A tax auditor who pleaded guilty to Social Security and theft offenses was sentenced Monday in Honolulu by a federal judge to five years' probation, six months' home detention, and ordered to make restitution of $46,000.

Seventy-nine-year-old Patricia "Pat" Pendleton, also known as Patricia Blackburn and Patricia Uehara, set up two different identities and Social Security numbers in order to receive pensions resulting in an overpayment of about $50,000 between 2002 and 2006, according to the U.S. attorney's office for Hawai'i.

Pendleton was paid widowers benefits from her marriage to a deceased former wage contributor to the Social Security system that were electronically deposited into a bank account. She also received benefits under a fictitious name and falsely acquired Social Security number based on her own wage earner contributions that were electronically deposited into an account at another bank.

The Social Security Administration discovered the fraud in an investigation targeting beneficiaries receiving multiple benefits under fake identities and/or multiple Social Security numbers.

Pendleton, a former tax auditor for the state of Hawai'i and private industry here, started using a fraudulent identity and falsely acquired Social Security number in the 1960s and began collecting benefits in the late 1980s and early 1990s while she was in her sixties. Pendleton, who was indicted by a federal grand jury in August 2007, was sentenced by District Judge Helen Gillmor.