Marlow woman accused of stealing $34,000 from nieces’ survivor’s benefits

DUNCAN — A Marlow woman is free on $25,000 bail after being accused of stealing $34,000 in survivors’ benefits intended for her nieces.

Jennifer Hickam, 36, made her initial appearance Wednesday in Stephens County District Court where she received four felony charges: two counts of embezzlement and two counts of second-degree forgery, records indicate.

Stephens County Sheriff’s Investigator Leslie Richardson met with one of the sisters, a 19-year-old, who believed Hickam mishandled her and her sister’s survivors’ benefits. She said her father died Jan. 6, 2022, from COVID and at that time, she was 17 and her sister, 16, the probable cause affidavit states. Hickam took the oldest girl in and the younger girl lived with her mother.

The late-father didn’t leave a will but left $17,000 for his daughters, Richardson stated. After funeral costs, driver’s education class costs and storage fees, she said Hickam opened a bank account with $8,000 of the money with $1,900 put into the older girl’s account to begin her survivor’s benefits and another made for the sister, according to the affidavit. She said she was never told how much the benefits would be and she wasn’t allowed access to the account. She said Hickam said she was protecting the money from the girls’ mother.

The older girl began a job in September 2022 and turned 18 the next month. The family then moved to Duncan in December 2022 and the eldest girl moved most of her belongings into a small house on the property where she paid electric and gas bills with money from her job, the affidavit states. After deciding she was going to move out, the eldest said she was kicked out of the home on March 22.

The girl told Richardson that Hickam had told her she would be getting her benefits and savings on Jan. 8 and March 25. After demanding the money, the girl said, Hickam sent a letter on March 27 that contained a $1,000 check that was leftover from her father’s money, the affidavit states. The letter stated the remaining balance of the money was $11,500 and that she’d divided the balance between the sisters with each getting $5,575. Richardson stated Hickam itemized deductions for food thrown out, toys, bills, cleaning fees, storage removal and lost wages for three days.

Text messages between the girl and Hickam showed the girl was instructed to pay for items from Walmart with cash.

Richardson received a search warrant for Hickam’s bank account and received five different accounts, including the one for the girls. The first deposit into the eldest girl’s account was made April 1, 2022, and was $1,000; another $8,000 deposited on June 16, 2022, and after that, the girl received her benefits as checks through the mail. Several transfers of the girl’s checks were made into Hickam’s account, Richardson stated.

On June 22, a search warrant was executed at Hickam’s home and $8,909 was recovered, less than what had been written down, according to the affidavit.

In all, Hickam is accused of forging both girls’ names on the survivors’ benefit checks and of stealing $20,542 from the older girl and $13,422 from the younger girl, according to the charges.

As part of her bail, Hickam is to have no contact with the girls. She returns to court at 9 a.m. Nov. 29 for her preliminary hearing conference.