A man has been charged with three counts of welfare fraud, in addition to failing to report his father’s death and hiding his body.

58-year-old Irvin Nicholson Jr. was arrested last July after police found the body in a wheelbarrow outside his home.

His father died in 2017.

Nicholson Jr. claimed he was in the process of putting his dad into a retirement home when they got into an argument.

The Elkhart Truth reports that Nicholson Jr. says he found his father dead in the garage the day after they argued.

He says he didn’t want to contact the police because he was afraid his grandchildren would be taken away.

Police report Nicholson Jr. had kept his father’s body for two year, and even brought it with him when he relocated to Goshen in early 2019.

Nicholson Jr. also admitted to police that his late father continued receiving Social Security deposits after his death, that then he used for himself.

He has been sentenced to 1 and half years in jail, with 6 months suspended and will placed on home detention.

This story was originally reported by the Elkhart Truth and can be found here.