Media Coverage March 2009

Man Pleads Guilty in Huge VA Fraud Case
April 07, 2009
Associated Press

SPOKANE, Wash. - A former Idaho sheriff's deputy who falsely claimed he was paraplegic has pleaded guilty in a $1.5 million disability fraud case that a U.S. attorney said is the largest in Veterans Affairs Department history.

James M. Sebero accepted an agreement with prosecutors and pleaded guilty Monday to charges of wire fraud and making a false statement.

Sebero, a former Bonner County, Idaho, sheriff's marine deputy, agreed to forfeit personal assets and to pay $950,000 in restitution, and could face 20 years and a $250,000 fine when he is sentenced July 10.

U.S. Attorney James A. McDevitt said it was the largest disability compensation fraud case in VA history.

"By his actions, Mr. Sebero disgraced the system that compensates all those veterans who are truly disabled and who are fairly compensated for their injuries sustained in service to their country," McDevitt said.

Sebero, 59, of Laclede, Idaho, served in the Air Force from 1969 to 1975, when he told military personnel he was injured in an accident. He later claimed he had lost the use of his legs.

He retired in 1976 and began receiving disability compensation.

In September 2007, he was using a wheelchair when he went to the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Spokane for a checkup and told a doctor he had been unable to work or walk since he left the Air Force.

According to court documents, investigators used a hidden video camera to record Sebero's visit to the doctor. He was arrested after investigators watched him walk into court without assistance the next day in an unrelated case.

Federal investigators said that after Sebero retired he started an excavation company and operated it until 1992, and since 1992 he has owned and operated Custom Aviation, an aircraft maintenance operation for small planes at Felts Field in Spokane.

He obtained a pilot's license after denying any medical problem or disability on his application to the Federal Aviation Administration, government lawyers wrote.

He came under scrutiny after authorities accused him of operating the aircraft maintenance business without FAA certification
SEE        FAKE WAR HEROES   [THE BEST MAY BE YET TO COME]
http://www.military.com/news/article/vet-accused-of-faking-paralysis.html?col=1186032310810&wh=news

Vet Accused of Faking Paralysis

March 16, 2009
Spokesman-Review

SPOKANE, Wash. -- A federal judge has refused to dismiss charges against a 58-year-old Spokane man who is accused of pretending to be paralyzed and successfully collecting $1.5 million in monthly payments from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

But Senior Judge Justin Quackenbush on March 13 ordered separate trials for James M. Sebero, who is charged in the Eastern District of Washington and the District of Idaho with federal crimes related to the alleged fraud. It started in the mid-1970s, authorities say, when Sebero claimed he suffered a paralyzing injury while in the Air Force.

He is scheduled to stand trial in Spokane on April 6 on three counts of making false statements on documents he filled out to begin receiving VA disability payments.

The judge set June 15 as the date for Sebero's second trial, on 55 counts of wire fraud contained in an indictment returned last August by a federal grand jury in Idaho.

Sebero's attorney, Jim Parkins, unsuccessfully asked the court to dismiss the Idaho charges on the grounds the individual counts of wire fraud -- each pegged to a monthly VA check -- exceeded the five-year federal statute of limitations.

Sebero was given a 100 percent disability in March 1980 and continued to receive monthly VA checks until he was called for an examination at the VA Medical Center in Spokane in September 2007.

Parkins argued that any "scheme to defraud" on Sebero's part expired five years after he was given total disability in 1980.

"The only duty fell on the Veterans Administration, not on Mr. Sebero, to report a change in (his) condition," Parkins told the court.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Nancy Cook told the court that the government "doesn't have to establish a new (fraud) scheme with each and every payment."

The defense attorney asked the court to dismiss the charges filed in Eastern Washington on the grounds VA investigators violated physician-client privilege when they secretly videotaped Sebero's examination on Sept. 26, 2007, by Dr. Reed Rasmussen at the Spokane VA Medical Center.

His VA disability payments were immediately stopped after that examination.

Quackenbush denied both motions to dismiss the charges, saying physician-patient privilege doesn't exist in federal criminal cases.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2008884380_apstolenvalor.html

Grand jury indicts Ketchikan man on charges of false claims to military medals

A Ketchikan man has been indicted on charges of lying about his military record.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska —

A Ketchikan man has been indicted on charges of lying about his military record.

U.S. Attorney Karen Loeffler says 53-year-old Thomas A. Dye is charged with two counts of violating the Stolen Valor Act, which criminalizes false claims to military medals.

He's also charged with two counts of misusing federal documents, including use of an altered military discharge certificate and the false use of Coast Guard Merchant Mariner license.

Loeffler says Dye lied about his military service for financial gain and posed as a decorated member of the armed forces, wearing medals and decorations he was not entitled to, including the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart and the Combat Action Ribbon.

The indictment was handed down Wednesday.