#Middlebury #Veterans
The Department of Veterans Affairs Office of the Inspector General (OIG) has been extremely busy. What’s astonishing is the criminals who actually think they’re going to get away with their crimes.
A gun store thief claimed, in court in front of a judge, that he had been awarded two Purple Hearts. He was trying to get a lower sentence on a couple of other firearms offenses, including stealing 87 guns from a store and then being a felon in possession of guns. Among other things, he claimed Iraq service and said he got the medals for saving another soldier. He showed photos of his (fake) Purple Heart certificates. Nobody was fooled.
Then there was the idiot who defrauded cemetery services customers out of a half million dollars by taking the payments and using them for personal gain and gambling. Let’s not forget the fool who shot up the inside of a VA hospital with a gun he had tucked in his wheelchair. He won’t see daylight for a long time.
Sometimes, though, the OIG handles emotionally tough cases, like the VA hospital nursing assistant that murdered seven hospitalized veterans and was planning to kill an eighth by injecting them all with lethal doses of insulin. In one case medical staff discovered the patient’s blood sugar level and were able to revive him … until the nursing assistant came back and injected him again, killing him. Nursing assistants are not allowed (or trained to) administer medication.
Multiple law enforcement agencies cooperated, leaving no stone unturned to rein in the killer, conducting 350 interviews, serving 60 subpoenas and so much more. Still, there are many unanswered questions, such as why wasn’t the insulin locked up to keep unauthorized people out of it? Why didn’t anyone notice a pattern that went on for over a year? But the biggest question might never be answered: Why? Why on earth did she do this?
© 2020 King Features Synd., Inc.
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