Former judge sentenced to 4 years in Social Security case

LEXINGTON, Ky. – A former administrative law judge has been sentenced to four years in prison for taking bribes from a Kentucky lawyer in a $600 million Social Security fraud case.

Eighty-one-year-old David B. Daugherty of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, pleaded guilty in May to taking more than $600,000 in bribes in cases involving clients of Eric C. Conn, who is now a fugitive and was sentenced in absentia to 12 years in prison.

Conn represented thousands in eastern Kentucky in Social Security cases. Daugherty heard their appeals in Huntington, West Virginia.

Conn pleaded guilty to submitting false information to Social Security and making illegal payments to Daugherty. Then, he cut off his electronic monitor and disappeared.