Antoinette Vazquez Cobain

Introduction

Antoinette Vazquez Cobain, 67, of Loveland, Colorado, was sentenced to six months in federal prison after pleading guilty to one count of wire fraud in a scheme that used two Social Security numbers to collect Social Security and federal housing benefits she was not entitled to for nearly seventeen years, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado announced on October 20, 2026. She was also ordered to pay $247,303.48 in restitution and will serve three years of supervised release after her prison term. The sentencing, presided over by U.S. District Judge Nina Y. Wang, closed a case that federal officials framed as one of the longer-running benefit frauds they had prosecuted.

Background Information

Vazquez Cobain collected benefits through two separate federal programs: Social Security payments and the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program, administered locally through the Loveland Housing Authority. According to the plea agreement and facts established at her sentencing hearing, she wrongfully obtained payments from both programs from about December 2007 until August 2024. The mechanism of the scheme, as federal prosecutors described it, was identity duality: she used one Social Security number to obtain the benefits, and a second Social Security number to work and conceal her assets, keeping her income hidden from the agencies paying her. The investigation was conducted by the Social Security Administration’s Office of the Inspector General and the HUD Office of the Inspector General.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Convicted by plea and sentenced. Vazquez Cobain pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and was sentenced to six months in federal prison.

Federal prosecutors said Vazquez Cobain’s scheme ran from approximately December 2007 through August 2024 — nearly two decades — during which she collected Social Security payments and HUD Section 8 rental assistance through the Loveland Housing Authority while concealing her work and assets behind a second Social Security number. The arrangement allowed her to keep receiving benefits for which she was not eligible, prosecutors said, and the total loss reached nearly $250,000 in taxpayer-funded federal funds.

Vazquez Cobain pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud. At sentencing, U.S. District Judge Nina Y. Wang imposed six months in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered restitution of $33,159.48 to the Social Security Administration and $214,144 to the Loveland Housing Authority — a combined $247,303.48, with the housing-related portion representing the largest share of the identified losses, according to North Forty News’ account of the announcement. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado announced the sentence on October 20, 2026; the case was filed as 1:25-cr-00340-NYW and prosecuted by Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura A. Shattuck.

Public Reaction and Consequences

Federal officials used unusually pointed language in announcing the sentence. “Antoinette Vazquez Cobain spent almost two decades using two social security numbers to orchestrate a sophisticated fraud scheme that resulted in the theft of almost $250,000 in taxpayer-funded federal benefits, including substantial HUD rental assistance funds intended to support our nation’s most vulnerable populations,” said Machelle Jindra, Special Agent in Charge of the HUD Office of Inspector General. “Her actions were not a one-time mistake or lapse in judgment, but a calculated and sustained effort to defraud the United States Government over many years.”

U.S. Attorney Peter McNeilly said abusing government programs for personal gain “reduces the resources which are supposed to be available to people who really need them,” adding, “I am glad we were able to bring justice to someone who stole from American taxpayers.” Christian Assaad, the SSA OIG Special Agent-in-Charge for the Denver-Seattle Field Division, said committing fraud against Social Security programs “directly harms the vulnerable individuals these programs are meant to support.” No public statement from Vazquez Cobain or her attorney was reported in the coverage.

Current Status

Vazquez Cobain is a sentenced federal felon. Her sentence — six months of incarceration followed by three years of supervised release — was announced by the U.S. Attorney’s Office on October 20, 2026, and she remains obligated to pay $247,303.48 in restitution to the two victim agencies. The case is fully adjudicated at the district-court level; no appeal was reported in the available coverage. Because the sentence was announced rather than carried out in public view, her exact reporting date to custody has not been publicly stated.

Impact on Their Career/Life

At 67, Vazquez Cobain’s consequence is the end of the arrangement she kept for seventeen years: the benefits have stopped, the duplicated identity is exposed, and a restitution obligation of nearly a quarter million dollars now follows her through her supervised release. The conviction also carries the collateral consequences of a federal fraud felony — including the loss of the housing assistance and benefit eligibility that were the subject of the scheme. Her name is now attached to a published federal press release, an SSA OIG news release, and local coverage in northern Colorado describing the two-Social-Security-number method in detail. The fraud’s beneficiaries, in the government’s framing, were never legitimate: the money is earmarked for people who, in McNeilly’s words, “really need” it.

Sources

U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Colorado, “Loveland Woman Sentenced to Federal Prison, Nearly $250,000 in Restitution for Social Security Fraud and Housing Fraud”, October 20, 2026 — source
SSA Office of the Inspector General, “Loveland Woman Sentenced to Federal Prison, Nearly $250,000 in Restitution for Social Security Fraud and Housing Fraud”, October 20, 2026 — source
North Forty News, “Loveland Woman Sentenced to Federal Prison for Social Security and Housing Fraud”, October 2026 — source