⚖ Oral Arguments, with Context

The First Circuit returns to United States versus Kenneth Pontz, a prosecution over Supplemental Security Income benefits. Pontz told Social Security he lived alone and overstated his rent, although he shared a home with his wife. Her income affected how much he could receive through this needs-based program. A jury convicted him of stealing government money under section six forty-one, in a single charge covering payments from 2014 through 2020. The statute generally makes theft of more than one thousand dollars a felony. On his first appeal, the court held that embezzlement under this law is not a continuing offense: the five-year prosecution clock does not stay open simply because payments keep arriving. Some of the charged conduct was therefore time-barred. The court sent the case back to determine whether the conviction could stand. On remand, the trial judge refused to overturn the conviction, finding sufficient evidence that the later payments alone exceeded the felony threshold. The dispute now is whether the single charge and jury verdict can support the conviction despite the time-barred conduct.

US v Pontz (No. 25-1742) — U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, argued October 7, 2026.