Transcript

10.9.25 · Washington Post

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Speaker 1: Welcome to the reading of today's Washington Post. Your reader
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is Alice Stainer, with the reminder that RADIOI is an
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organization for those blinder with disabilities in being able to
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hold or read printed material. And I will start with
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the front page of Today's Washington Post. Mostly taken up
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on the front top bap VA disability runs.
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Speaker 2: On an honor system.
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Speaker 1: These veterans are defrauding it by Craig Whitlock, Liserine and
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Nate Jones. And there are two pictures of an Army
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veteran told via he was paralyzed. The government gave his
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family two hundred thousand disability benefits, but there is a
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picture of him in a wheelchair reading something. And then
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there's another picture is obtained by the Post show he
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was faking it like scores of other veterans. And the
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next picture shows him standing with his arms spread and
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a Viva Victory signed with a bright orange top on
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and camouflage sorts. He does not have a cap on
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in this picture, but in the black and white one
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he does. To the right of that Gaza ceasefire is struck,
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a big step to end long wall. Israel and Hamas
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agree on first phase terms halt fighting, free, hostages, allow
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aid influx by Michael Berenbaum. Hazim by Lusha Leori Scorca
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and Mohammed L.
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Speaker 2: Charma.
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Speaker 1: Below the fold at the left, thousand at FBI now
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working with Ice by Pierry Stein. To the right of that,
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in the sort of middle, accused of lying comy pleads
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not guilty, and below that man charged with starting deadly
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Palisades fire well accused him lying comy pleads not guilty
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is by Salvador Rizo and Jeremy Roebuck. Trials set to
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start January fifth, but former FBI directors lawyers to seek dismissal.
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And man charged with starting deadly Palisades fires by Jonathan Edwards,
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Pravina Suma, Sundhara, Rihanna Sachs, and Ben Branch. Below the
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cease fire is an article to the very far right
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by the man starting the Palisades Fire. Palestinian enclave shattered
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by ravages of a grueling roar war. Data shows the
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devastating impact that two years of conflict have had on labs, homes,
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heritage sites by Victoria Bissett, Julia Lideux, and Alvarado Valino.
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The Big headline Trump announces cease fire deal to begin
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ending the war in Gaza. The president's announcement says the
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agreement includes the release of hostages Bahamas and the withdrawal
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of Israeli troops.
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Speaker 2: There is a.
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Speaker 1: Picture that will be fairly famous down the road, I believe,
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of Secretary of State Marco Rubio leaning in and covering
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his mouth and whispering in the ear of President Donald
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Trump regarding the Middle East peace talks during an unrelated
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event at the White House on Wednesday, and you see
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Trump's head leaning upwards to the right, listening to Rubio
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whisper into his eel by Michael Bernbaum, Hazim Belusha, Lear Soroka,
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and Mohammad al Chama, Israel and Hamas agreed Wednesday to
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the first phase of a deal to end the two
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year war in Gaza that was two years two days
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ago October seventh, President Donald Trump, Israeli and Hamas leaders said,
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moving closer to halting the deadliest chapter in Israeli Palestinian
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history since the establishment of the Israeli site. Trump's announcement
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came hours after he told reporters he would soon visit
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the region to celebrate what he said was a historic occasion.
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The ceasefire agreement and hostage deal aimed to bring immediate
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relief to the devastated, starving population of Gaza in the
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form of a halt in fighting and a rush of
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humanitarian aid. Hamas agreed to release all the remaining hostages
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in exchange for Israel's release of Palestinian prisoners, fulfilling a
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major Israeli demand to end the captivity. The two sides
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appeared to have come to terms on Wednesday on just
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the initial phases of a deal, leaving long term questions
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about Gaza's fate unresolved. Previous ceasefires have fallen apart during
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the bitter arc of the conflict that began two years
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ago this week, but both sides expressed hope that they
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could continue efforts to stop the fighting for good. As
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Trump pushes abroader twenty point plan that leaves the door
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cracked to Palestinian statehood, Celebrations broke out in the city
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of Communists and in the other population centers of Gaza,
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according to footage broadcast by Al Jazeera, and some senior
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Palestinian officials declared relief that an end to the conflict
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may be in sight. I'm very proud to announce that
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Israel and Hamas have both signed.
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Speaker 2: Off on the first phase of our peace plan.
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Speaker 1: This means that all of the hostages will be released
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very soon, and Israel will withdraw their troops to an
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agreed upon line as the first steps toward a strong, durable,
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and everlasting peace. Trump wrote on Sooth's Truth Social and
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in caps, blessed are the peacemakers. A Hamas release of
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all hostages, which Trump said was likely to take place
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on on Monday, will usher the conflict into a new phase.
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Hamas leaders have long believed that holding the captives was
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their main leverage against Israel. They feared that if they
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released all of them, they would expose themselves to a
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fresh Israeli campaign dedicated to their obliteration. Placing little trust
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in Israeli leadership, they sough to US assurances that Israel
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won't simply resume the war once the hostages were released,
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But freedom for the hostages also could transform Israeli attitudes
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toward the conflict. Many Israeli citizens have viewed a hostage
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release as the top priority, and may have a meager
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appetite for continued war. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said
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that it was a great day for Israel and declared
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that he would convene his government on Thursday to ratify
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the agreement and bring all our prestige precious hostage. Oh
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excuse me, and bring all of their precious hostages home,
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my pardon. In a statement, Netignahu said that Israel would
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work to expand peace with their neighbors, although he made
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no direct reference to the release of Palestinian prisoners, that
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Ramas had made a condition of any hostage release.
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Speaker 2: His office later said that he.
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Speaker 1: Spoke to Trump in a very emotional and warm conversation
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and that Netinahu had invited the US leader to address
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Israel Israel's parliament. Even though many details remain unresolved, many
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Palestinians appeared to be investing more hope in the possibility
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of peace than during previous pauses when talks broke down
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and hostages remained in Harmas's hands. Finally, the deputy Palestinian
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observer to the United Nations, Ambassador Maji Baryah, wrote on
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x Hama said in his statement that it had agreed
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to an end of the war on Geyser saying that
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it appreciated Trump's efforts aimed at ending the war once
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and for all and ensuring the complete withdrawal of the
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occupation from the Gaza strip. We affirm that our people's
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sacrifices will not be in vain and that we will
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remain true to our pledge. We will not abandon our
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people's national rights until freedom, independence and self determination are achieved,
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the statement said. Under the terms of the agreement, once
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the Israeli cabinet votes to approve the deal, is expected
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on Thursday, Israeli forces will have to make an initial
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partial withdrawal from Gaza within twenty four hours, said a
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senior US official who spoke on the condition of anonymity
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to discuss the terms of the deal. Then the seventy
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two hour clock begins for a hostage release. The official said,
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Hamas will trot to go earlier if possible. The Israeli
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government believes that twenty hostages remain alive and end custody.
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It is seeking the remains of up to twenty eight
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additional hostages. In exchange for the Hamas hostage release, Israel
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would have to release two hundred and fifty Palestinian prisoners
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serving life sentences and seventeen hundred others tenttained during the
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Gaza War, details that were spelled out in Trump's agreement
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last week, although those details were not immediately confirmed on Wednesday.
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The agreement caps two years of fitful efforts to halt
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the fighting in Gaza, of failure that helped contribute to
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the Democrat's presidential defeat in twenty twenty four. Elements of
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the base spurned the party over former President Joe Biden's
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unwillingness to halt US military support for Israel to bend
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Netan Yahoo's conduct of the war. Trump took a different
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approach to Netan Yahoo, at times, giving him free reign
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to press Gazer with little of the public concern for
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the humanitarian situation raised by the Biden administration. Early this year,
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he even floated the idea of redeveloping the territory into
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the riviera of the Middle East, potentially displacing its Palestinian
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population in the process. But he also appeared willing to
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twist Nathan Yaho's arm harder than his predecessor, pushing the
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Israeli leader to make concessions. The pressure increased after Israeli
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forces launched a September nine, ninth strike against a residential
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compound in the Qatar capital of Doha, where Hamas leaders
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were meeting to discuss a new peace proposal. The attack,
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launched with little warning to Trump, infuriated the US president
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and Katari leaders, who are closely allied with Washington. In
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the aftermath of the strike, which killed the Katari guard
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and the son of a Hamas negotiata but failed to
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kill its targets, Trump and top US officials saw an
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opening for a fresh push. They shopped a new plan
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at the United Nations General Assembly in late September, then
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released it last week With net Yahu's assent, Trump pushed
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both sides to agree. The final impetus for a deal
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may have been the impending announcement of this year's Nobel
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Peace Prize on Friday. Trump has long expressed his desire
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for the prize and that thom Says said God's a
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Peace might clinch it. The appearent last minute dash is unusual,
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since officials familiar with how the committee operates say this
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typically has already made its decision within just days.
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Speaker 2: To go before the winner is announced.
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Speaker 1: Appearing on Fox News on Wednesday, after the initial announcement
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of the ceasefire, Trump said that Nettuna, who had called
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him to celebrate the deal and marvel at the global reaction.
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Trump told Fox News host Humanity Netna, who said, everybody's
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liking me now, I said that more importantly, they're loving
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Israel again, and they really are.
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Speaker 2: The Trump.
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Speaker 1: The president also toted his strategy to threaten tariffs, saying
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that it has helped settle multiple global conflicts, including the
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stripe between India and Pakistan. The tariffs have brought peace
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to the world, Helena Trump told Hannity. The agreement reached
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Wednesday covers the first elements. One the two sides agreed
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to halt the fighting, then exchange hostages and prisoners too
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or two, after which Israeli forces would withdraw from Gaza
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in phases, as Senya Hama's officials said.
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Speaker 2: After that, the.
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Speaker 1: Crossings will be opened in both directions and humanitarian aid
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will be allowed to enter, the official said, speaking on
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the condition of anonymity to discuss the details of the deal.
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Gaza authorities warned residents to be careful about moving through
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the territory until a ceasefire formerly takes effect. Some Israeli
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warplanes continued to launch raids on Gaza City early Thursday,
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according to an Al Jazeera Arabic reporter on the ground,
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but a units have spokes who is in Gaza. James
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Elda posted a video on Instagram that it's incredibly quiet
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from the skies. But many elements of a longer peace
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term remain unresolved on Wednesday, including basic questions as to
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whether Hamas was willing to disarm, what would happen to
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its leadership, who would run Gaza, and whether Palestinians might
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at last make progress towards their dream of statehood. Trump
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offered few details, apart from a reference in the Hannity
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interview to a Council of Peace that would oversee the
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war hit territory. Some families were gathering early Thursday at
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Hostages Square, a plaza in Tel Aviv near Israel's military
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headquarters where hostage families have encamped to demand the freedom
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of their relatives.
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Speaker 2: There can be no jube too true.
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Speaker 1: Joy until everyone is home, the Hostages Family Forum said
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in a statement. Trump unveiled the twenty point peace Plan
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on September twenty ninth, after meeting with regional leaders in
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both Washington and on the sidelines of the UN General
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Assembly in New York. Hamas agreed to the plan in
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broad strokes on Friday, but offered caveats that intensive negotiations
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were required to finalize contentious points. Hamas and allied militants
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attacked Israel on October seventh, twenty twenty three, killing about
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twelve hundred people and abducting more than two hundred and fifty.
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Israel's ensuing war in Gaza, which entered its third year
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on Tuesday, two days ago, has flattened large parts of
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the enclave, displaced nearly all of its residents, and killed
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more than sixty seven thousand people, according to the Gaza
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Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants,
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but says the majority of the dead are women and children.
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An earlier ceasefire that began in January collapsed in March
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when Israel refused to continue negotiations and resumed its attacks
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on Gaza. Asked in the Oval Office on Tuesday, what
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guarantees Washington is willing to give Arab partners that Israel
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will not resume the fight if Hamas releases all of
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its hostages, Trump said we have a lot of power,
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and we're going to do everything possible to make sure
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everybody adheres to the deal negotiators. An analyst said, much
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of what is happening with the negotiations in the Egyptian
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resort city of Sharma el Shika depended on Trump, who
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was some six thousand miles away in Washington. Egyptian President
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Abdil Fata Elsisi invited Trump to travel to Egypt for
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assigning ceremony if a deal is reached. Tromp is no
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longer acting as a mediator, but an arbitrator, said Israeli
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Colonel Durran Haddar, a reservist officer who commanded the Israel
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Defense Forces Negotiation Unit until last year, adding in points
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where no agreement is reached, he will decide, and that's
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a good thing. Trump has piled Prussia on mediators for
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a quick resolution to the conflict, which he promised on
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the campaign trail to end as he hopes to win
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the Nobel Peace Prize. Hadda said the announcement of this
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year's recipient, expected Friday, added to the sense of urgency
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in Egypt. Outside the White House, Several activists who have
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organized a long running pro Palestinian vigil said they were
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skeptical that Trump's terms would ultimately benefit Palestinians, and they
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questioned whether Israel could be trusted to keep the peace.
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I'm cautiously optimistic, said Karamuniac, a member of the group
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known as the Visual of a Palestine, toting a Palestinian
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flag emblazoned with a message not another bomb. It's hard
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to be super confident in any piece deal considering how
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many things have started and stopped, Muniac added, saying I
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want to see it happen. VA's disability program is an
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honor system.
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Speaker 2: These veterans are defrauding it.
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Speaker 1: By Craig wick Block, Lisa Raine, and Nate Jones Kinsley
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Killpatrick put on a convincing show during visits to Atlanta
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VA Medical Center. The Iraq War veteran arrived in a wheelchair,
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claiming multiple sclerosis had paralyzed his arms and legs by
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the time he turned thirty five. The one time athletes
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said he could barely move from the neck down, leaving
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him dependent on others to eat, dress and bathe. According
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to court records, obliged to help a former soldier in need,
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the Department of Veterans Affairs began paying Killpatrick seventy nine
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hundred dollars a month in tax free disability benefits in
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twenty fifteen. The record show the federal government also gave
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him twenty thousand dollars for a specially equipped jeep Cherokee
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to make it easier for his wife to take him
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to medical appointments. The hoax lasted for three years and
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might have continued indefinitely if not for a whistleblower who
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sent me a proof that Killpatrick was lying. Videos of
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the Army veteran back flipping on a trampoline, prancing around
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a sports feel like a ballerina, and swan diving into
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a play playground ballpit VA's ninety one hundred and ninety
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three billion dollar disability program, one of the biggest line
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items in the federal budget, has become a rich target
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for fraudsters, According to a Washington Post investigation, each year,
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the agency's Inspector General opens dozens of criminal cases into
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veterans like Kilpatrick who are suspected of faking injuries or
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illnesses for money, But former officials said they suspect those
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cases represent only a fraction of the fraud that occurs,
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They said VA has failed to reckon with the full
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scope of disability fraud, as seen in videos the Post
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obtained through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the
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government and allowed it to become entrenched and endemic at
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the expense of veterans with legitimate needs. This system is
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vulnerable to manipulation, said Michael Missel, who served as VA's
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Inspector General for nearly nine years until January when President
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Donald Trump fired him, in sixteen other independent federal watchdogs,
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there's a high risk that people can either lie about
22:30
their condition or exaggerate their condition. Exploitation of the disability
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program has worsened under the watch of both political parties
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over two decades, the Post found. In his second term,
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Trump has promised to crack down on fraud, waste and
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abuse throughout the government, including at VIA, the second largest
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cabinet agency, but Missiles said that Trump administration has made
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that task harbor by pushing to sh ranked the Inspector
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General's staff, which polices improper spending by fifteen percent. Under Missile,
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the Inspector General's Office had more than eleven hundred employees.
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The Post shared detailed findings from its investigation with VA
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officials and sent them written questions about the department's efforts
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to prevent disability fraud. Pete Kasparout's VA's press secretary declined
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to answer the question, but released his statement criticizing the
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Post for what he called a garbage story. Americans veterans
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earned their benefits, and it should be easier, not harder,
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to get them caspirits word in the statement, adding under
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President Donald Trump, we are improving VAS, so it's faster
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and more convenient for veterans to get what our nation
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owes them. Veterans groups and independent analysts say most disability
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declaims a legitimate, but prosecutors acknowledge VA's disability program is
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prone to abuse, emphasizing in court documents that it operates
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on an honor system. While some ailments can be verified
24:15
with X rays or blood samples, many of the most
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common complaints filed with VA, including depression, back pain, erectile dysfunction,
24:24
and migraine headaches, are difficult to confirm with objective medical tests.
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Claims examinators usually take vets at their word when they
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report debilitating symptoms, with the rules stacked in their favor.
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The Post found veterans frequently stretch the truth about their
24:43
conditions and apply for ten, twenty, or even thirty disabilities
24:47
per person to maximize their compensation. Sometimes the exaggerations across
24:53
the line into outright fraud, as was the case with Kilpatrick.
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While in the army, Killpatrick sustained head injuries during a
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mortar attack in Iraq and was later diagnosed with multiple sclerosis,
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a chronic neurological disorder, but after leaving active duty in
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two thousand and nine, he embellished his symptoms during via
25:16
medical exams to obtain higher disability payments. According to court records,
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The documents showed Killpatrick and his wife Tracy, ran similar
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schemes against the Social Security Administration, which also provides welfare
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payments to people who are physically unable to work. After
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receiving the whistleblowers tip, VA, investigators used a hidden camera
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to record kill Patrick during one of his exams in
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twenty seventeen, feigning helplessness while in a wheelchair. Twenty minutes
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after he left the hospital in Atlanta, another camera captured
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him striding confidently upright into a Sonoco convenience store to
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buy some snacks. To Killpatrick's pleaded guilty in twenty nineteen
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to defrauding taxpayers of more than two hundred thousand dollars.
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I did what I did, and I was wrong, Kensley
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Killpatrick admitted. During a court hearing. A federal judge satinced
26:16
him and his wife to six months in prison, describing
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the swindle as egregious and very ugly. According to court
26:26
documents reviewed by the Post, federal officials have known for
26:29
nearly a decade that veterans are exploiting disability benefits on
26:33
a widespread scale. In twenty seventeen, after the Florida trial
26:39
of an Army veteran who duped to be a eight
26:41
of three hundred ninety four thousand dollars by pretending to
26:45
be blind, prosecutors acknowledged the disability program it may be
26:50
systemically flawed because of weak checks and balances. The problem
26:56
the VIA faces is that veterans take advantage of the system,
27:00
prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memo one year earlier, during
27:05
the trial of a veteran from Kentucky who also faked
27:08
blindness and built taxpayers out of seven hundred and eighty
27:12
nine thousand dollars, a senior VA official testify that the
27:17
agency was fully aware how easy it can be for
27:20
bets to fabricate disabilities. The basis for the whole program
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really is based upon the fourth rightness of the veteran
27:28
and his or her telling us the truth about something,
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because we assume that they're telling the truth, said Dean Holdsman,
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the deputy chief of the Veteran Service Center in Louisville.
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It's a very proclaimant system. Nobody likes taking money away,
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Holdsman said, We're not big brother. We don't look over
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people's shoulders. Unlikely to get caught. The number of claims
27:55
approved by VA has quadrupled since two thousand and seven,
27:59
even as the overall veteran population has shrunk by more
28:03
than twenty five percent. But the risk of Charlatan's getting
28:07
caught is microscopic. The veterans benefits administration, the arm of
28:13
the VA that oversees disability payments, has dedicated has a
28:18
dedicated fraud team, but according to agency documents, the fraud
28:22
unit is relatively small and spends most of its time
28:26
investigating external scams targeting veterans, not once committed by them.
28:32
The VA officials did not respond to written questions from
28:36
the post about the unit or how often it uncovers
28:40
illicit claims. As a result, the job of policing fraud
28:47
primarily falls to Vaa's Inspected General. Since twenty twenty, that
28:52
office has opened an average of sixty three cases a
28:55
year into suspected disability fraud. Amanaged to scrutiny for point
29:03
zero one percent of all veterans on the DOLE. Of
29:08
the cases investigated in the past five years, about three
29:12
quarters were referred to federal or state prosecutors for possible charges.
29:18
Many cases are pending, but most that have concluded resulted
29:22
in convictions. The Inspector General's office declined to discuss specific cases,
29:29
citing veterans' privacy rights. Missil, the former chief watchdog, said
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prosecutors can be reluctant to pursue cases because of public
29:39
sympathy for veterans. Some US attorney's offices, he added, will
29:44
press charges only if veterans defrauded the government of at
29:49
least one million dollars. Missile's successor, Cheryl Mason, was sworn
29:56
in as the new Inspector General in August. She declined
30:00
and an interview request. In a statement, Mason set her
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office is dedicated to ensuring veterans received the quality health
30:09
care and benefits they deserve, and we will continue to
30:13
work to make certain that VA programs are not compromised
30:17
by fraudulent activities. To investigate how some veterans have colnmed
30:23
the government, the Post sued VA and the Justice Department
30:27
under FOIA Freedom of Information Act, seeking records from thirty
30:33
disability fraud cases that have led to criminal conviction since
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twenty seventeen. After a year long legal battle, the agencies
30:42
released more than five thousand pages of documents and hundreds
30:46
of surveillance videos and photographs. To further analyze patterns of fraud,
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the Post gathered about ten thousand pages of publicly available
30:56
court records from forty additional federal investigations that resulted in prosecution.
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Speaker 2: The defendants generally.
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Speaker 1: Followed one of two scripts, those who pretended to be
31:08
blind and those who acted paralyzed or unable to walk.
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In most cases, the scames lasted for years, even decades,
31:19
sometimes netting offenders more than a million dollars each, while
31:24
the veterans brazenly carried on their normal, unimpaired lives in
31:28
public even after they recoit in the Act, justice rarely came,
31:33
usually teamed slowly, with investigations dragging on for years. Many
31:39
offenders received prison sentences, but others faced lighter consequences, and
31:46
under federal law, no veteran was automatically cut off from
31:49
receiving other VA benefits, including health care and compensation for disabilities.
31:55
They did not lie about Charles R. Adams, a Beteroan
32:00
from Saint Louis, showed up to VA exams limping and
32:04
using a cane. He claimed to have fallen down the
32:07
stairs while in the army, leaving him with a degenerative
32:11
back disease and arthurtis so bad he could barely roll
32:15
out a bed. VA paid him one hundred and six
32:19
thousand dollars over five years for the apparent of injuries,
32:23
until a whistleblower called the agency's hotline in twenty twenty
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to report that the forty seven year old Adams was
32:30
in phenomenal physical shape. Federal agents soon discovered he was
32:36
a personal trainer who could lag press eight hundred pounds
32:41
and liked to show off his physique on Instagram. A
32:44
witness also told agents that Adams moonlighted as a fully
32:49
nude dancer, Adams was arrested in twenty twenty two and
32:54
pleaded guilty to theft of government funds. A judge sentenced
32:59
him to three years probation. Meanwhile, VA reduced Adam's disability
33:04
benefits for his back but determined he was still eligible
33:07
to receive about nineteen hundred a month for other ailments
33:11
once he paid back the one hundred and six thousand
33:13
dollars he stole. In court, Adams read an apology letters
33:19
saying he was truly, deeply remorseful and determined to learn
33:25
from this experience. Veterans faking blindness. Veterans can often obtain
33:32
disability benefits by not being truthful about their conditions. The
33:37
case of Barry Wayne Hoover, a Navy vet from Tampa,
33:41
shows how easy it is to take advantage of VA
33:45
and in turn, taxpayers. In nineteen ninety seven, the federal
33:50
agency began paying Hoover one hundred and seventy nine dollars
33:53
a month for retinitis pigmentosa, a rare inherited eye disease
33:59
that flared up when he was in the Navy and
34:01
caused him to be medically discharged after five years of service.
34:07
Baa science veterans a disability rating from zero to one
34:10
hundred percent based on the combined severity of their aiments.
34:15
That rating determines how much they are paid. Last year,
34:19
disabled veterans on average had a rating of seventy percent
34:24
and received twenty five thousand, forty six dollars for seven disabilities.
34:29
Speaker 2: VA figures showed the tax video shows Navy veteran Barry
34:34
Hoover in a VA waiting.
34:35
Speaker 1: Room sorry, but that it automatically started. The free tax
34:42
free payments typically last for life and come on top
34:47
of free or subsidized VA medical ko. For more than
34:51
a decade, Huber had a twenty percent disability rating from VA.
34:56
Eventually he wanted more money and concocted as to get it.
35:00
Records show in two thousand and nine he told the
35:05
VA doctor that his site had rapidly worsened and he
35:08
had given up driving because he could no longer see
35:11
people or other cars, even with corrective lenses. Just being
35:16
in the sun, he said, made him feel nauseated and
35:18
his head throb.
35:22
Speaker 2: VA put him through his standard.
35:24
Speaker 1: Battery of subjective tests, including one in which he stared
35:28
into a machine and was asked to click a button
35:31
if he saw a pulse of light. Hoover lied incessantly
35:35
with his responses and fooled doctors into declaring him legally blind.
35:41
According to court testimony and medical records, he has had
35:46
a terrible two years and needs help as fast as
35:49
we can possibly provide it. Nancy Kirk, chief ophtalmology at
35:54
Tampa's VA Hospital, wrote in his file. VA raised who
36:02
was disability rating to one hundred percent and declared him
36:05
permanently unable to work, which boosted his compensation to more
36:10
than three hundred and eighty three one thousand, eight hundred
36:14
a month. The government also enrolled him in blindness rehabilitation courses,
36:19
training him on how to navigate obstacles with a long
36:23
white cane, but Hoover had faster ways to get around.
36:28
In January twenty twelve, this same month that BA classified
36:32
him as completely disabled for blindness, he walked into the
36:36
Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles to renew
36:40
his driver's license. Records shown he passed the eye test
36:45
with twenty twenty vision or twenty forty vision while wearing
36:51
corrective lenses, Unaware that VA considered Hoover blind. This state
36:56
of Florida gave him a new license plus perks in
36:59
gratitude for his military service, including free disabled veteran plates
37:04
for his vehicle from that point forward. According to the documents,
37:08
who proclaimed that he was blind when he visited VA
37:11
for medical appointments. Meanwhile, he cashed his disability checks and
37:16
bought expensive toys, including an eleven foot boat, a three
37:20
wheeled motorcycle, and a motorized canoe. Then he bragged on
37:25
Facebook about how much fun he was having my new
37:29
ride all bells and whistles, he wrote in twenty fourteen,
37:33
sharing a photo of a Silvikia automobile he just purchased.
37:39
New hobby ATV he posted with a video of him
37:42
perched on an all terrain vehicle zipping around the piny
37:46
woods of North Carolina. First Buck, he posted, another time
37:51
cradling a deer he had freshly killed. The purportedly blind
37:56
man who liked to dye his hair blonde, also went
38:00
hunting for boll, fishing for snook, and snorkeling for scallops.
38:04
Videos of his adventures were on social media for everyone
38:08
to see. One showed who felling a tree with a
38:12
chainsaw and scampering away to avoid getting crushed cutting down
38:17
tree fun fun he posted. In twenty seventeen, the Secret
38:22
Service began investigating Huma and two other individuals in an
38:26
unrelated gift card scheme. A background check revealed that who
38:30
was then forty six, was collecting disability from VA for blindness.
38:36
His blizzard of Facebook post, however, strongly suggested that was
38:40
a ruse. The Secret Service alerted VA's Office of Inspector General.
38:45
For the next two years, the office placed Huba under surveillance.
38:50
Agents clandestinely affixed a video camera to a utility poll
38:54
facing his ranch style house in Tampa and recorded around
38:58
the clock over the first eight weeks. It captured him
39:02
driving thirty eight times. A federal grand jury indicted who
39:06
Were in twenty twenty on charges of stealing government funds
39:10
and making false official statements about his disability. During the
39:15
twenty twenty two trial, his attorney, Grady's c Irvin Jr.
39:19
Insisted Hoover truly couldn't see and tried to swat away
39:23
the incriminating videos of his client behind the wheel. Barry
39:28
Huber is blind. He told the jury can a BLI
39:31
man drive? I submit to you he can? Should he
39:34
drive that's a whole different story. Jurors convicted Hoobe on
39:39
both charges. US District Judge Shirley and Edwards Honeywell sentenced
39:44
him to twenty seven months in prison and ordered him
39:46
to reimburse BA more than four hundred and twenty nine
39:50
thousand dollars. But the judge said Hoober inflicted more damage
39:55
than that by robbing VA of so many resources a decade.
39:59
Were the needless doctor exams and compensation reviews, plus countless
40:04
hours eaten up by the investigation. He had deprived legitimately
40:09
disabled veterans of help they deserved. You're just another individual
40:14
who's clogging the system. Judge lectured him from the bench.
40:20
Cross checking for cheetahs, authorities declined to estimate what percentage
40:26
of claims approved by VA might be fraudulent, but when
40:30
the Inspector General's Office has examined unusual patterns to look
40:35
for cheatahs, it has often found far more than expected.
40:40
In twenty twenty three, investigators suspected some veterans with pilot
40:44
licenses were hiding their disabilities from the Federal Aviation Administration
40:49
so they wouldn't jeopardize their medical certificates to fly. After
40:54
cross checking federal databases, Investigators were surprised to discover that
40:59
nearly five one thousand pilots who were veterans, had failed
41:02
to inform the FAA, as required by law, that they
41:06
were collecting disability payments from BA for mental health disorders
41:11
and other serious conditions. While some pilots lost their licenses
41:16
as a result. In many of the cases, veterans said
41:19
they were healthy enough to fly, but admitted to exaggerating
41:23
their conditions to BA so they could pocket disability checks.
41:28
In recent years, investigators have also wondered whether the blindness
41:32
hoaxes might be more common than once thought. In Florida,
41:37
which has the second highest number of disabled veterans in
41:41
the nation, agents with the Inspector General's Office cross checked
41:45
motor vehicle databases to see how many purportedly blind veterans
41:50
were active drivers. After winning a preliminary list, they opened
41:54
a half dozen criminal fraud investigations that led to convictions.
42:00
One of the schemes was perpetuated for decades by Paul
42:03
Leslie Thompson, a seventy one year old Army bet who
42:07
served in Vietnam. He pleaded guilty in federal court in
42:11
June to defrauding VA by feigning blindness since nineteen ninety three.
42:16
Prosecuted to say he built taxpayers of nearly one point
42:19
two million dollars. His sentencing is scheduled for October twenty third.
42:25
To get the money, Thompson told VA examiners he couldn't
42:29
make out the largest letter, the big black E, on
42:33
an I chart, a foot from his face, even with
42:36
corrective lenses. Itt State records showed he had renewed his
42:40
Florida's driver's license three times over two decades and always
42:44
passed the vision test. Authorities charged him after federal agents
42:49
spied him driving to a restaurant to pick up a
42:51
pizza in Colorado. Vietnam veteran Mike Rodolpho Bla. He did
43:00
guilty in twenty eighteen to federal charges that he defrauded
43:03
VA of one point two seven million dollars over thirty
43:07
five years by pretending to be blind even though he
43:10
had a driver's license.
43:12
Speaker 2: Prosecutors contended the RUSS went.
43:14
Speaker 1: On even longer, all the way back to Bleize discharge
43:18
from the Army as a private in nineteen sixty nine,
43:22
and probably cost taxpayers far more. Justice may be blind,
43:28
Miss de blay isn't said Jason Done, the top federal
43:33
prosecutor in Colorado at the time. In Nebraska, agents discovered
43:40
that Stephen M. Woodhall, a veteran who served in the
43:43
active duty Army and National Guard in the nineteen eighties
43:47
and early nineteen nineties, had one hundred percent disability rating
43:51
for blindness. Even those state records show he had an
43:55
unrestricted driver's license.
43:58
Speaker 2: There was more.
44:00
Speaker 1: Police logs from his hometown of South Sioux City showed
44:03
that he had reported witnessing crimes with his own eyes,
44:07
including acts of blurgery and trespassing. He also had obtained
44:11
a permit to carry a concealed handgun and passing a
44:14
marksmanship test at a shooting range. Investigators set up his
44:19
sting and arranged from BEATA summoned Woodall to an exam
44:23
in August twenty twenty to try to catch him driving.
44:27
On the appointed date, he climbed into his green Toyota
44:30
Tacoma pickup and drove eighty six miles across the Piade
44:34
to the VA Medical Center in Sioux City, South Dakota,
44:38
while under other agents followed.
44:41
Speaker 2: At the exam, wood All lied and told the.
44:44
Speaker 1: Atometrist he had given up driving long ago because of
44:47
his blindness. While he did have severe glaucoma in his
44:51
right eye, he could see eight of his left. One
44:54
weeks later, agents presented Woodall with the evidence against him.
44:59
You have to know that this smells, looks and probably
45:02
has the texture of bullshit when agent pressed, according to
45:06
a transcript of the interview, and I don't need the
45:09
taste it to confirm that. Would All try to suppress
45:14
his panic after what he told the agents, he felt
45:17
like he was having a freaking heart attack, but he
45:20
gradually broke down and confessed, there is a lot idea
45:24
that I probably shouldn't have. I've never been a guy
45:28
that has broke the law. I've always been a good citizen,
45:31
and I don't even think it was fraudulent. But now
45:34
that you guys bring it out, it's more like, well,
45:37
yeah it is, I guess, he said. Would All signed
45:42
a statement admitting to not being totally honest and misrepresenting
45:46
what I was doing. He also told the agents, I
45:50
own it. Those are my screw ups. Ain't nobody else.
45:54
Investigators calculated that Woodall had collected more than six hundred
45:58
thousand dollars in this ability compensation over about fifteen years
46:03
from VA and the Social Security Administration related to his
46:07
vision problems. Documents show after signing his confession, however, would
46:13
All hire a lawyer who successfully argued in court that
46:16
medical records didn't show his client explicitly fibbing about his
46:21
loss of sight until twenty nineteen, and that he was
46:25
entitled to most of the benefits he received.
46:28
Speaker 2: In a deal with prosecutors, Woodall pleaded guilty to theft.
46:32
Speaker 1: Of government funds and was required to pay about fifty
46:36
thousand dollars in restitution, and twenty twenty four a judge
46:41
sentenced him to four years of probation. He had to
46:44
give up his gun permit, but was allowed to keep
46:47
his driver's license. Fraud probes moved slowly, fraud investigations early
46:54
but intensive, often requiring years of detective work.
46:59
Speaker 2: To clinch antion.
47:01
Speaker 1: Federal agents generally must nab someone in the act of
47:04
faking it by gathering reams of surveillance video or obtaining
47:09
a confession. Current and former investigators with the Inspected General's
47:14
Office says scrutinizes only the most blatant reports of fraud
47:18
for which it can gather inconvertible in con incontrovertible evidence,
47:27
not cases in which vets might be just shaving the
47:30
truth or inventing minor mallowed maladies. When you have limited resources,
47:35
there's only so much we can look at, said Missile,
47:38
the former Inspected General. Yet even when agents possess clear
47:43
cut evidence of fraud, investigations can take many years. Record
47:47
show in twenty eleven, a tipster and canvas call Kansas
47:52
called a VA hotline to accuse Bruce L. Hay, a
47:56
veteran and farmer from Owas Tommy, of faking injuries from
48:01
a car accident when he was in the army to
48:04
obtain one hundred percent disability rating. Hay had claimed he
48:09
needed a walker because he was afflicted with tremens that
48:11
made him stacker around like U. F Atkenstein. In the
48:15
description of the V eight official who observed him, he
48:19
also said he couldn't dress obey himself, But the tipster
48:23
reported that hay was fit enough to hunt deer and
48:26
perform heavy labor on his eighty acre farms south of
48:29
Kansas City. Federal agents installed a covert camera on a
48:33
utility poll across from Hayes's house and recorded him driving
48:37
and hunting, fixing roofs, and throwing hay bales on trucks.
48:41
Over time, the former sergeant hauled more than a million
48:44
pounds of scrap metal. Despite voluminous evidence that he was
48:49
lying about his physical condition, the investigation moved slowly while
48:53
agents pursued of the cases. A grand jury indicted Hay
48:58
in twenty nineteen, years after the tip came in. Then
49:02
it took prosecutors three more years to bring Hay to
49:05
trial and for a jury to convict him of wire
49:09
fraud and cheating the government out of five hundred and
49:12
thirty eight thousand dollars. At his sentencing, Hey then fifty three,
49:17
complained about the unfairness of the proceedings and called himself
49:21
an edocent man with a strong moral compass. But US
49:26
District Judge Julie A. Robinson told Hey his conduct was
49:31
frankly outrageous and accused him of nursing an entitlement mentality.
49:36
That's the way mister Hay looked at all of this.
49:39
It was a bunch of bs that he could game
49:41
and get as much as he possibly could possibly bleed
49:45
out of the system, she said, before imposing a prison sentence.
49:49
Speaker 2: Of thirty seven months.
49:51
Speaker 1: In twenty eleven, the Inspector General's Office opened another slow
49:55
moving investigation into jose E. Calderon Fuintes, a Navy veteran
50:01
from Florida whom VA had rated as one hundred percent disabled.
50:06
For more than a decade, Calderon had claimed to be
50:09
functionally blind. He said he could cut fingers only if
50:13
someone placed a hand up to his face because of
50:16
bilateral granula corneal dystrophy, a rare inherited disease. Law enforcement
50:22
officials' unearthed records showing that Calderon had renewed his driver's
50:28
license in two thousand and eight with twenty seventy vision
50:32
in both eyes while wearing corrective lenses. They placed him
50:36
under surveillance and observed him tending his yard with a
50:39
leaf flow and driving his black pickup truck. During a
50:43
twenty twelve interview with undercovered agents, he confided, I was
50:47
once blind, but God healed me and now I can
50:50
see still. The investigation trudged along for six years. In
50:56
twenty seventeen, a grand jury indicted Calderon, and he was
51:00
later convicted a trial of theft of government property. Prosecutors
51:04
sought to make him pay five hundred and thirty eight
51:07
thousand in restitution because the five years statute of limitations
51:12
for most of his conduct had expired. However, a judge
51:16
ruled he had to pay back only about forty four
51:18
thousand dollars. He was sentenced to one year in home detention.
51:24
In interviews with The Post, Calderon said he had told
51:27
the truth about being blind and accused authorities of editing
51:31
surveillance video that showed him driving. They act maliciously, Calderon said,
51:36
they destroyed my life. Meantime, it took decades for BEA
51:41
to catch on to a scheme that began in the
51:43
mid nineteen nineties when John Paul Cook, a soldier of
51:47
fresh Ated Basic Training, fell off a ladder and banged
51:50
his head. Cook had amlopoia, also known as a lazy eye,
51:57
and wore glasses before enlisting. He had the accident ruined
52:01
his vision. The army discharged him lay being medically unfit
52:05
for retention. Record show VA paid twenty thousand dollars for
52:10
Cook to attend blind rehabilitation courses and gave him nine
52:14
hundred and seventy eight thousand more in disability payments. Over
52:18
the next thirty years, yet to his friends and neighbors
52:22
in the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina, Cook
52:26
appeared to see Joshpyin as a scout leader. He taught
52:30
the boy's archery and how to use a map and compass.
52:33
A gospel singing pasted up, he recorded an album crooning
52:37
that his wife was the most beautiful lady that ever
52:41
laid ours on.
52:44
Speaker 2: While va depositing.
52:45
Speaker 1: As much as thirty nine hundred dollars into his bank
52:48
account each month, Cook could afford to indulge his passion
52:52
for automobiles. A relative later told investigators that Cook liked
52:57
to buy and trade in multiple all over albhicles a year.
53:02
His wife, who worked for the federal government in Nashville,
53:05
North Carolina, inadvertently got him in trouble. In twenty sixteen,
53:09
a colleague reported her for allegedly belingering, accusing her of
53:14
faking her own workplace injuries.
53:16
Speaker 2: Records show.
53:17
Speaker 1: While digging into her background, federal agents noticed that her husband,
53:22
supposedly a sightless veteran, had obtained driver's licenses in Tennessee
53:27
and both the Carolinas. They placed Cook under surveillance for months.
53:32
They watched him drive his two sons to school and
53:35
made very frequent trips to Walfall House, cracker barrel and
53:39
granny's kitchen. They also tailed him to a gun store
53:44
thirty one years after he fell.
53:45
Speaker 2: Off the latter.
53:46
Speaker 1: Cook's scheme came crashing down when investigators confronted him at
53:50
home and extracted a partial confession. He pleaded guilty in
53:54
twenty twenty one to theft of public money in court.
53:59
Cook's attorneys said his client was deeply ashamed and asked
54:03
for no jail time. B Us District Judge Maxo. Cogburn
54:08
Junior said he wanted to send a loader message by
54:11
sentencing to five months in prison followed by five months
54:15
of home incarceration. I don't want these veterans thinking they
54:19
can cheat the government. I want some deterrence here, Cogburn said.
54:25
Getting caught but still getting benefits. Fraudsters who get courts
54:30
cheating be aired of high dollar amounts sometimes avoid major consequences.
54:35
In twenty eighteen, the Inspector General's Office opened an investigation
54:39
into William Rashim Rich, a former soldier from Maryland, after
54:44
conducting an auditor veterans receiving more than eight thousand a
54:47
month in disability payments. Rich had been rated as one
54:52
hundred percent disabled because of injuries he suffered in Iraq
54:56
during a two thousand and five suicide bombing that left
54:59
his life legs paralyzed.
55:01
Speaker 2: Court record show.
55:03
Speaker 1: Agents placed Rich under surveillance and watched him arrive for
55:07
an exam at Baltimore, VA Medical Summer in a wheelchair.
55:11
As soon as he left, however, he appeared to make
55:14
a miraculous recovery. He stopped the wheelchair in the trunk
55:18
of his BMW and went shopping. Cameras recorded him strolling
55:23
through a mall and Sam's Club, a discount warehouse. His instagrub,
55:27
a Instagram account, showed him weightlift. They got home and
55:31
at the gym when agents accused him during an interviewer
55:35
to frauding VA, Rich admitted he exaggerated his condition.
55:39
Speaker 2: He had temporarily lost.
55:40
Speaker 1: The use of his legs after the two thousand and
55:43
five attack, he said, and while he still had medical difficulties,
55:47
his health had markedly improved. But Rich gave him an
55:50
unexpected explanation for concealing the truth. VA doctors, he claimed,
55:56
had advised him to pretend he was still ailing so
55:59
that he wouldn't lose his disability payments. From the moment
56:04
that I got injured, the doctors said, just stay in
56:07
a wheelchair.
56:08
Speaker 2: You know they're not going to give you nothing.
56:10
Speaker 1: If you don't just sit in your chair, Rich told
56:13
the agents, they say, you know how this game is played.
56:18
A jury convicted Rich of wire fraud and theft of
56:21
government property. He was ordered to pay back more than
56:25
seven hundred and seventy four thousand dollars in restitution. Prosecutors
56:29
called his actions just a flagrant collous disregard for the
56:33
law and pushed for a forty one month prison sentence,
56:37
but US District Judge Brendan Herson was more sympathetic. During
56:42
in October twenty twenty four hearing, he noted there was
56:45
evidence to support Rich's assertion that VA officials had coached
56:50
him not to be truthful. Medical records indicated that VA
56:55
doctors has suspected for several years that he was fleebing
56:58
a various symptoms, but purposely let him get away with it.
57:02
The judge said he hesitated to send Rich to prison
57:05
because it was undisputed he had been seriously rooted in Iraq.
57:10
It's just very hard to balance here, what is egregious
57:13
fraud with an injury he suffered that was also egregious.
57:17
He sentenced Rich to one year home confinement. In most cases,
57:22
veterans convicted of defrauding VA have to pay back the
57:25
money they stole, but that doesn't disqualify them from continuing
57:30
to receive disability benefits. Under federal law, VAS still has
57:35
to compensate veterans if they have other disabilities that are legitimate,
57:40
While the agency will dock their checks until they have
57:43
repaid their debt, vets who have been caught gaming the
57:46
system remain eligible for VA Medicare, medical care, and other
57:51
perks courtesy of taxpayers. Proponents of the rules say such
57:55
veterans shouldn't have to forfeit benefits to which they're legally entitled.
58:01
And with that, I do have to conclude today's reading
58:05
of the Washington Post and very interesting article. Thank you
58:10
for listening, and please continue listening to program on RADIOI
58:14
for today. I am headed off to a woman's build
58:19
at Habitat for Humanity, but will be back on Saturday.
58:24
I will not be here next Thursday and Friday. Take
58:28
care and back on Saturday.
58:31
Speaker 2: Back