'You Have a Right to . . . '

According to a report by Fox News:

The Social Security Administration admits it knows for certain that in the past four years alone it has paid wanted men and women at least $76 million in Supplemental Security Income benefits that were designed for poor Americans with disabilities.

That's not all: It's entirely possible, the agency admits, that those fleeing justice could be receiving an additional $30 million a year in SSI benefits.

It gets worse: A recent federal audit has revealed that the total of SSI benefits going to fugitives since 1996 could reach as much as $283 million.

There's more: On top of that $283 million, auditors say, there is another $400 million – this time from Social Security's main program, which pays senior citizens, survivors and disability-insurance benefits – that may have been handed out during the second Clinton-Gore term to some 25,000 fugitives charged with all sorts of offenses.

The grand total – so far: $683 million.

It doesn't end there: Millions more could very well end up in accused felons' pockets because state law-enforcement agencies haven't yet completed lists of whom they consider fugitives.

Here's just one example:

Anthony Cummings, wanted in Georgia for the rape of a 3-year-old girl, collected checks from the Clinton-Gore administration for the full 41 months he was on the lam.

Want to know how much he was paid?

Can't tell you, because of the privacy law.

However, based on the maximum-benefit levels at that time, he could have hauled in as much as $19,556.

Following that trail of checks, authorities tracked him down in New York City, and he's now serving a 10-year prison sentence.

SSA hopes a new computer program that compares state fugitive files with lists of SSI and other Social Security beneficiaries will help stop such abuse.

It's against federal law for felony fugitives to receive SSI payments, even though the Clinton-Gore administration paid out nearly $300 million to them in just four years.

But there's no law whatsoever to stop wanted criminals from receiving money from Social Security's main programs – senior citizens, survivors and disability-insurance benefits.