VAOIG has a long reach

#Middlebury #Veterans

When thieves steal from the Department of Veterans Affairs, often it’s not just the VA Office of the Inspector General (VAOIG) that goes after them. Depending on the crime, it can include the OIG or other government departments and law enforcement from one end of the country to the other. The VAOIG has friends.

A thief in Florida was hauled back up the coast to New England to face charges he collected over $2 million in bribes over the course of five years while working for an electrical company that contracted for government jobs. Not only did he alter and falsify the bid documents, the scammer also involved his children by having the bribery funds diverted through them. Projects included work for the Department of Agriculture, the Coast Guard, the General Services Administration … and the VA.

A Tennessee scammer was convicted of theft of public money, making false statements, wire fraud, mail fraud and financial conflict of interest. His crime was particularly bad because, while working as a VA field examiner, he schemed to steal over half a million dollars from a disabled vet by convincing the veteran to make out a will with the scammer as sole beneficiary. The thief was forced to resign from the position but went on to another examiner position where he conveniently forgot to reveal his previous resignation for misconduct. All the time he’d lied about his own disabilities and had collected for 100 percent total and permanent disability, supposedly unable to work for two years. Multiple law enforcement agencies were involved.

A Boston woman collected the Social Security and VA benefits of her former father-in-law after he passed away. She had a joint account with him and had been his caregiver. She was indicted on only two counts of theft of public funds and pleaded guilty. Multiple law enforcement agencies were involved in this case as well.

When thieves think the VA Office of Inspector General doesn’t have a very long reach, they’re wrong.

(c) 2018 King Features Synd. Inc.