labor Office of the Inspector General, and the U.S. Department of Transportation Office of the Inspector General.