Transcript

10.7.25 · Washington Post

0:01
Speaker 1: Welcome to the reading of the Washington Post for Tuesday,
0:04
October seventh, twenty twenty five. As a reminder, radio Y
0:08
is a reading service intended for people who are blind
0:11
or have other disabilities that make it difficult to read
0:14
printed material. Your reader for to day is Cindy Fraser.
0:18
To day's from page headlines from the Washington Post are
0:22
Colorado ban on conversion therapy heads to high court. A
0:26
Christian therapist seeks the right to counsel gay teens on
0:29
reconciling attraction. Faith next lacks controls open v a to
0:36
dubious disability claims, payouts for mundane conditions hair loss, ezema,
0:41
and more that rarely hinder employment casts a US billions
0:46
per year. Our next headline, Orders may leave a mark
0:50
on the guard use of troops, enters uncharted territory. Retired
0:55
officers warn of effects on readiness, training, morale. Our next headline,
1:02
French prime minister is third to exit in a year.
1:05
Macron ally resigns less than a month into job as
1:09
governance woes further gripped. Nation Next university funding cuts could
1:16
kneecap drug development, and the final headline from to Day's
1:20
front page two years on, some Israelis who fled Hamas
1:25
not back. Survivors from five communities bordering Gaza face wrenching
1:30
choices on if when to return. Now, let's turn to
1:34
our first item entitled Colorado ban on convergent therapy heads
1:39
to high court. A Christian therapist seeks the right to
1:43
counsel gay teens on reconciling attraction faith by Justin Juvenal
1:49
from Colorado Springs As a licensed therapist and evangelical Christian,
1:54
Cayley Childs said she wants to help religious teens who
1:58
struggle with sexual orientation gender dysphoria live a life consistent
2:02
with their faith and the identities God has laid out
2:05
in the Bible. Nonetheless, she turns him away. Chiles says
2:10
a state law banning conversion therapy from miners treatment intended
2:14
to change the identity or behavior of gay and transgender people,
2:19
silences her and deprives young people of help. Many desperately
2:23
seek to reconcile their faith and feelings. Not far from
2:28
Chiles's practice, which sits near the foot of the Rockies,
2:31
Silas Music tried to take his life in twenty ten.
2:35
The transgender man said the conversion therapy he underwent in
2:39
Colorado Springs left him distraught. He later testified in support
2:45
of Colorado's ban and calls conversion therapy bad medicine. Those
2:50
clashing perspectives will square off Tuesday at the Supreme Court
2:55
in one of the highest profile cases of the new term,
2:58
one that crosses multiple fi in the nation's culture wars,
3:02
gay and transgender issues, religious liberty, medical practice, and First
3:07
Amendment rights. The justices will hear arguments in a lawsuit
3:12
brought by Childs that says Colorado's restrictions on conversion therapy
3:16
violate her free speech and that of other Christian therapists
3:20
who wished to counsel in keeping with our religious tenets.
3:23
The case could have wide impact. About thirty states have
3:27
lost similar to Colorado's, She doesn't want to convert her clients,
3:32
child says, but does wish to help those who willingly
3:35
seek to reduce or eliminate unwanted sexual attractions, change sexual behaviors,
3:41
or grow in the experience of harmony with one's physical body.
3:45
This one topic was now being separated and treated differently
3:49
than literally every other topic in counseling. Child said of
3:53
care for young people facing questions of sexual orientation and gender.
3:58
It's not the way we would operate with aictions and
4:00
eating disorders and with depression. Lawyers for Colorado counter that
4:05
the Supreme Court long has held states can regulate professional
4:10
conduct of medicine to safeguard patients from sub standard care,
4:14
even if the rules impinge on speech. Most studies have
4:18
found conversion therapy unsafe and ineffective, leading to higher rates
4:23
of attempted suicide among gay and lesbian youth, self esteem issues,
4:26
and depression. The American Medical Association, American Psychiatric Association, and
4:33
most other mainstream medical groups oppose its use. Music echoed
4:37
that sentiment. I was really the person who worked very
4:41
hard to be the person my family and church wanted.
4:44
Music said of his experience with conversion therapy. I went
4:48
into this willingly and wanting it to work, but it
4:51
was destroying me. The counseling censorship law. Colorado's minor conversion
4:57
therapy law, which passed in twenty nineteen, prohibits a licensed
5:02
physician or registered mental health care provider from providing therapy
5:06
to anyone under eighteen aimed at changing behaviors or gender expressions,
5:12
or to eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attraction or
5:15
feelings toward individuals of the same sex. The law was
5:20
one of a wave of statutes across the country that
5:23
banned or restricted the therapy in the twenty tens, as
5:26
studies finding a harmful mounted. Historically, conversion therapy has included
5:32
a range of techniques, including talk, hypnosis, electric shocks, and
5:37
chemically induced nausea to try to change sexual orientation, gender identity,
5:43
or behavior. The Williams Institute at UCLA estimates that about
5:48
seven hundred thousand LGBTQ plus people had undergone conversion therapy
5:54
as of twenty nineteen. About half received the treatment as adolescents.
5:59
One report found about one thousand, three hundred practitioners nationwide
6:03
employing the therapy in states where it remains legal. Charles,
6:08
who has been a counselor for about ten years, said
6:11
she was reading through Colorado's code governing counseling as part
6:14
of a continuing education program when she first stumbled upon
6:18
the conversion therapy ban. It stunned her. Charles said she
6:23
understands the need to regulate bad treatments, but that the
6:26
law ignores the experience, perspective and needs of Christian counselors
6:30
like her and many of her religious clients. They come
6:34
to her seeking help and setting goals based on their faith,
6:37
she said, as she put it in a court filing,
6:41
they believe their faith and their relationships with God supersede
6:45
romantic attractions and that God determines their identity according to
6:49
what He has revealed in the Bible, rather than their
6:52
attractions or perceptions determining their identity. Charles said research on
6:57
conversion therapy hasn't examined what she wants to do voluntary
7:01
talk therapy. The ban is like Colorado peering into my
7:05
counseling office and dictating for my clients which goals are acceptable,
7:10
she said. Chiles recalled having to turn away a family
7:14
whose child was struggling with sexual identity issues for fear
7:17
of running a foul of Colorado's conversion therapy ban. The family,
7:22
which she said was already in crisis, was dealt another blow.
7:27
Violating the law can result in a penalty of up
7:29
to five thousand dollars and loss of counseling license. Colorado
7:34
officials say no one has been disciplined to date, but
7:37
the possibility has a chilling effect. Child said she calls
7:41
it the counseling censorship law. After conversation with a friend
7:46
and seeing the struggles of many young people, she decided
7:50
she needed to act and sought legal help. She said
7:54
a lot of clinicians are backing out of this space.
7:56
Child said it's leaving families without care. They need a
8:01
failed conversion Music belonged to one of those families, but
8:06
he said his experience of conversion therapy was anything but help.
8:12
He described himself as a tomboy growing up in a
8:14
religious family in rural southwest Virginia. His father was a
8:18
Southern Baptist minister, and music performed in horse shows. He
8:22
said he imagined being a cowboy and knew he was
8:25
different from a young age, before music transition from female
8:29
to male. He attended the evangelical Liberty University. During his
8:34
senior year in two thousand and five, he said he
8:37
fell in love with his roommate. He confided the feelings
8:40
to a residential director. I'm required to report this, music said.
8:44
The adviser told him Liberty band same sex relationships as discipline.
8:51
Music said he went to conversion therapy programs, including one
8:55
called Exodus International, whose president eventually renounced the treatment and shout.
9:00
Most were in Colorado Springs. Music said the programs involved
9:05
discussions of marriage, journaling, and trying to imagine letting go
9:09
of the feelings he had for his roommate. He was
9:11
pressured to go on a date with a man who
9:13
was a friend. Music wore a pink dress. But the
9:17
more he tried to meet the expectations of the therapy,
9:20
the more he failed and the guiltier he got, he said.
9:24
He said he couldn't suppress his natural feelings. There was
9:27
no amount of thinking or praying or wishing or trying
9:31
to change daily behaviors. Music said it led to the deepest,
9:35
darkest depression of my life. Music eventually concluded that he
9:40
couldn't live his life as his family and religion wanted,
9:43
so he would end it. He narrowly survived his suicide attempt.
9:47
In twenty ten. Music entered therapy and was stunned during
9:52
his first session when the therapist told him his sexuality
9:56
was not something they would try to change. After his
9:59
experience with conversion therapy, it was so startling to me.
10:03
This wouldn't be the thing that needed to be worked on.
10:05
Music said. He slowly recovered he began climbing Colorado's fourteen
10:11
thousand foot peaks. In twenty twelve, he married the woman
10:14
who had revived him from his suicide attempt. He had
10:17
a daughter and transitioned. He eventually bought a farm in Tennessee,
10:21
he said, joking, he became the cowboy he envisioned as
10:25
a child. He repeatedly testified before Colorado's legislature in favor
10:30
of the ban on conversion therapy. He didn't want anyone,
10:33
particularly vulnerable young people, to go through what he had endured,
10:37
He said, For me, it is about people who are
10:41
trying to find themselves in a world that doesn't make
10:43
it easy to begin with, and that has these treacherous
10:46
forces working against them. Music said of conversion therapy, I
10:51
know more suicides than I should ever know. About the
10:56
legal fight, Charles followed her lawsuit against Colorado's bank in
11:00
twenty twenty two. Jim Campbell, senior legal counsel for the
11:04
Alliance Defending Freedom, which represents Chiles, said the law improperly
11:09
discriminates against certain viewpoints and pushes young people toward gender
11:13
transition treatments. He viewses risky if you are a miner
11:17
struggling with gender dysphoria and you want to become comfortable
11:21
with your body. The Colorado law won't allow that, Campbell said,
11:25
but there is an explicit exception in the law that
11:28
allows a cancer to encourage gender transition. Colorado Attorney General
11:33
Phil Weiser said the medical consensus is a conversion therapy
11:37
is harmful, and the state is within its rights to
11:40
regulate care that is substandard. Professionals such as therapists and doctors,
11:45
have a duty to offer treatments at work. He said.
11:48
If the Supreme Court embraces Child's free speech arguments, it
11:52
could undermine professional standards as well as consumer protections in
11:56
a range of fields. Weisser said, it is a day
12:00
Pandora's box. He said that same point could apply to
12:04
lawyers who offer advice to clients through speech. It could
12:07
apply to those who are certified investment advisers. A federal
12:11
judge denied Child's motion for a preliminary injunction, and a
12:14
divided US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit affirmed
12:18
that ruling. Before she appealed to the Supreme Court. The
12:22
Tenth Circuit concluded child therapy is undoubtedly professional conduct, not
12:27
pure speech. The Supreme Court laid out a test for
12:30
state laws regulating speech by medical professionals in a twenty
12:34
eighteen case that struck down a California statute requiring anti
12:38
abortion crisis pregnancy centers to provide information about access to
12:43
contraception and abortion. The government must show a compelling interest
12:48
to impose content based regulation on professional speech, and must
12:52
narrowly tailor any such law, the Court ruled. At the
12:56
same time, the High Court found the government could regulate
13:00
professional conduct that incidentally steps on free speech rights. Lower
13:05
courts have come down on both sides of that divide
13:08
in cases dealing with conversion therapy. The case touches on
13:12
key themes of the Supreme Court's rulings in recent years.
13:16
The Justices have pushed to increase the rights of the
13:19
religious while rolling back protections for gay and transgender people.
13:24
In another major cases term, the Justices will rule on
13:28
whether states can ban transgender athletes from playing on girls
13:32
and women's sports teams at schools and universities. The case
13:36
comes a couple of months after the Justice's rule Tennessee
13:39
could ban gender transition treatments for minors. In a twenty
13:43
twenty three case also from Colorado, the High Court ruled
13:47
free speech protections shield some businesses from having to provide
13:51
services to same sex couples. A year earlier, the justices
13:55
found Washington State infringed on the First Amendment rights of
13:59
a high schoo football coach whom a discipline for praying
14:02
on a school field. Alona Redfield, the Federal Policy director
14:06
at the Williams Institute, which has filed a Friend of
14:09
the Court brief supporting Colorado's law, seeks those rulings provide
14:13
a road map to how the court might rule in
14:16
the Colorado case. The Court has been recently strongly protecting
14:20
the exercise of religion and seeking a pretty extensive interpretation
14:24
of free speech powers, Redfield said. Our next item from
14:29
today's front page is entitled lax controls open va to
14:34
dubious disability claims payouts for mundane conditions hair loss, exzema
14:39
and more that rarely hinder employment costs the U S
14:44
billions per year by Craig Whitlock, Lisa Rhine, and Caitlin Gilbert.
14:50
Military veterans are swamping the U. S Government with dubious
14:53
disability claims, including cases of brazen fraud totaling tens of
14:58
millions of dollars that are exploiting the country's sacred commitment
15:02
to compensate those harmed in the line of duty. According
15:05
to a Washington Post investigation, taxpayers will spend roughly one
15:10
hundred ninety three billion dollars this year for the Department
15:13
of Veteran Affairs to compensate about six point nine million
15:17
disabled veterans on the presumption that their ability to work
15:20
is impaired. VA officials say most veterans disability claims are legitimate,
15:26
yet the Posts found that millions of the claims are
15:29
for minor or treatable afflictions that rarely hinder employment, such
15:33
as hair loss, jockitch, and toenail fungus. About five hundred
15:38
fifty six thousand veterans receive disability benefits for exzema, three
15:43
hundred thirty two thousand for hemorrhoids, one hundred ten thousand
15:47
for benign skin growths, eighty one thousand for acne, and
15:51
seventy four thousand for vericos veins. The most recently available
15:55
figures from VA show individual payouts for such mundane conditions
15:59
v but collectively they cost billions of dollars a year.
16:04
In contrast, far fewer veterans received compensation for certain combat
16:09
related injuries. About ten thousand, nine hundred service members who
16:13
have suffered severe or penetrating brain injuries since two thousand
16:17
are eligible for benefits. Fewer than one thousand, seven hundred
16:21
received disability payments for losing limbs during the wars in
16:25
Afghanistan and Iraq. The Post analyzed twenty five years of
16:29
government data on disability claims and sued VA and the
16:33
Justice Department under the Freedom of Information Act, forcing the
16:37
agencies to disclose thousands of pages of internal records and
16:41
dozens of surveillance videos. The Post also interviewed scores of
16:45
current and former US officials and visited military bases around
16:49
the country to speak with veterans. The investigation exposed an
16:53
increasingly costly disability program prone to rampant exaggeration and fraud,
16:59
which made get harder for veterans with legitimate claims to
17:02
get their benefits processed. Bipartisan political indifference and a weak
17:07
array of checks and balances have compounded that is function
17:11
veterans advocates for profit companies, and VA itself encourage vets
17:16
to file as many claims as possible to milk the system.
17:21
The documents and data obtained by the Post spotlighted other
17:25
obvious signs of waste and abuse, as well as an
17:29
internal awareness and tolerance of such problems. Critically, VA has
17:34
failed to update antiquated rules that provide outsized benefits for
17:39
some easily manageable ailments. For instance, VA typically pays veterans
17:44
diagnosed with sleep apnea, a common breathing disorder, more than
17:48
a combat vet with a leg amputated below the knee.
17:52
The easy to manipulate regulations have turned the disability program
17:56
into a rich target for con artists, who are typically
17:59
prosecut uted only in the most egregious and flagrant cases.
18:04
Last year, a grand jury indicted an Army veteran on
18:07
charges of conspiring to defraud the government of one point
18:10
one million dollars by pretending to be paralyzed. According to prosecutors,
18:15
she spent some of the money on Caribbean vacations and
18:18
gambling Johns to Las Vegas. She is pleaded not guilty.
18:22
In June, a Vietnam War veteran pleaded guilty to ripping
18:26
off ye by claiming to be blind for twenty nine years.
18:30
In fact, he could see well enough to drive, and
18:32
repeatedly renewed his license. The Justice Department said he defraud
18:36
a taxpayers of nearly one point two million dollars. In August,
18:41
a peripatetic former soldier from Walla Walla, Washington, was arrested
18:45
on charges of swindling VA of two hundred forty four
18:48
thousand dollars by professing to be paraplegic, even though he
18:52
was agile enough to hunt elk and get into fist
18:55
fights that drew the police. When VA officials began investigating,
18:59
he vanished in a canoe and faked that he died
19:02
by drowning in the north Woods of Maine. Authority said
19:06
after a year of searching, a fugitive task force finally
19:09
nabbed him at an Amtrak station in Missouri. A PUS
19:13
review of seventy fraud prosecutions since twenty seventeen shows that
19:17
VA regularly falls victim to half baked schemes. In three cases,
19:22
men who never served a day in uniform fooled the
19:25
department into thinking they were disabled war heroes. Two of
19:28
them also lied that they were held captive by the enemy.
19:32
Record show since retaking office in January, President Donald Trump
19:37
has sought to slash spending and root out fraud across
19:39
the government, dismantling entire agencies in the process, but the
19:44
White House has promised not to curtail veterans benefits, and
19:48
the U. S Doge Service has largely spared VA from
19:51
the deep cuts it is imposed elsewhere. Disability payments to
19:56
veterans are tax free and typically lasts for life. Last year,
20:00
disabled vets received twenty five thousand, forty six dollars on average.
20:05
VA figures show the money comes on top of free
20:09
or subsidized medical care provided by VIA. Under the law,
20:13
disabilities must be connected to military service to qualify for compensation,
20:18
but do not need to arise from combat. Military work
20:22
can be hazardous outside a warzone, with many troops injured
20:26
during training. Veterans can, and increasingly do, file claims for
20:31
multiple ailments. Last year, each disabled veteran received on average,
20:36
benefits for a combination of about seven injuries and illnesses,
20:40
up from two point five per person in two thousand one.
20:44
The POSTS found that it has become common for veterans
20:47
to submit claims for twenty or more disabilities each Over
20:52
the past quarter century, veterans have flooded VA with an
20:56
escalating number of claims. In two thousand, one received benefits
21:00
for a total of nearly six million disabilities. By last year,
21:05
that figure had risen to forty one point seven million,
21:08
a sevenfold increase. VA officials and independent analysts note that
21:14
injuries and wounds from the grinding wars in Afghanistan and
21:17
a Rock, as well as other overseas military operations, have
21:21
contributed to the torrent of claims. Thanks to adventures in
21:26
triage care, more troops survived serious combat wounds that would
21:29
have been fatal in the past. In addition with high
21:33
suicide rates among those who have served in uniform, VA
21:36
and the Defense Department have placed greater emphasis on mental health,
21:41
encouraging vets to seek care for depression and post traumatic stress.
21:46
Against that backdrop, presidents and lawmakers from both parties have
21:50
committed to spending whatever is necessary to compensate disabled veterans,
21:55
acknowledging that they made extraordinary sacrifices that can never be
21:59
out of repaid. The post presented via officials with a
22:03
detailed summary of this story and a list of questions
22:07
which they decline to answer. Instead via Press Secretary p
22:11
Kasperowitz provided a statement, quote, the extraordinarily liberal Washington Post
22:17
never met a government program it didn't love until now,
22:20
he wrote. Unbelievably, the far left Washington Post believes many
22:25
veterans don't deserve the VIA benefits they've earned. Our message
22:30
to the out of touch liberal activists peddling this garbage
22:33
story is simple. America's veterans earned their VIA benefits, and
22:37
it should be easier, not harder, to get them. Under
22:41
President Trump, we are improving VA, so it's faster and
22:44
more convenient for veterans to get what our nation owes them.
22:47
End quote. A flawed system, the surgeon disability claims has
22:53
come as a population of living veterans has shrunk by
22:56
about one third from twenty six million in two thousand
22:59
one to seventeen point six million today, and in other
23:04
critical ways, VA's compensation system has failed to keep up
23:08
with medical advances and changes in the workplace. The current
23:12
disability program was designed eighty years ago to provide a
23:16
safety net for unemployable veterans wounded or injured during World
23:19
War II. Today, the vast majority of disabled veterans under
23:24
age sixty five still work and collect paychecks from full
23:27
time jobs record show. According to the most recent available
23:31
figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate
23:35
for disabled veterans last year was four point one percent,
23:39
about the same as a population at large. In twenty
23:42
twenty three, more than one hundred thousand disabled veterans, roughly
23:46
one in sixty reported an income of two hundred fifty
23:50
thousand dollars or hire, according to a POST analysis of
23:53
VA and Census data. Other public disability programs help only
23:58
people who certified them that they are incapacitated or severely
24:02
impaired in their ability to work. The Social Security Administration,
24:06
which provides disability aid to more than fifteen million people,
24:10
limits benefits to those who cannot hold a job or
24:13
are unable to earn more than nineteen thousand, four hundred
24:16
forty dollars a year. The POSTS investigation found that Congress
24:21
and VA have made it easier to cheat and take
24:23
advantage of the system since two thousand one. Under public
24:28
pressure to improve care for veterans, lawmakers from both parties
24:32
have approved a succession of bills lowering the standard of
24:35
proof for disability claims. The biggest came in twenty twenty two,
24:40
when Congress passed legislation known as the Packed Act, which
24:44
made it simpler for generations of veterans to assert that
24:47
their ailments were caused by exposure to airborne, toxic substances
24:51
and other environmental hazards while serving in war zones. The
24:55
Packed Act has helped many veterans receive compensation for cancer
24:59
and and other serious illnesses diagnosed years or even decades
25:04
after they left the military by presuming the conditions are
25:07
connected to their service, But the law has also led
25:11
to the approval of a sky rocketing number of claims
25:14
for treatable respiratory and digestive conditions. Last year, for instance,
25:21
six hundred eighty thousand, eight hundred thirty four veterans were
25:24
categorized as disabled for allergic rhinitis or hay fever. VIA
25:29
figures show that's up from thirty thousand, seven hundred five
25:32
in two thousand and six, a twenty twofold increase. Payouts
25:37
for allergic rhinitis can range between one hundred seventy six
25:40
and seven hundred fifty dollars a month. Claims for irritable
25:44
bowel syndrome have also soared since twenty thirteen aproof cases
25:49
have risen four hundred percent. Cases of heidel hernia, a
25:53
condition that causes heartburn and acid reflex have increased tenfold
25:57
since two thousand five. For many of the most common disabilities,
26:02
including migraines, depression, and back pain, there is no conclusive
26:06
way to determine whether a veteran is telling the truth
26:09
about the severity of their symptoms. Under federal law, VA
26:14
must give a veteran the benefit of the doubt and
26:17
approve their claim when evidence is evenly split. My belief
26:22
is that this is a flawed system. Many of these
26:24
conditions are hard to measure, said David Shulkin, a physician
26:28
who served as VA secretary for fourteen months during the
26:31
first Trump administration and as under Secretary of Health for
26:35
nearly two years under President Barack Obama. The vast majority
26:40
of veterans are trying to follow the rules, but the
26:43
process leads to ambiguity and concern. Authorities have known for
26:48
years that some veterans who don't genuinely need help are
26:52
gaming the disability program, according to documents and interviews. One
26:57
inherent problem VIA must contend with is that it operates
27:01
on an honor system, with its Veterans Justice Department prosecutors
27:05
wrote in a twenty twenty one court filing for a
27:07
case involving an Army veteran who defrauded VILLA of more
27:11
than two hundred thousand dollars. The result is that some
27:14
veterans can, and unfortunately, some veterans do, take advantage. Alex Morrow,
27:21
an Army vet from Colorado Springs who hosts a popular
27:24
physical fitness podcast, acknowledge that it is extremely common for
27:28
veterans to stretch the truth when applying for disability. He
27:32
blamed the system for creating incentives to exaggerate. Many veterans
27:37
see those checks as validation of their service and the
27:40
sacrifice they made. He told the Post, they are sitting
27:43
at a table, and at that table is a stash
27:46
of cash. I'm not going to tell them not to
27:48
claim it. It shouldn't be a crime to claim something.
27:52
Embellished and bogus claims are clogging the system and making
27:56
it harder for veterans with bona fide injuries to get
27:59
the help they deserve. According to judges and prosecutors who
28:03
have handled fraud cases for the past two decades, VIA
28:07
has been overwhelmed by a persistent backlog of applications. As
28:12
of September twenty seventh, VIA reported it was processing nearly
28:16
six hundred thirty five thousand claims, of which one hundred
28:20
thirty four thousand had been pending for more than four months.
28:24
There is already a backlog in this system, and it
28:27
can be notorious to get your legitimate claims through. Kareem Meo,
28:31
a federal prosecutor, said during the twenty twenty two sentencing
28:35
of an army veteran in Maryland who cheated VA out
28:38
of three hundred seventy thousand dollars by faking memory loss
28:41
and paralysis. Committing fraud on the program makes it harder
28:46
for all of the other veterans to get the services
28:49
that they need in a timely manner. Get to yes.
28:54
For decades after the Vietnam War, veterans and lawmakers accused
28:58
VIA of being unresponse and hostile to those with disabilities.
29:03
Many veterans publicly complained that the agency's bureaucratic mindset forced
29:08
them to wait too long for medical care and compensation.
29:12
Since nine to eleven and the wars that followed, however,
29:15
the pendulum has swung the other way. During the Biden administration,
29:19
VIA went to new lengths to make it as easy
29:22
as possible for veterans to obtain disability compensation and other
29:26
benefits across the country. The apartment blanketed buses and billboards
29:31
with ads encouraging vets to apply. It hosted temporary clinics
29:35
at conventions and sporting events where vets could walk in,
29:39
file claims and get same day approval. Agency leaders embraced
29:44
an unofficial slogan to emphasize how keen they were to
29:47
grant requests, saying they would do everything in their power
29:51
to get to yes. Internal tracking reports charted record jumps
29:56
in authorized claims. Joshua Jacobs, who served as VA under
30:00
Secretary for Benefits for two years under President Joe Biden,
30:04
told the Post it was important for the agency to
30:07
bend over backward to help veterans given its past failings.
30:11
He denied that VIA had opened the door to a
30:13
wave of fraudulent or specious claims, saying that if anything more,
30:18
disabled vets deserve compensation, we have a duty to assist, so,
30:24
unlike other federal programs, the goal here is not to
30:28
be adversarial. Jacob said, The thing that keeps me up
30:32
at night. Is not that we're being too generous, is
30:35
that we're not meeting enough veterans. We're not delivering the
30:38
benefits that they've earned. The one hundred ninety three billion
30:42
dollars that the VA will spend this year on disability
30:45
compensation is about eight billion dollars more than what it
30:49
cost to run the entire army. Adjusted for inflation, that
30:53
is more than six times what VA spent on the
30:56
disability program in two thousand and one. Proposals to curtailed
31:01
disability benefits rarely get far in Washington because veterans groups
31:05
wield enormous political clout. In March, the Trump administration drew
31:11
up plans to cut the Veterans Affairs workforce by fifteen percent,
31:15
or about eighty three thousand employees, describing the department's overhead
31:20
costs as bloated. Though VA Secretary Douglass A. Collins promised
31:25
to leave disability and health care benefits intact, the proposal
31:30
generated a backlash among advocacy groups and by partisan criticism
31:34
in Congress. By July, Collins abandoned the proposal and said
31:39
VA would try to eliminate thirty thousand jobs instead, mostly
31:43
through attrition and early retirement. In interviews, several former claims
31:49
processors and healthcare providers said that VA leaders have ignored
31:53
systemic waste and fraud in the disability program since the
31:57
George W. Bush administration because they feared the political consequences
32:01
that would result if they scrutinized claims more closely. If
32:05
you're a politician and you go against veterans and say
32:09
we shouldn't be funding them as much, you are pretty
32:12
much committing political suicide, said Shay Wilkes, an Army veteran
32:16
with a clinical social worker at the VIA Hospital in Shreveport, Louisiana.
32:22
Vince Hancock, who worked as a disability rating specialist for
32:25
VA for twelve years before retiring in twenty twenty two,
32:29
said processors face constant pressure to approve questionable claims. Our
32:34
job was not to look for the truth, to figure
32:37
out what's true about the claim, but to grant what
32:39
we could. He said, Honestly, I granted some that I
32:43
personally didn't believe. Paul Mitchell, a Navy veteran from Greenville,
32:47
South Carolina, who worked for the agency as a claims
32:50
processor for thirteen years until he retired in twenty nineteen,
32:55
said he was a really gung ho about his job
32:57
at first because he wanted to help others would serve
33:00
their country, but he became disillusioned by those trying to
33:04
bilk the system. Some vets, he said, improbably claimed up
33:08
to seventy five disabilities. At some point it seemed like
33:13
it really was just a game. He added. The veterans
33:16
would say the government is handing out money, get in line.
33:20
In some cases that led to criminal prosecution. Veterans faked
33:25
their injuries with melodramatic flare. Zachary Barton, a former Army
33:29
medic from Florida, conned the government into giving him two
33:33
hundred forty five thousand dollars to which he was not
33:36
entitled between twenty seventeen and twenty twenty one. Court record
33:40
show when he went to vier appointments, he parked in
33:43
the spot reserved for disabled people and hobbled inside with
33:47
a cane. Smelly and unbathed. He wore a diaper and
33:51
a T shirt that read not All Heroes Wear capes.
33:55
A relatively young man in his thirties, Barton claimed to
33:58
suffer from a long list of ailment urinaryan countenance post
34:02
traumatic stress disorder or PTSD, depression, erectile dysfunction, spinal degenerative disease,
34:09
and a neurological disorder that caused one side of his
34:12
face to droop. He said he could barely lift ten pounds.
34:17
When a VA staffer remarked that Barton actually looked pretty strong.
34:21
In reality, he was a competitive bodybuilder on steroids with
34:25
a scant four percent body fat, the Iraq war veteran
34:29
replied that he had good genetics. The scam worked until
34:34
an anonymous whistleblower tipped off the A In twenty nineteen,
34:38
Federal investigators searched online and found Barton bragging on Facebook
34:43
and Instagram under the name Zach Ryan about being a
34:47
weightlifting champion. Undercover agents placed him under surveillance and followed
34:52
him to two gems. They observed him doing six hundred
34:55
fifty pound like presses a dozen reps at a time.
34:59
When investigators later knocked on Barton's door to question him,
35:03
he clunged to his routine of feebleness, at first, insisting
35:06
that the most exercise he got was from playing video
35:09
games on the couch. Confronted with evidence to the contrary,
35:13
the former medic eventually confessed to in venting his disabilities
35:17
and fabricating stories about serving in combat. He admitted to
35:20
investigators that he had gained the system and that it
35:23
got out of control, calling himself selfish and a shitbag.
35:29
Barton pleaded guilty to theft of government property and was
35:32
sentenced to a year in prison and ordered to repay
35:35
the government two hundred forty five thousand dollars. His attorney,
35:39
Daniel Foreman, told the Post that Barton's conviction scared him
35:43
straight and that he revamped his life. This was probably
35:47
the best thing that ever happened to him, Foreman said.
35:51
A growing demand via assigns veterans a disability rating on
35:56
a scale of zero to one hundred percent based on
35:59
the combined and severity of their injuries and illnesses. The
36:03
higher the rating, the more compensation they receive. Those with
36:07
dependents qualify for extra On paper, there are more severely
36:12
disabled veterans than ever. More than one point five million
36:16
veterans held a one hundred percent rating last year, double
36:20
the figure from twenty nineteen, and nearly nine times as
36:23
many as in two thousand one. Each received on average
36:28
forty nine thousand, six hundred forty five dollars in disability compensation.
36:33
Veterans categorized as one hundred percent disabled often still hold normal,
36:38
full time jobs. Most have an assortment of ailments such
36:41
as arthritis, diabetes, scars, or deviated septum, that by themselves
36:47
are not incapacitating, but that add up to a one
36:50
hundred percent rating. Under VA rules, lawmakers have approved a
36:55
host of extra benefits for veterans who are one hundred
36:58
percent disabled, tacitly incouraging former service members to claim multiple
37:02
ailments and inflate their rating. In addition to receiving free
37:07
medical care and prescription drugs from VA, those permanently rated
37:11
as one hundred percent disabled pay nothing for dental treatment
37:15
and don't have to repay federal student loans. Their spouses
37:18
and children also get free health care and up to
37:21
sixty thousand dollars each for college or trade school. In
37:25
many states, one hundred percent disabled vets are entitled to
37:29
numerous other perks, including free license plates, complimentary hunting and
37:33
fishing permits, and property tax deductions. Disabled veterans of all
37:38
ratings also benefit from hiring preferences, especially when applying for
37:43
federal jobs. About two percent of US adults are disabled vets,
37:47
but they account for about sixteen percent of the federal
37:50
civilian work force. To qualify for disability compensation, veterans must
37:56
show that their illness or injury is connected to their
37:58
military service. In most cases, medical records documenting that they
38:03
were treated for the condition while in uniform or within
38:06
a year of leaving the armed forces are required. In
38:10
recent years, however, Congress and VA have relaxed requirements for
38:14
some common conditions. For PTSD, veterans do not need to
38:19
demonstrate that they received medical care while in the service.
38:23
Notes from a current therapist or body letters from military
38:26
colleagues can be enough to support a claim. Significantly, veterans
38:31
do not need to prove that military duty caused their
38:34
sicknings or injury, only that it occurred or worsened while
38:38
they were in the service. Lingering health problems from off
38:41
duty accidents, a kitchen mishap, even a bar fight can
38:45
be eligible for disability compensation. Daniel Gade, a retired Army
38:50
Lieutenant colonel and a rock combat veteran who is the
38:54
co author of the twenty twenty one book Wounding Warriors,
38:57
How bad policy is making veterans sicker and poorer. Cited
39:01
the case of a soldier who received disability benefits for
39:04
a brain injury suffered while driving drunk. It undermines the
39:08
integrity of the system. Gad, who also has served as
39:11
Commissioner of the Virginia Department of Veterans Services, said in
39:15
an interview the average disability rating has climbed steadily over
39:20
the years, in part because VA rules allow veterans to
39:23
appeal decisions they disagree with again and again and again.
39:29
Veterans whose claims are initially denied can seek more favorable
39:33
rulings from regional VA offices, the Board of Veterans Appeals,
39:37
and the U S Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims.
39:40
Most veterans who appeal receive free representation from VAS certified attorneys.
39:46
In recent years, VIA has made it easier for veterans
39:49
to appeal claims rejected by regional offices and has submit
39:53
additional evidence. Social media influencers and for profit claims advisers
39:58
have also become more visible on line in encouraging vets
40:02
to file appeals repeatedly if necessary. A review of the
40:06
docket of the Board of Veterans Appeals, which decides tens
40:10
of thousands of cases annually, shows that all sorts of
40:13
claims can pay off in the end. One veteran appealed
40:17
Vie's denial of his claim for depression, arguing that his
40:21
mood disorder had been triggered by several other disabilities, including
40:24
cases of hemorrhoids, genital herpes, and genital warts that he
40:28
had contracted two decades earlier while on active duty. At
40:32
a hearing, the veteran complained that he was in constant
40:35
pain because of those conditions, as well as a Goudy
40:39
right foot, and that his depression was exacerbated by his
40:42
previously granted claims for erect onta's function, sleep, APNA, and PTSD.
40:48
Documents show the board was sympathetic. In a twenty twenty
40:52
three ruling, it determined that his chronic pain and other
40:56
issues were likely the cause of his depressive disorder, and
41:00
that he was entitled to more money, along with an
41:02
undisclosed amount he already had been receiving for the rest
41:05
of his problems. In another case, a Marine Corps veteran
41:10
won a decision from the board last year that granted
41:14
him a thirty percent disability rating for a case of
41:17
genital and oral herpes he contracted when he was in
41:20
the service more than a decade earlier. The board ruled
41:24
that he also deserved compensation for major depressive disorder, in
41:28
part because he reported witnessing the violent deaths of another
41:31
marine while stationed in the United States. He also alleged
41:35
that other service members had injured him during hazing incidents.
41:39
The veteran said he had been further traumatized by fear
41:42
of enemy action while serving on a ship in the
41:45
Middle East because his vessel had been fired upon, but
41:48
he was not allowed to return fire. Outdated and inconsistent.
41:55
Viier's modern rating system for disabilities rules guiding how much
41:59
the government pays out for injuries and illnesses, was created
42:02
in nineteen forty five, during an era when most Americans
42:06
earned a living on the farm, in factories, or from
42:09
other forms of manual labor. Since then, VA and Congress
42:14
have taken some steps to modernize the standards, but many
42:17
regulations remain outdated and inconsistent. Sleep Apnea, a breathing disorder,
42:23
wasn't identified in medical literature until mid century. Today, sleep
42:28
apnea can be treated effectively by wearing a breathing mask
42:31
at night. Most people with a condition have no trouble
42:35
holding a job, yet, VA, clinging to decades old rules,
42:40
considers most veterans who have prescribed a sleep apnea mask
42:43
to be fifty percent disabled. That rate entitles them to
42:47
one thy one hundred two dollars per month in tax
42:50
repayments more if they have dependance. Sleep Apnea is now
42:55
one of VA's most frequently claimed disabilities. Last year, six
42:59
hundred fifty nine thousand, three hundred thirty five thats received
43:03
compensation for it. That's about eleven times a number who
43:07
did so in two thousand nine. VA figure's show. In comparison,
43:12
VIA generally considers combat veterans who have their legs amputated
43:15
below the knee to be forty percent disabled. At that rate,
43:20
they received seven hundred seventy four dollars per month more
43:23
with dependence. Some disabled veterans told the Post they are
43:27
baffled by what VA pays them. Carol Ramsay, a seventy
43:31
eight year old Air Force veteran and physician from Colorado,
43:35
said she receives about thirty four thousand dollars a year
43:38
in compensation for her ninety percent disability rating, mostly because
43:42
she had a hysterectomy while on active duty to address
43:45
a medical condition. She said that she never considered herself
43:49
disabled and that her hysterectomy didn't affect her ability to
43:52
earn a living I wasn't going to put in for it,
43:55
she added, explaining that a Veterans Service organization advised her
43:59
to submit the claim, but it would have been foolish
44:02
of me to turn down the benefit. Still, Ramsay said
44:06
she thinks it's unfair that combat wounded veterans received less
44:10
than her. Nobody ever shot at me. Michael Spinelli, an
44:14
Air Force veteran from Pennsylvania who processed disability claims for
44:18
VA for twenty six years, said that apartment just wants
44:22
to give, give give. He criticized a VA ratings schedule
44:26
for making a mockery of the ones who really do
44:29
deserve it by failing to distinguish between combat veterans with
44:33
body parts missing and those who never saw a bullet.
44:37
There's some ridiculous stuff that's got nothing to do with
44:40
military service, where family medical history is more likely to
44:43
be the issue, added Spinelli, who left his VA job
44:47
in twenty nineteen. The honor system Federal Fiscal Animals have
44:53
long been skeptical of the billions of dollars VIA spends
44:56
to compensate veterans for illnesses associated with aging, genetics, or
45:00
poor diet. In nineteen eighty nine, the Government Accountability Office
45:05
or GOO, a research arm of Congress, found that nineteen
45:09
percent of disabled veterans were being compensated for ordinary diseases
45:13
of life. A study by GOAO doctors found no evidence
45:18
that any aspect of military service caused or aggravated these diseases,
45:22
a category that included hemorrhoids, arterio sclerotic heart disease, multiple sclerosis,
45:28
Crohn's disease, and uterine fibroids. The study, however, led to
45:33
no legislative changes, and the issues persisted. In twenty eighteen,
45:38
the non partisan Congressional Budget Office calculated that VA could
45:42
save thirty three billion dollars over a decade by ending
45:46
disability payments for seven of the ordinary diseases the GOO
45:50
had flagged almost thirty years earlier. Instead of cutting back,
45:55
lawmakers and VA have expanded eligibility for some everyday afflictions.
46:00
For instance, the twenty twenty two Packed Act made it
46:04
far easier for veterans to claim compensation for hypertensive vascular disease,
46:09
which can be a consequence of unmanaged high blood pressure.
46:13
By twenty twenty four, more than seven hundred fifty thousand
46:16
veterans with hypertensive vascular disease had their claims approved, a
46:21
sixty one percent increase in two years. Disability ratings for
46:25
the condition ranged between ten and sixty percent, depending on
46:29
the severity of the symptoms. Gate, the retired Army officer
46:33
and author, called the Packed Act a disaster for enabling
46:37
such claims. Old men get high blood pressure, old fat
46:41
men get it worse. He said. Veterans deserve medical care
46:45
from VIA for the condition, but not disability payments. The
46:50
system allows people to blame the government for the vicissitudes
46:53
of regular life, added Gade, who received two purple heart
46:57
metals for combat wounds he suffered in a rock, including
47:00
the loss of his right leg. He and other VAS
47:04
critics noted that some frequently claimed disabilities are easy to
47:08
fake because there is no reliable way to measure the
47:11
severity of symptoms with objective medical tests. Since two thousand one,
47:16
for example, the number of veterans receiving compensation from migraines
47:20
has multiplied by a factor of twenty three, from forty
47:24
seven thousand to one point one million. Today. The most
47:28
claimed disability by far is tenatous or ringing in the ears,
47:32
another condition that is difficult to confirm with certainty. Last year,
47:37
nearly three point three million veterans, more than half of
47:40
those on disability, received benefits for it by itself. Tenatus
47:45
carries a ten percent rating, which pays one hundred seventy
47:48
six dollars a month more with pendants. Many veterans legitimately
47:53
suffer from hearing loss. Repeated exposure to gunfire and loud
47:57
noises comes with the territory in the armed forces. Yet,
48:01
since two thousand one, the number of approved tentatist claims
48:04
has increased more than twenty fold, up from one hundred
48:08
sixty two thousand cases. The spy has in part been
48:12
driven by a thriving industry of paid consultants, sometimes called
48:16
claim sharks. Many advertisers services in flashy online videos, sharing
48:21
tips to inflate payouts for conditions that are difficult to disprove.
48:26
A tentatus VA rating is a gold mine and here's
48:29
why No proof claims the title on a YouTube video
48:33
posted last year by VA claims Academy, a consulting firm.
48:38
The video received three hundred thousand views in seven months.
48:42
Another ailment in the hard to disprove category a rectile dysfunction.
48:48
In twenty twenty four, one in every ten disabled vets,
48:52
five hundred ninety five thousand, five hundred eighty nine of
48:55
them held an approved claim for penal deformity with a
49:00
loss of erectile power. VA figures show a rectile DS
49:05
function is a common side effect for those with depression
49:08
or PTSD, not to mention troops who suffered groin injuries.
49:12
Since two thousand seven, claims have shot up six hundred
49:16
eleven percent. For years, veterans who had it were granted
49:20
a twenty percent disability rating after studying the issue. However,
49:24
VIA changed his rules in twenty twenty one. Now, in
49:28
most cases, a rectildus function no longer counts toward a
49:31
veteran's disability rating. Instead, sufferers receive a special one hundred
49:37
thirty six dollars per month supplement for what VA calls
49:40
loss of a creative organ. Veterans say its common knowledge
49:44
that VIE approves the claim more or less automatically. It's
49:48
easy money, said Scott Carot, a former Army physical therapist
49:52
who treated patients at Fort Bliss in Texas. It comes
49:56
down to nothing more than your word. There's nobody there
49:58
in the bedroom with you. Ripe for fraud. In practice,
50:03
VIA does little to deter cheaters and criminals. The primary
50:07
responsibility for investigating fraud falls to its Inspector General's Office,
50:12
an independent watchdog with its own division of sworn law
50:15
enforcement agents. The office gets flooded with reports of fraud, waste,
50:20
and abuse at VA. Last year, its hotline fielded more
50:24
than thirty thousand tips and complaints, yet the odds of
50:28
getting nabbed are infinitesimal. Since twenty twenty, the Inspector General
50:33
has opened an average of sixty three investigations each year
50:37
into suspected disability fraud, a tiny fraction of the more
50:42
than two million claims that VA processes annually. It refers
50:47
about forty eight cases each year to prosecutors. Investigations, as
50:51
far as I can tell, are pretty rare, and criminal
50:54
prosecutions are even rarer, in part because it's very difficult
50:59
to discover this fraud. William Griesbach, a federal judge in Wisconsin,
51:03
said in twenty seventeen, when he sentenced an Army vet
51:07
to prison for defrauding VIA of more than two hundred
51:10
thousand dollars. The government doesn't have resources to chase after everybody.
51:15
Agents generally only launched disability fraud investigations if they think
51:20
they can obtain clear cut, indisputable evidence, such as surveillance video,
51:25
that someone has faked their condition. According to the Inspector
51:28
General's Office, Crystal Readling, a former Army sergeant from Lake City, Florida,
51:34
was collecting more than four thousand dollars a month in
51:36
compensation for the complete loss of her right arm, anxiety,
51:41
and other ailments, until a whistleblower contacted VIA and reported
51:45
that she was lying about the seriousness of her disabilities.
51:49
Federal agents placed Readling, then forty one, under surveillance and
51:53
soon caught her on video with her adult daughter at
51:56
Walt Disney World in Florida, using her arm normally. When
52:00
the agents questioned her, she admitted that she had exaggerated
52:04
her arm problems to get a one hundred percent disability rating.
52:08
I know that this is completely wrong, she wrote in
52:10
a sworn statement. Still, Weedling argued that she felt entitled
52:15
to the money because of her stellar Army career, which
52:18
included what she described as a Soldier of the Year
52:21
ward when she was stationed at Fort Hood, Texas. I
52:25
have letters of recommendation out the yin Yang because I
52:28
was good at what I did, she said, according to
52:30
a transcript of her interview, This is going to sound
52:33
pretty shitty, but I guess to take that away from me,
52:36
I felt like I earned this. Prosecutor said she defrauded
52:40
the government of nearly three hundred thousand dollars. A jury
52:44
convicted her of theft of public money and making false statements.
52:48
She was sentenced to six months of home detention. Daniel Koskovski,
52:52
an Army veteran from Wisconsin, received one hundred fifty thousand
52:56
dollars for fraudulent disability claims after he said that paralyzing anxiety,
53:02
glurry vision, and injuries to his head, back and leg
53:05
from a nineteen eighties car accident and transformed him into
53:09
an anxious, depressed recluse who was unable to work. In fact,
53:14
he owned and ran a Costa Rican beach bar called Cocoanuts,
53:17
where Facebook photos showed him lifting kegs over his head
53:21
and performing motorcycle stunts, beer bikes, and boobs, he enthused
53:25
in one post. Confronted with a social media history, Kozarski
53:30
pleaded guilty to fraud in twenty eighteen, twelve years after
53:33
he first claimed he was unable to work. At his
53:36
sentencing hearing, he argued that VIE had foisted the money
53:40
on him. I didn't want it. I didn't ask for it.
53:43
They gave it to me. They said I could not
53:46
deny it, he said. The judge took a dim view
53:49
and sent him to prison for a year. At some
53:53
corners of the VIA, it's an open secret that the
53:55
disability program is easy to plunder. Court documents showed the
54:00
agency has been hit by a rash of inside jobs.
54:04
Anthony Madrano, a marine veteran from southern California, received one
54:08
hundred eighty three thousand dollars in disability benefits after he
54:12
claimed he was home bound and needed a full time caregiver.
54:16
As a condition of receiving the extra assistance, Madrano had
54:19
to certify repeatedly that he was unemployed. In fact, Madrano
54:24
continued to work the whole time for v A as
54:28
a veteran service representative. He advised fellow Betts how to
54:32
apply for benefits. He also coached youth sports and posted
54:36
Facebook videos of himself doing push ups with a child
54:39
on his back. It took five years for VIA to
54:42
discover Madrano was one of its own employees and not
54:46
as frail as he pretended to be. In twenty twenty one,
54:49
he pleaded guilty to fraud and was sentenced to eight
54:52
months in prison. In a court filing, an attorney for
54:56
Madrano called his actions the worst mistake of his life.
55:00
In Arkansas, a federal jury convicted another ver Service representative
55:04
of using his insider knowledge to defraud the agency of
55:08
about twenty five thousand dollars. Darrold Maxfield Senior, an Army veteran,
55:13
was sentenced to five months in prison for forging his
55:16
medical records so he could receive a one hundred percent
55:19
disability rating. His son got bustered for a similar ruse.
55:24
Darrold Maxfield Junior, who also served in the Army before
55:28
going to work for v A, pleaded guilty to defrauding
55:31
the government of ninety one thousand dollars after investigators discovered
55:36
that he too, had forged a doctor's report so he
55:39
could get a higher disability rating. In that case, Maxfield
55:43
Junior falsely claimed he had PTSD fabricating a story about
55:47
witnessing the gruesome death of a cadet at the U. S.
55:50
Military Academy at West Point. I just like to say
55:53
that I'm deeply regretful and remorseful, he told the judge.
55:57
He got four months in prison. VA employees have been
56:01
charged with running kickback schemes from within the agency. In May,
56:05
a federal grand jury indicted an hel Caere rivera VIA
56:10
supervisor from Fuererco, on charges of leading a conspiracy to
56:14
approve fraudulent disability claims for veterans in exchange for cash.
56:18
Nine other defendants who do not work for VA, were
56:21
also charged. All have pleaded not guilty. As veterans flood
56:26
the system with dubious and false claims, it has given
56:29
rise to another type of fraud, in which VIA employees
56:32
solicit bribes to help people skip the backlog. In July,
56:37
for example, Michael Dora, forty seven, a veteran service representative
56:41
in Providence, Rhode Island, pleaded guilty to pocketing nearly thirty
56:45
thousand dollars to expedite claims for veterans whose disability cases
56:50
were legitimate, but had languished for months. Darra, a former
56:54
cop who had been fired from a Massachusetts police department
56:57
for extorting drivers during traffic stops, offer to grease the
57:01
wheels to deliver benefits if veterans or family members would
57:05
pay him up front through cash, apps or with gift cards.
57:08
Court record show in one instance, Dara shook down an
57:12
old army buddy for three thousand, three hundred eighty five
57:15
dollars to submit a disability claim on his behalf. In
57:19
text messages, the friend complained as Darrek kept asking him
57:23
for more money, but reluctantly agreed to make the payments
57:26
via Venmo. The app asked for a subject line for
57:30
the payment, the friend wrote, crooked Ship. Have a tip
57:35
about FIA's disability benefits program. You can securely contact Post
57:39
reporters on signal Caitlin Gilbert at Caitlin Gilbert Dot twenty four,
57:44
Craig Whitlock at Craig Whitlock Dot ninety nine, and Lisa
57:49
Ryane at two O two eight two one three one
57:53
two zero. This concludes the reading of the Washington Post
57:56
for Today, Tuesday, October seventh, twenty twenty five. Your reader
58:00
for to day has been Cindy Fraser. If you have
58:03
any questions, comments, or suggestions concerning this program, please feel
58:07
free to call us at eight five nine four two
58:10
two six three nine zero. Thank you for listening, and
58:13
now please stay tuned for continued programming on Radio I