Phony tries to get VA benefits

An article from my old stomping grounds recounts the story of 53-year-old Marc Restucci who tried to weasel some benefits out of the VA for injuries he claimed to have received in the Grenada invasion;

Authorities say he submitted false military forms to the VA in an effort to increase his disability benefits. On the forms, he listed among his decorations, the Purple Heart medal, which is given to those injured or killed in combat.

Court papers suggest Restucci claimed he was shot multiple times while serving during the conflict in Grenada in 1983.

Authorities say he even submitted a phony Purple Heart award certificate. Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig Gestring said, “Those documents were reviewed by the Veterans Affairs folks in the benefits department and they had a concern about it. They referred it to the criminal investigations who then followed up and it was determined that those documents were, in fact, fraudulent.”

Restucci, a former licensed nurse at the VA hospital in Canandaigua, did serve in the Army from 1976 to 1979 and served in the Army National Guard through 1998.

As always, I’m sure it’s just another poor guy trying to speak freely and there’s nothing fraudulent about that.

Category: Phony soldiers