A 58-year-old man said he collected his mother’s state disability checks for more than 11 years after her death because she wanted him to do so.  

Steven L. Splater pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court Wednesday to three counts of mail fraud. He faces maximum 20-year terms for each count at sentencing in June. He could also be ordered to pay back the state of Hawaii $223,925.

Steven Splater said he knew that the power of attorney his mother, Edith M. Splater, gave him expired when she died March 3, 2000,  yet he continued to exercise it.

He admitted that on May 23, 2003, he sent the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations a form claiming that his mother was still alive.

The government says Slater collected the disability checks until July 5, 2011, and deposited them into an account held in his mother’s name.