Cassandra Koscak rips off vets
The Rapid City, South Dakota Journal reports that Cassandra Koscak was sentenced for stealing about $45,000 from veterans for whom she was acting in the role of fiduciary in South Dakota and in Minneapolis.
Koscak told the court she would pay back the federal government for the amounts she took from the veterans, including before coming to South Dakota.
During her sentencing Tuesday, U.S. District Court Chief Judge Jeffrey Viken gave the prosecution 90 days to determine the amount Koscak would need to pay back. But that same day, she paid the court $20,000, according to official records.
She was sentenced to 5 years probation.
Fiduciaries are appointed by the Veterans’ Affairs Department for folks who are deemed unable to manage their own finances – they’re usually family members unless a veteran has no family. You would think there is a mechanism in place for the VA to monitor the activities of their fiduciaries, but there have been too many of these things in the news lately for me to believe that is true.
Category: Veterans' Affairs Department
So far the VA hasn’t really shown themselves in a good light for doing ANY monitoring of the people they appoint to help our Vets. These stories are popping up way, way too often – I don’t know if it’s because there are so many of them, or if it’s because they are finally coming to light. Hopefully someone in the new administration can shed some light and maybe fix this. We as Vets have given enough already – we don’t need to have crap like this happen to any of our ranks.
You think maybe some in the VA are getting a cut of the rip offs? And this bitch said she would pay the govt back, generous as hell of her isn’t it, how about the vets? 5 years probation? BULLSHYT, I would have given her 10 years in the joint at a minimum!!
This would seem to be a valid topic to pitch to your rep and senators, especially if they are sitting on the Veterans Subcommittee.
Unfortunately this is not confined to fiduciaries appointed by the VA.
It is a real temptation to anyone appointed to or granted status as the fiduciary for someone who cannot manage their own affairs. Many people succumb to that temptation.
I totally agree. Its not just Veterans either. Ive seen too many cases of people treating their elderly relatives as an ATM.
The VA does background check and all that but not everyone will stay straight. It’s the individual actor that is the issue. Much the same with guns. Background checks are done but you can’t blame the gun when the individual uses it improperly… or you can if you’re a lib, anyways.
You know what would at least reduce the losses committed by these “fiduciaries”, having them get a fiduciary bond. That way, if the money goes missing, the vets have only to look at the bonding company to get reimbursed. And even though the bond reimburses the vet for the stolen money, the fiduciary can still be charged with a crime.
I don’t know if it will reduce the crime, but the victims at least get most if not all of their stolen money back.
That is a reasonable requirement, I would think, for non-family members serving as fiduciaries. Those usually receive some form of compensation for their services.
For family members, or those who are not compensated for their work, requiring a fiduciary bond may impose an unreasonable hardship.
Personally, I don’t know how I would afford a bond to serve my father or brother.
But then again, I kept/keep every document and was/am ready to show them to any other family member who asked/asks for an accounting.
That makes you far more responsible than a lot of fiduciaries I have dealt with.
The whole concept behind bonding and insurance is to protect against loss. Why the VA would not employ both of these concepts is an open question we might want to ask those geniuses who pass laws.
This would protect both the VA and the Veteran…oh…now I see why they don’t do this…
It would damned sure give them another pair of eyes watching the thieving scum!!
Fiduciary just sounds like something crooked, or that you’d scrape off your shoe.
Unless any of you guys have ever been a fiduciary, then it sounds like a noble position.
Glad you added your weasel-phrase there, ML, since I serve in a fiduciary capacity for my brother, as I did for my father.
Now, you may still say I’m crooked (sitting at a desk and osteoporosis can do that to you) and you might still want to scrape me off your shoe…
😀
5 years probation for stealing $45k…what a sweet deal. We have people serving actual jail time for stealing less than 1% of that amount…
Apparently fucking veterans is a victimless crime in the eyes of the justice system.
^THIS^ Cause I couldn’t say it better.
Yeah, steal $45K from veterans, get a Get Out of Jail Free card from the judge. Great system there.
I like / love the idea of repaying all the money. Unfortunately, it is going the federal government and not the vets themselves.
The penalty at the very least should be restitution to the vets PLUS interest PLUS a fine PLUS the costs of the investigation and the court case as well.
As for jail time? I would be against it for this reason: I would rather her be out there earning money to pay people back rather than taxpayers footing a bill of $80 a day for “three hots and a cot.” She should be restricted to house arrest save going to work until the money is paid off and probation is served.
While prison is no picnic, the money and valuables that people steal have no sense of worth the scum that take them if they are in prison. Let them work to get a sense of what the value of a buck or item really is.
I know the courts in my state allow minimum payments on fines, court costs and the like. The defendant can get by paying $10.00 a week. $45K divided by $!0.00? Seems anyone who has to make restitution would be long dead before they paid off their debt.
I doubt anyone would hire someone who was convicted of stealing from someone else after being placed in a position of trust. So, how long would it take to pay off $45K working the deep fryer at Mickie D’s? Because this person wouldn’t be allowed anywhere near a cash register.
Most states put a time limit on restitution. Court costs and fines are generally different.
In this case, part of the probation deal was that she repay everything. As I said, I would have liked to see a fine and costs added to that as well.
As for not being allowed near a cash register, there are still fry cooks needed at McDonalds and if that fails, there is always ditch digging.
I am just not willing to say goodbye to the money she (or others) steal in exchange for taxpayers footing a larger bill for her incarceration.
They may have done that so she can remain employed and make money to pay back. Even though they should have seized her assets to cover that amount she stole.
Her “Ass…should Set” in prison!
Believe me, it is not just veterans that this happens to.
Sadly.
So, it seems to me a different approach would require two fiduciaries to jointly handle cases…and they can’t have any other ties that bind (family, business, etc.)…yes, always chance of conspiracy but it ends single points of failure…
Getting a fudiciary appointment takes far less than a guardian, and is an internal VA process. The veteran is not entitled to an advocate or neutral 3rd party in the process.
Non-family fiduciaries are paid 5% of the Veterans’ benefits a month. This means for standard 100% disabled vet they get $150/mo. For a professional, that is not a lot of money to manage finances so they generally will put in the absolute minimum amount of time or lose money.
The VA has a centralized complaint line in Omaha. The veteran deemed incapable of managing his own finances have the burden of gathering and presenting evidence of the fiduciaries malfeasance. So they’re incapable of managing money but need to put their case together and get it to a bureaucrat in Omaha to trigger and investigation.
I expect this nonsense system is rife with abuse to a degree that may dwarf every VA scandal short of fraudulent disability claims.
An attorney I had many years ago was cited for failure to operate trusts properly or something like that. He also screwed me out of a few thousand dollars of pre-authorized medical equipment because he missed the filing deadline…
He evidently embezzled several hundred thousand dollars from many customers and screwed a few people out of their life savings.
THEN, he got busted for kiddie porn, like 250K pics of kiddie porn, he was sharing with his son… Thankfully they got snagged when he was going to meet some little girl which of course was a cop…
Thank God almighty.
So, the moral of the story is to choose your attorney’s well as nobody is above the fray…
She should have been jailed for 5 years and her assets seized and sold to reimburse. Fucking scum.
Agreed!
If the “JUSTICE” system isn’t going to BOTHER sentencing this FPS to jail then I suggest a new organization be started. The R.O.V.L.M. (Ripped Off Veterans Lynch Mob) will henceforth be employed to perform their civic duty and eliminate, Old West style, the vermin from our midst. Fucking BITCH is free…FREE after admitting she commited grand larceny on a veteran and senior citizen. That “Judge” should be ASHAMED, ASHAMED to even show up to the bench every day. Yes, thishappens FAR FAR FAR too often to not only Veterans, but many Senior Citizen in dire straits. SHAMEFUL……