LINCOLN - Nearly $278,000 from the Nebraska Public Employees Retirement Systems was wrongfully sent to 11 people — before authorities figured out those people were no longer alive.

One of such people had been dead for seven years, 83 months exactly, where payments were made. This totaled $105,250 according to an audit released this week by the State Auditor of Public Accounts.

As of now, no money has been recouped in the case of the NPERS member who has been dead since 2014. The case has been forwarded to the Nebraska Attorney General's Office after halting payment in 2021.

Law enforcement is now investigating the case for potential fraud, said Craig Kubicek, deputy state auditor.

“For it to go on that long is probably unusual — we’re talking seven years,” he said.

Some plans allow for payments and benefits to be extended to beneficiaries after death but, according to Kubicek, these plans were not those types.

Based on auditor recommendations, new procedures have been put into place to avoid future mistakes in the system. This system covers public employees of schools, judges, and the Nebraska State Patrol.

NPERS had previously relied on two methods to determine whether a member had died: obituaries in three separate newspapers; and a vendor who performed a "death audit" every month that cross-referenced member names with public sources.

Inefficiencies in that process led to NPERS switching to a different vendor in 2020. The new provider then identified the cases of the woman who had died in 2014 as well as seven others, all of whose payments were halted in February 2021.

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