California trucking school owner is sentenced to prison for his role in a $4.1 million GI Bill scam
I don’t know why anyone thinks they’ll get away with this. ninja sent this one in;
The owner of a trucking school in California was sentenced to four years in prison for his involvement in a GI Bill scheme that bilked more than $4 million from the Department of Veteran Affairs, according to the U.S. Attorney General’s Office for the central district of California.
Emmit Marshall, 53, pleaded guilty to five counts of wire fraud in July 2019 and was also ordered by the judge to pay $4.1 million in restitution, U.S. prosecutors announced Monday.
Marshall, the owner and president of the Alliance School of Trucking, admitted in his plea agreement that he and Robert Waggoner, 56, schemed to defraud the VA from July 2011 until April 2015, prosecutors said. The two men recruited veterans to take trucking classes paid for by the Post-9/11 GI Bill. In many cases, the students never attended class and sought to pocket some of the GI Bill money for themselves.
Waggoner pleaded guilty in February to five counts of wire fraud. His sentence hearing is set for March, and he faces a maximum sentence of 100 years in federal prison, according to prosecutors.
“[Marshall] profited most from this conduct, pocketing nearly $1 million himself, which he used for jewelry, a cruise, a trip to Hawaii, property taxes on his Woodland Hills residence, purchase of a Ford F-150 and purchase of semi-tractor trailers for a new business,” prosecutors wrote in their sentencing memorandum released Monday.
The VA paid the tuition and fees directly to the trucking school in which the veterans were enrolled. In the “vast majority of cases,” the veterans never attended classes and just wanted to collect the cash from the allowances awarded by the GI Bill. The VA paid the veterans directly for housing, books and supplies, according to court officials. Marshall and Waggoner got the money for the cost of the classes and veterans got the money for housing, books and supplies, prosecutors said.
At the sentencing hearing, the judge slammed Marshall, saying the scam was “was a very serious fraud on the government,” which involved “calculated, criminal acts that cannot be condoned,” according to prosecutors.
Marshall stated in his plea agreement that he and Waggoner submitted fraudulent enrollment certifications.
Once the two men became aware their scam caught the attention of law enforcement, they removed and destroy bogus student files, according to Marshall’s plea agreement. He also directed the veteran students to lie to VA investigators.
It was unclear Wednesday whether any of the veterans will face legal repercussions or whether the VA will attempt to collect any money from them. The department did not return a request Wednesday for comment.
Marshall also occasionally used the veterans’ personal information to sign them up for VA benefits, forging signatures, sometimes without the veterans’ permission, according to the statement from the U.S. Attorney General’s Office.
A 2018 audit from the VA inspector general found roughly 11,200 students using GI Bill benefits will enroll in programs that violate VA standards, costing the federal government about $585 million in improper payments each year. The bulk of that money goes to for-profit colleges. The inspector general estimates those figures could balloon to 17,000 students and $2.3 billion in five years, if nothing changes.
The VA paid about $2.3 million between 2011 and 2015 to the trucking school and paid about $1.9 million in education benefits directly to the veterans. Court officials said the approximate loss for the VA is unclear, but they estimate it to be at least $4.1 million.
Source; Stars and Stripes
Category: "Teh Stoopid", Guest Link, ninja, Veterans' Affairs Department
Yeppers, lock these SOBs up….ALL of them, up to and including the Vets that were a part of the scheme. And bar them from EVER collecting ANY VA Benefits…EVER! It is for sure that the total amount STOLEN FROM YOU AND I will NEVER be repaid, and the confiscation anything the perps have will be so diluted as to not be worth the effort it takes.
Good examples here of why we can’t have nice things and why the gubmint stays broke. Wake up people, you are not stealing from the government, you are stealing from yourself and fellow citizens. Make the punishment swift, sure, and painful…to encourage the others.
My local area went on a “for profit” learning centers building spree back about ’05/’06. We already had, in the immediate Big Town, a State Jr College, several fine Tech Schools, and within 35 miles a host of other educational facilities. This was due to the AF Base down the road getting more missions/people, an influx of retirees, a boatload of 48th Brigade Troops Federalized for the Iraq War 2.0/A’stan, and in ’09 after the election of the Cool Black Dude, another massive input of grubmint $ for education. No telling how many hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars got pissed away on these places. And not telling how many never got truly educated. A number of those buildings (some former Wally Worlds that had been empty for years) are empty again.
GRRRRRRRRRR!!! I hate a thief…of any sort!
I don’t hear the semi comin, it ain’t comin ‘round the bend…
Speaking of bends, this guy’s gonna get a lot of practice being bend…overed.
100 years.
Start praying boy.
We need a list of the fake students names. Might not be stolen valor but it sure as hell smells like a shit sundae.
“The bulk of that money goes to for-profit colleges.”
Urinalists are so stupid. ALL colleges are “for profit”.
That is why college is not free anywhere in the USA.
Apparently, when the government gouges you for tuition that is 500% overpriced it is just fine, but if Joe’s typing school does it…problem.
All urinalists are asshats and liars.
The difference between for Profit and Not-for-Profit is simply how you want to file your taxes!
For-Profit I don’t have to justify money going to me.
Not-for-Profit I just put the money back in to the school and raise my salary, then hirer my family, and girlfriend to do nothing and raise their salaries too!
FA’ KHEMALL!!! Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
I used every cent of my GI Bill and not one cent was sent to any school. It was all sent to me. There was a Veteran liaison at the school who made sure you were enrolled and kept a decent GPA. I guess the GI Bill works differently today. Aside from that, why in the hell would a vet piss away a gift like that and walk away with nothing (no degree/job training). Smh man
Same here. GI Bill money should never be sent directly to the school. Back in my day, I was paid $545 per month, IIRC, for each month I was enrolled as a student. The university had to verify my enrollment each quarter. If they failed to do so, my monthly checks would have been cut off. With that system, the school has no financial incentive to lie to the VA.
This nonsense is more common than you think..
The VA is fixing it, but keeping a low profile because they wasted a ton on money on these folks without checking.
Now dudes have no GI Bill money and it ain’t coming back.
But I will say this: Soldiers should know better.
If it looks like a turd, smells like a turd and feels like a turd, its a turd. They should not overlook this just to chill and take bs training.
We had a loser up in our neck of the before we sent him packing that was pulling this shit. Recreational therapy. Whatever.
Dudes were getting “training” just to see that their “certificates” were not recognized outside of his “school”.
Staying high and chilling is one thing, moving forward is another. Unsure how much sympathy I really have in the end.
Despicable on the part of the two school administrators, but as far as I am concerned, the actions of the veterans are even more despicable.
Amen, CGL. Cut them guys off with no more VA bennies for the rest of their lives.