A couple accused of concealing the death of a relative in an Overland Park home for six years while stealing more than $200,000 in fraudulent benefits paid on his behalf have pleaded guilty to federal fraud and theft.
As part of the plea agreements filed on September 26 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas, Lynn Ritter, 61, and Kirk Ritter, 61, pleaded guilty to charges of bank fraud and theft of public funds and agreed to a to pay restitution of nearly $150,000. in Social Security benefits and about $70,000 from a Sprint retirement plan, according to court documents.
Both will be sentenced on December 19.
Kirk Ritter’s attorney, Scott Toth, said he could not comment on the case until after the sentencing. Messages sent to Lynn Ritter’s attorneys on Wednesday were not returned.
Authorities learned of the death of Lynn Ritter’s father, Mike Carroll, 81, of Overland Park, after her husband, Kirk Ritter, told police in October 2022 that Carroll had died and that his body was inside the home, according to court documents. Lynn Ritter was her father’s primary caregiver.
Police found Carroll’s remains “in a mummified state” in a bed at his home, and authorities later determined he had died around July 1, 2016. Overland Park police initially investigated the case as a suspicious death, and the Johnson County Medical Examiner’s Office later determined that Carroll had died of natural causes.
A family member told The Star last year that authorities determined the man had died in July 2016 because his pacemaker had stopped working at the time.
Prosecutors alleged that Lynn Ritter and Kirk Ritter concealed Carroll’s death and withdrew money from his account at an Overland Park bank, including money from Social Security and a retirement plan he had as a former Sprint employee, according to court documents .
Law enforcement officials discovered that 76 deposits totaling approximately $69,000 had been made from the Sprint plan, and that approximately $147,000 in Social Security benefits were deposited into Carroll’s account after his death.
A family member told The Star last year that she always received excuses as to why Carroll couldn’t come to the phone.
“We were denied contact with him,” Caroll’s niece, Janet Carroll, said in March 2023. “And now we know why.”
The Star’s Bill Lukitsch and Jenna Thompson contributed to this story.
