EX-Police commander gets probation for Social Security theft

CHICAGO (AP) - A former Chicago Police commander who pleaded guilty to charges that he continued for years to cash his mother's Social Security checks after she died isn't going to jail but will be confined to a halfway house or a similar facility.

The Chicago Sun-Times reports that on Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Manish Shah ordered that Kenneth Johnson be placed on probation for two years, six months of which must be spent in what's called community confinement.

In May, Johnson pleaded guilty to Social Security theft after authorities discovered that between May 1994 when his mother died and November 2017 he collected more than $360,000 in payments intended for her.

Johnson was a 32-year veteran of the Chicago Police Department. He was commander of the Englewood District before retiring last year.