Darryl Lee Wright sentenced

We last wrote about Darryl Wright almost a year ago when the Idaho Guardsman bullied his way into being awarded a Combat Action Badge and a Purple Heart for the time he heard an explosion while he was in Iraq, then he used those awards to fleece the government of about $751,400 worth of benefits – including money paid to his sister as his caregiver. He pleaded guilty last year and he was sentenced yesterday in Federal court according to Military Times;

[Judge] Settle…did order Wright to serve three years, followed by three years of supervised release, and to repay $646,300 in benefits.

Wright’s attorney, Christopher Black, called it “the right sentence.”

“He acknowledged responsibility for the bad decisions that he’s made and apologized for them,” Black said.

He described the defendant as a “complicated man” with psychological issues, but said he has been doing well in therapy.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys David Reese Jennings and Gregory Gruber said Wright parlayed the medals he received to obtain “every possible benefit that might be available to a wounded veteran,” including a wide range of disability benefits and the forgiveness of more than $40,000 in student loans. Prosecutors said he defrauded 16 state, federal, local and private agencies, programs and organizations.

“This guy was a master at weaponizing his phony status as a Purple Heart Veteran,” Jennings said.

From the Valley Record;

The case was investigated by multiple agencies led by the Social Security Office of Inspector General (SSA-OIG). The Office of Inspector General of these agencies were involved in the investigation: Veterans Affairs (VA-OIG), Department of Commerce (DOC-OIG), Office of Personnel Management (OPM-OIG), and General Services Administration (GSA-OIG). Also contributing to the investigation was the FBI, U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division, the Washington National Guard, the Washington Employment Security Department and the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services.

There’s no word on the fate of CJ Jackson, the low level federal clerk who lost her job bringing this case to her employer, the Commerce Department.

Category: Phony soldiers, Valor Vultures