Venita Godfrey-Scott; renovations at VA’s expense
AW1 Tim sends us a link to the Department of Justice press release about Venita Godfrey-Scott of New Haven, Connecticut who was a supervisor in the Facilities Management Service of the VA hospital in New West Haven. Here, let them tell you the story;
From approximately 2010 until 2013, GODFREY-SCOTT directed VA employees that she supervised to perform home improvement projects at her private residence, including a deck in her backyard, carpet installation, and various kitchen, bathroom and basement improvements. GODFREY-SCOTT directed the employees to use materials, supplies, tools, and vehicles belonging to the VA, and also had the employees purchase necessary materials at local stores using her government-issued credit card. She sometimes directed the employees to work on her home improvement projects during their regular work hours while they were being paid by the VA. The total loss to the government as a result of GODFREY-SCOTT’s criminal conduct is estimated to be between $15,000 and $20,000.
Yeah, I’m trying to get my home altered to be more adaptive to my condition and I can’t find a contractor who wants to jump through the VA’s hoops to get paid, you know, even though I’ve been approved for the grant. Maybe I should just get a job at the VA and force VA employees to do it for me. After all, when this Godfrey-Scott chick was sentenced, all she got was 4 years of parole (the first six months of her parole she will be confined to her newly remodeled home), 120 hours of community service and she has to pay back $15,000 of the money she stole. Seems like a fairly good trade-off.
Category: Veterans' Affairs Department
And the jacked up part about all this is, I almost feel it necessary to ask if she’s been fired yet.
promoted.
AND given a bonus
No, NHSparky. The truly jacked-up part of this is that she got 4 yrs probation, 6 mo home confinement, 120 hrs, and had to pay restitution – but will serve no time behind bars.
She deserved at least a year in prison for this sh!t.
She was fired, given four years of probation with six months of confinement, 120 hours of community service, and she has to pay back $15k in restitution.
On another note, I find it curious that there are no photos of this crook online.
John S.: that was home confinement while on probation – e.g., ankle monitoring or equivalent. That’s a helluva different thing than being confined in jail or prison.
Normally that’s a given, but it didn’t say that in the press release.
Remember, these are government employees–the same ones who have to be told not to shit in the hallways.
Well, I wonder why.
The Chimp-in-Chief is protecting one of his own.
Yeah, but see, you’re honest, and Verita isn’t.
That’s what gets in the way.
Not only that, but she doesn’t have to pay the FULL restitution to the VA. She used between $15-$20 thousand dollars of materials PLUS she used VA labor, all while those laborers were getting paid by the VA, so there’s all that salary or hourly rate to account for too.
Talk about being a special snowflake.
One minor point. It’s VA West Haven, not New Haven. I work there and the word is she got such a light sentence because she’s naming names. There are lots of worried people over in her old service(FMS). Hopefully, they clean them ALL out.
In that case, assuming some additional prosecutions take place I might be somewhat less outraged.
I still think she deserved some time behind bars, even in that case.
My question is how she was caught….. curious is all. Her sentence was entirely too light.
Nice to see someone on the board in my back yard Anon 🙂
Naming names for a reduces sentence or not, IMO her home should have been seized and auctioned off to pay back the VA with interest….
With regards to another post who noticed
her photo isn’t being splashed around in the news – The only link I found (and maybe Anon VA employee can confirm the photo) was from buzzpo… google Venita Godfrey-Scott, and choose the 2nd photo for the info you seek…
I did a job out at that hospital back in 1999 when they upgraded their emergency power system. The Electrical Superintendent out there was a pretty cool guy who retired from the Coast Guard. I had a good time out there and ate a lot of good seafood.
That sounds more like it…..the blackmail list….typical govt SOP
No problem believing this happened at all… I hope that they flush the rest out. Have heard of similar occurrences in the VA here before my time.
Now I know why I never make it through the screening process for those GS-15 and SES jobs at the VA; too much integrity.
I’m guessing she had an Obama poster in her office, but that’s just me…
That, and maybe a “signed” picture that one gets after they donate X amount of dollars to a campaign…
Misappropriation of taxpayer money. Sounds like All-Points Logistics material to me.
Prior government experience, no ethics to speak of, no problems with criminal behavior, minority and gender (female) hire, snitching out folks, etc.
A definite asset to APL.
Venita Godfrey-Scott…well, well, well, what can I say. I think Redd Fox said it best in “Sanford and Son”. “They could use her face as a press to make gorilla cookies”. Bitch. Lying, thieving, self serving, dictionary picture of a bitch. I could use a worse word but this is a mixed company blog. Plus I bet she speaks “ebonics” well and has a degree but can’t write a coherent sentence. I can’t find anywhere, where it says the VA has fired her.
If Obama had a mistress, she’d look like…
The articles that reference this case make mention that she is a former supervisor for that hospital. Whether or not this means she was terminated, or transferred to a sinecure post within the VA is up for interpretation.
I’ve spent some time in Connecticut – rest assured that our corruption spans all sorts. A former Governor was arrested for similar stuff, some mayors arrested for sex with underage girls, and even a meth-smoking, cross-dressing priest who liked to have sex in the rectory of his church.
This ain’t Obama-related, this is just stupid people.
The headline of the press release calls her a “former federal employee”, so it sounds like she was canned.
MrBill…Thank you and GOOD!
I’m wondering how many people followed her directions to do this stuff and didn’t object, strenuously, or report it to the local news-mongers.
And why they would do so.
If she was the concerned individuals’ supervisor, my guess is there was very likely an implied “do it or else I’ll make your life miserable or contrive a way to get you reduced or fired” along with the assignment.
And there are some who would rather do that work but get paid GS salaries.
Either way 3 years of this should have made the IG think WTF?
That’s cute.
Obviously nobody does audits around there or for that matter bothers to listen to employees complaining they have to go to their employers home to work while defrauding the government for 3 years straight.
Another great government bureaucracy success story.