‘Predatory abuse of power.’ Social Security worker sentenced for trying to pay beneficiary for sex

A former Social Security Administration employee was sentenced to six months in prison Friday for attempting to pay a New Hampshire mother for sex after she lost her job and applied for Social Security benefits at his office, prosecutors said.

Dae Sung Kim, 36, of Auburn, pleaded guilty in February to attempting to induce a person to travel over state lines for prostitution, the US Attorney’s office said. Kim will also serve five years of supervised release.

“This man — this government employee — didn’t just try to exploit me. He created a situation that could have exploited any woman who walked into that office needing help,” the woman wrote in a victim impact statement. “This was not a misstep. This was not a lapse in judgment. This was predatory abuse of power. He tried to take advantage of my disability, my gender, my circumstances, and my humanity.”

In March of last year, after losing her job, the woman visited a Social Security office in Gardner, where Kim worked as a claims specialist, according to court records.

During the visit, the woman was “visibly upset and crying” and trying to have her disability benefits reinstated, Kim’s lawyer wrote in court documents.

“I was devastated, ashamed, and scared. I walked in the Social Security office that day not just for benefits — but for hope,“ the woman said in her impact statement. ”I was crying, reeling, and desperate to find a way to support my family.”

After directing the woman to contact a Social Security office in New Hampshire, Kim looked up the woman’s phone number and called her twice, asking if they could “work something out” to alleviate the woman’s financial situation, court documents state.

The woman alerted police to Kim’s “overtures” and in subsequent text exchanges monitored by police, Kim asked if she was “open to having some fun for $,” court documents show.

In a phone call monitored by police, Kim said he wanted to have sex with the woman and offered her $100 to do so, court documents show.

In June, an undercover officer took over the correspondence and Kim continued to ask for sex, haggling over the amount of money he would pay the woman, court documents show.

In October 2024, Kim and the undercover officer agreed to meet in the parking lot of a Great Wolf Lodge in Fitchburg, where Kim said he would pay $100 in exchange for having sex in his car, court documents show.

In the parking lot, Kim was met by police. When asked if he thought he was going to be paying the woman for sex, Kim “nodded in the affirmative,” court documents show.

“She was upset and she was talking about how she was in a tough situation with her kids, so I just kind of felt bad for her,” Kim told officers.

Kim’s lawyer sought a sentence of three years of supervised release, saying his client had suffered irreversible damage to his reputation.

“The shame brought upon Dae Sung’s Korean-immigrant family is so great that his own parents did not provide letters in support for sentencing,” Kim’s attorney wrote in court documents. “A committed sentence would add nothing to the fear and shame Dae Sung faces every day.”

Prosecutors, on the grounds that Kim had a greater responsibility as a public employee, sought a sentence of one year in prison.

“This was a shocking abuse of power by someone entrusted to serve the public,” Michelle Anderson, the SSA’s acting inspector general, said in a statement, “This predatory behavior is intolerable.”

Kim’s attorney could not be reached for further comment.

Truman Dickerson can be reached at truman.dickerson@globe.com.