WILLIAMSON, W.Va. — Authorities say a Mingo County woman stole veteran survivor benefits for 12 years, just as they say her mother did until her death.

The case centers on survivor benefits paid to the widow of a soldier killed in World War II. The widow died in 1999, but the checks kept being sent to her mailbox in Matewan.

Court records say that the widow’s niece forged her aunt’s signature on the checks in order to cash them and keep the money. That continued until the niece’s death in 2011.

Officials say the niece’s daughter, identified as Jessica Horton, picked up where her mother left off and continued cashing the checks until the Department of Veterans Affairs discovered the widow’s death this past January.

Horton has now been charged in a federal indictment with theft of more than $182,000 in government benefits. She has been ordered to appear in U.S. District Court in Charleston on Wednesday for arraignment.