Nigerian social worker jailed for stealing $17,000 from orphaned autistic child, fled US before capture

• Prosecutors said she redirected the child's Social Security payments into her own account and spent the money on personal expenses.

• After the scheme was uncovered, she allegedly fled to Togo using a passport issued under a different name, but was later arrested, sentenced to five months in prison, and ordered to repay the stolen funds.

A Nigerian woman working as a social worker in Washington State has been sentenced to five months in prison after pleading guilty to stealing more than $17,000 in Social Security benefits meant for an orphaned autistic child under her care.

Akeatha Diane Akintola, 48, was taken into custody immediately after her plea and sentencing hearing before Magistrate Judge Kate Vaughan, the US Attorney's Office for the Western District of Washington said in a statement issued on June 18.

According to court records, Akintola became a social worker for the Snoqualmie Tribe in January 2023. In September of that year, she applied by phone to become the Social Security representative payee for a minor child with intellectual disabilities who was a ward of the tribe, a role tribal policy explicitly barred social workers from holding for children under their own care.

Prosecutors said Akintola got around the rule by using the child's Social Security number alongside her own to secure the appointment, then redirected the child's benefits into a bank account she controlled. The money, prosecutors said, was spent on personal expenses.

The theft unravelled in July 2024, when Akintola accompanied her supervisor to the Social Security Administration to ask about the child's missing benefits. Officials there revealed that Akintola herself was listed as the representative payee. She denied it, then resigned the following day.

Akintola failed to appear at an earlier hearing scheduled for May 22, 2026. Prosecutors later learned she had left the US two days prior and travelled to Togo using a passport issued under a different last name. She eventually returned and appeared before Judge Vaughan, who ordered her into custody to begin serving her sentence immediately.

At sentencing, Vaughan said she was struck by the fact that Akintola had targeted a vulnerable victim. A representative of the Snoqualmie Tribe told the court that Akintola had abused her position and exploited a grieving child for financial gain.

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"In our profession, a social worker is meant to be a safekeeper. A protector for children who have been stripped of their safety, family, and stability," the representative said. "Ms Akintola did not just fail in that duty; she weaponised her position of power to systematically steal from a grieving, autistic child."

Akintola has been ordered to pay $17,638 in restitution to the Social Security Administration and has been permanently barred from ever serving as a representative payee again.