HOUSTON (AP) - In order to verify that applicants were truly disabled, investigators with the Social Security Administration's antifraud unit told several Houston-area disability applicants -- including a mentally ill woman -- that they could be suspects in robberies, according to a published report.

Cheryl Braxton said two officers bearing badges came to her home to question her as a possible robbery suspect two years ago, the Houston Chronicle reported in its Sunday editions.

Even though Harris County Sheriff's deputies who were working undercover for the federal agency knew there wasn't a robbery case, they questioned her to determine if Braxton could think and talk clearly, undermining her disability claim based on a mental illness, the paper reported.

While some say the tactics are unethical, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled it is acceptable for police officers to lie to people they suspect of committing a crime in order to obtain evidence or confessions.

Houston lawyer Victor Makris says although technically legal, the practice pushes the spirit of the law by confronting applicants with crimes they are not suspected of committing in order to obtain information.

"From an ethical standpoint, it smacks of bad faith by the government," he said.

The undercover officers wrote in their report that Braxton did not display childlike behaviors she described on her disability application.

But in December, administrative law Judge Donald Willy ruled Braxton's disability claim was honest and that her mental illness did prevent her from working.

Harris County Sheriff's Department Capt. Robert Van Pelt said the investigations are legal and necessary in order "to get information which (officers) otherwise could not get." The sheriff's department has provided two investigators to look into the cases through a federal grant since July 2000.

The Social Security Administration's Office of Inspector General declined to comment on how it conducts antifraud investigations.

Last year, Social Security Inspector General James Huse Jr. said benefits were denied to 2,700 of 6,900 applicants saving $159 million because of the investigations, which began in 1998.

Huse said the agency investigates to determine if an applicant's physical activities match the person's disability claim.

Another Houston resident had his claim denied after investigators showed up at his home and said they believe he or someone with his name was involved in a robbery. When the man, who had claimed he could no longer work due to vision loss, said he hadn't been involved in a robbery, the undercover officers asked him to look at photographs of possible suspects.

Officers said the man told them he could see the photographs clearly, contradicting his disability claims, and said he had a full-time job.