ONONDAGA DRUG DEALER PLEADS GUILTY TO FRAUD

He Admits Receiving $100,000 In Disability Benefits Since 1995

An Onondaga man admitted Wednesday he defrauded the federal government out
of $100,000 in disability benefits by failing to reveal he was a
self-employed drug dealer.

Van Williams, 58, of 4371 Olympus Heights Drive pleaded guilty to
conspiring to sell cocaine and defrauding the Social Security
Administration by collecting monthly benefits since 1995 for a knee injury.
Williams told the government in sworn documents that he was unable to work,
when in fact he was selling cocaine to street-level dealers in Syracuse
from 1995 until his arrest in December 2000.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Lisa Fletcher said she wasn't aware of another case
in which an accused drug dealer was charged with fraud on accusations he
failed to disclose to the government that he was working as a drug trafficker.

Williams has continued to collect the monthly disability payments even
after his arrest 20 months ago. Those payments will likely stop as a result
of his conviction, Fletcher said.

Williams also pleaded guilty to possessing three firearms as a convicted
criminal. He was convicted in 1980 of selling heroin and served three years
in prison. He was convicted in 1990 of possessing cocaine and served
another three years in prison.

Williams faces up to life in prison and a $4 million fine when U.S.
District Judge Norman Mordue sentences him Dec. 9. The federal sentencing
guidelines call for a sentence of between 151/2 to 181/2 years in prison,
Fletcher said.