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Colorado man mistaken for dead had Social Security check taken from account

Posted at 6:04 PM, May 10, 2017
and last updated 2017-05-10 21:03:16-04

LONGMONT, Colo. -- An 86-year-old Colorado man is alive and well, but the Treasury Department doesn’t seem to think so and has withdrawn his Social Security check.

It's been over a month now that Theresa Dorian has been hitting the phones day in and day out, desperately trying to prove her elderly father, John Gomez, is alive.

He sat next to her as she made call after call sitting in a mail center in Longmont on Wednesday.

The family said the Department of Treasury is withdrawing Gomez’s social security check from his account because it has listed him as deceased in 2014. This is the second time, they say, there’s been a mix up.

Gomez finds the humor in it all.

"You know, I've never been dead before, so ha, it don't feel bad," Gomez told Denver7

But for Dorian, the fax machine at the Express It Mail Center is her last hope trying to get the Department of Treasury and the Social Security office on the same page.

"I get the runaround. The Department of Treasury says it's Social Security's business. Social Security says it's their [Department of Treasury's] business."

In fact, she tells Denver7, one agency is depositing money in Gomez's account while the other withdraws it.

Each check is a little more than $1,000. So far, they're only missing one month's worth, according to the documents provided for Denver7.

"If someone in dad's case was alone, they would probably be out of a home, gas, food," said Dorian. "I'm hoping they’re gonna [sic] call me and apologize and put some money in the account so we can go on."

Gomez hopes something will come out of this, so the agencies can work on a better system.

By the end of the day, it seemed like there was a breakthrough as a live person with the Social Security Department answered on the other end of the line.

The Social Security Office did not respond to Denver7’s request for comment. The Public Affairs Office asked for Dorian to reach out to them so they may assist in resolving the issue.