#Middlebury #Veterans #OIG #VeteranAffairsPolice
VETERANS POST
By Freddy Groves
Anyone who calls in advance with threats to kill staff, and then tries to enter a federal building with a loaded firearm, can’t be too bright. The man who did this, demanding prescription drugs in his voicemail message, couldn’t have been surprised when he was met by Veteran Affairs Police and relieved of the gun in his pocket.
And what was he going to do with those zip ties he had? His mother, who had driven him to the Department of Veterans Affairs clinic and claimed not to know her son planned violence (and then bailed him out the same day on a $500 surety bond), told investigators her son’s motive would have been to take his doctor hostage.
It wasn’t until a day later, when he told an acquaintance he planned to return to the VA that the police took it seriously and grabbed him. When the VA OIG talked to him, the bail amount suddenly went up to $500,000.
And then there’s the guy who tried to get an increase in his VA disability benefits for service-connected degenerative disc disease with degenerative arthritis. He claimed he had trouble walking, getting out of bed, lifting anything, bending and so on. Sounds quite painful, truthfully, and his exam videos showed that he did indeed have trouble with those activities.
Except it wasn’t the truth. He neglected to mention his fitness club membership when he went for his physical exams. VA OIG investigators filmed him at the club lifting, bending, squatting … and completing leg presses with 800 pounds of weights. They even discovered his personal stash of online videos showing him doing all those activities. He went to the fitness club the same day as (and the day after) one of his medical exams for Social Security disability, which he’d also applied for.
When he’s sentenced, he could get 10 years, not to mention a $250,000 fine, plus an order to pay back the money he stole from the VA.
© 2023 King Features Synd., Inc.
