Six vets guilty of fraud in MD
Chip sends us a link to an article in the Baltimore Sun about six veterans, some of whom had never been in Vietnam, who had paid the former deputy chief of veterans’ affairs, David Clark, to receive benefits related to Agent Orange;
Those who pleaded guilty this week are Kenneth Williams, 64, of Baltimore (Marine Corps); Raymond Sadler, 61, of Middle River (Marine Corps); Sandra Tyree, 64, of Rosedale (Air Force); Kenneth Webster, 67, of Pasadena (Marine Corps); Paul Heard, 64, of Baltimore (Navy); and John Bratcher, 54, of Conowingo (Air Force).
All face up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, and must pay back what they earned through the scheme, prosecutors said.
The scheme included manufacturing documentation to support their phony claims. But Stolen Valor is victimless.
Clark allegedly fabricated documents showing he and others had been awarded service honors, the indictment says, including Purple Heart Medals and Vietnam Service Medals.
[…]
The fraud resulted in benefits losses of more than $1.15 million and property tax losses of more than $250,000, the indictment says.
Yeah, even divided up six ways, that’s going to be tough to pay back from prison by renting out their various orifices to their cell mates. So, thanks, Maryland. Can you reelect O’Malley again so he can put some more of his cronies in positions of responsibility.
Category: Phony soldiers, Veterans Issues
Like I said when I submitted this to Jonn, at least *they* got caught and sentenced.
Who *else* is getting away with this crap??
/Ugh…..People’s Republic of Maryland.
Is this “find the perp week” or something? Man! These things are like cockroaches, aren’t they?
How about a special award for these dorks? I was thinking of something like the Tom Flanagan Award for Pathological Lying.
If you ever watched SNL when Jon Lovitz was in the cast, you know what I’m talking about.
I wouldn’t count on too much “orifice rental” profit considering that Baltimore inmates have been able to pimp out some of their guards-http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2013/04/29/inmate-charged-in-baltimore-prison-scandal-guard-he-impregnated-face-federal-judge/
Oh, but yeah, Democrat controlled states and cities aren’t thoroughly corrupt crapholes-yeesh!
Between this MD veterans scandal and the Baltimore prison scandal, the guvnor in most normal states would be in deep political shit, but this is Maryland, so the demonrats will just merrily carry on and get reelected again..no big deal…
I was going to cross-post this, but Jonn beat me to it …
There are 10 other veterans not named, plus 2 whom didn’t plead, so this is going to be a lot bigger than it seems on the surface.
Just how far does the corruption go?
I’d like to emphasize one point here, in case anyone missed it like I did on first reading. The dirty insider here – David Clark – was NOT a Federal employee with the VA. He was the former Deputy Chief of Veterans’ Affairs for the State of Maryland.
Clark was using his “trusted insider” position with the state of MD and his knowledge to help others defraud the Federal government and the US taxpayer. While doing so he was also making a tidy little profit for himself “on the side”.
I wouldn’t be shocked to find out something like this was happening in some VA offices with bad reputations. But in this particular case, it wasn’t the VA who had a dirty insider.
I don’t care how old they are or what branch of service they served in. They all deserve confinement in a federal “pound in the ass” prison”.
Still waiting to see if/when Sealy McChippendale gets his turn. Tool.
Wow. You mean, there is some corruption in the VA? Who would ever have thought that?
And here I am being looked at as a phony because THEY lost my medical records. I’m being told that if *I* don’t produce my medical records, my claim might be denied…
But, hey. As long as the VA is able to profit from the vets it fraudulently signs up for benefits, that is all that matters.
“John Bratcher, 54, of Conowingo (Air Force)” If that is not a typo on his age, someone in the VA really f*cked up. Bratcher did not turn 18 until 1976 or 1977. Operation Ranch Hand ended in 1971 when he was 12 or 13 years old. The Vietnam war ended in 1975 when he was 16 or 17. The bottom line – a simple check on his age would have IMMEDIATELY spotted the fraud.
How stupid are they in the VA (rhetorical question, we know that answer). Simple data queries on the most basic items could eliminate a lot of the fraud.
Flagwaver: see my previous comment. The guy aiding and abetting here – Clark – was NOT a VA employee. He worked for the State of Maryland. He was using his State job to help people defraud Uncle Sam.
The VA has problems, and I’d guess there are dirty insiders at the VA too. But this isn’t a case where the VA was corrupt. Someone with expert knowledge in a position of trust was helping others game the system.
Arby: yeah, human review should have caught that. But human error is a fact of life, particularly when folks are looking at lots of paperwork. I can give them a minor pass on missing that if the rest of the paperwork seemed in order and the fraudulent supporting docs were good ones. And it’s also possible that the DOB on the fraudulent docs (perhaps a fake DD214) and his application was “backdated” as well.
Assuming that the DOB was correctly submitted, what I won’t give the VA a pass on is the fact that no automated system flagged this one for scrutiny. That’s a trivial bit of programming to compare DOB and Vietnam service dates (or dates of specific operations, like Ranch Hand) to flag obvious disconnects a human might miss through haste or fatigue.
One of my old war buddies and I both served at the same time, 1970 – 1972, in the same unit, the 501st Signal Battalion of the 101st Airborne Division, in the same location, Camp Eagle, Republic of Viet Nam, performing the same job, Field Radio Relay and Carrier Equipment Repair (MOS 31 L 20).
As a result of the class action suit against Dow Chemical Company and others (i.e., the “Seven Sisters”), I was awarded $5,000 for exposure to Agent Orange.
My buddy had his claim denied and received NOTHING for exposure to Agent Orange.
Also, my buddy was awarded 100% Service Connection for PTSD by the Veterans Administration.
At the same time, the Veterans Administration denied my claim for PTSD.
However, the Social Security Administration did determine I was completely disabled by PTSD, and thus, that Social Security Disability Pension is now my primary source of income.
Go figure.
Life ain’t fair – – – and then, we die.
They should have put David Clark in that group of six.
C2/2000AF: Clark made TAH a few weeks ago.
http://valorguardians.com/blog/?p=34666
Clark apparently hasn’t been tried yet. Looks to me like the authorities made a deal and got these 6 to plead guilty. I’d guess they were probably offered leniency in exchange for testimony against Clark and others.
WTF,OVER? Without going through my whole history again…how the hell can this happen? I ordered SF 180’s on every patient I ever had which basically gave their history. 100% correct? No, but damn close. We were the delinquents of the VA…those Vet Center guys, but we vetted. Now, I know the VA denies claims without reading but approving without vetting? I keep hearing this over and over and can’t believe wtf I read. When I couldn’t get real vets claims without a huge fight…and now people make up stories and the VA gives them benefits????? I’m ready to throw my martini through the screen so it’s time to go…but somebody at the VA needs to be shot…along with the bastards that faked this shit.
Baffled in Beaufort
#14 – Thanks Hondo, that definitely makes sense why they would plead and and state they gave kickbacks to Clark. I didnt see that article till now about Clark. He definitely needs some hard jail time. This Clark guy already had a good job that he got from lying. I guess he wanted to see how far he could go since he felt he told a “minor” lie about his service.
Tip of an iceberg. Look at the 2005 VA IG Report. There’s a bunch of 100%IU guys who can’t be called be reexamined because of the age 55 rule.
These F-stains forged their way into all that cash as I legitimately fight the Baltimore VA over and over to get a DBQ filled out for my records and claim. Unbelievable. Yup – victimless crime indeed. Looks like the MD VA only pays fakers.