Military News - Military Times

Lies earned big disability checks for faker

Randall A. Moneymaker looked good on paper. He was a veteran of Iraq, Afghanistan, Panama and Grenada. He was an airborne Ranger who had earned two Combat Infantryman Badges, a Combat Action Badge, two Combat Parachutist Badges and a Purple Heart. He was expertly qualified in the M16 rifle, the M60 machine gun, the M203 rocket launcher, the pistol, grenades, bayonets and tank weapons.

The man who parachuted with the Australian, British, Canadian, Dominican, German, Honduran, Italian and Thai militaries also had the Pathfinder and Special Operations Diver badges and suffered physical and mental scars from combat.

However, this impressive list of achievements spanning a 20-plus-year Army career was not worth the paper on which it was printed.

On March 24, a jury in Virginia found Moneymaker, 44, guilty of fabricating his service record and lying about his achievements and combat injuries to scam more than $18,000 in disability benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs. He faces up to 35 years in federal prison.

Moneymaker, who is free on bond, is scheduled to be sentenced June 20 in Roanoke, Va.

“I just think that when a country’s at war, it brings out the best in people, but it also brings out the worst in some people,” said Craig “Jake” Jacobsen, the assistant U.S. attorney for the Western District of Virginia who prosecuted Moneymaker.

Moneymaker used “different levels of deceit” against not only combat veterans but service members who are wounded in the line of duty, said Jacobsen, who also is a lieutenant colonel assigned to the Army Reserve’s 12th Legal Support Organization.

“This guy just didn’t want to be recognized for war achievements,” he said. “He used it to not only get retirement but also a monthly disability [check].”

Moneymaker and his attorney, Charles Covati, did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

It’s fairly common for phony heroes to take their deception beyond falsely claiming acts of combat bravery to committing other crimes, FBI Special Agent Mike Sanborn said.

“Just because they’re wearing fake medals doesn’t mean they’re not doing something else. They’re scamming somebody else. They’re using their fraudulent military service to gain something. Usually, it’s financial,” said Sanborn, whose Washington, D.C., field office handles or is involved in all the agency’s cases relating to the Stolen Valor Act.

Doug Sterner, a former soldier and Vietnam veteran who vigilantly scrutinizes public claims of military valor that he deems suspicious, echoed what Sanborn said.

“I would estimate 70 percent or more are doing it not just for the glory and honor that’s heaped upon them,” said Sterner, who operates http://www.homeofheroes.com, a site dedicated to preserving the records of recipients of the nation’s highest valor awards.

Identity theft and scamming money from the VA are common crimes committed by fakers, he said, citing recent news reports about eight people charged in the Seattle area for lying about their military achievements and costing the VA and other agencies more than $1.4 million in benefits.

“It’s been my experience that the vast majority of these cases aren’t just attempts to bring honor and glory to oneself,” he said. “It runs the gamut of fraud.”

The VA inspector general’s office investigates potential phonies if the person presents a claim for benefits, said James J. O’Neill, assistant inspector general for investigations.

In the six-month period ending March 31, the VA Inspector General’s Office investigations resulted in nine indictments against people who tried to scam the system for medical and/or monetary benefits, O’Neill said.

What really happened

Moneymaker, who lives in Clayton, N.C., but had a residence in Roanoke, joined the Army in December 1983 as an infantryman, according to his DD 214, which was entered into evidence during his trial.

He was assigned to C Company, 3rd Battalion, 19th Infantry Regiment, at Fort Stewart, Ga., but he was given a general discharge about a year and a half into his six-year enlistment. He was an E-2, his DD 214 shows. A pattern of misconduct is blamed for his early exit, according to his DD 214.

During his early stint in the Army, according to court records, Moneymaker failed to return on time from a three-day weekend, displayed poor duty performance, lost equipment, failed to properly maintain equipment, went to the noncommissioned officers club without permission or authorization and failed to wear proper gloves during live-fire training even after he was told to do so by his squad leader. He also was counseled to pay more attention to detail, according to the records.

Along with his discharge, the Army placed a bar on Moneymaker from re-enlisting, Jacobsen said. That meant Moneymaker would be unable to rejoin the service until the bar was lifted, he said.

Moneymaker, who never deployed, used a fake DD 214 to join the Army Reserve in 2003, Jacobsen said.

Three fake DD 214s belonging to Moneymaker were entered into evidence during his trial, according to court records. It’s unclear which one he used to join the Reserve.

In one, Moneymaker claimed he joined the Army in October 1985, spent more than four of his 10 years of service overseas and was a staff sergeant. His military occupational specialties are listed as UH-1 helicopter repairer, airborne infantryman and later airborne Ranger, and telecommunications operator and maintainer.

He claimed, among other awards and qualifications, a Purple Heart, two Defense Meritorious Service Medals, seven Army Commendation Medals, two Southwest Asia Service Medals, two Kuwait Liberation Medals, a Combat Infantryman Badge, two Combat Parachutist Badges, a Ranger Tab, a Pathfinder Badge and a Scuba Diver Badge.

It was also on this DD 214 that he claimed to be an expert on all types of weapons, including the M60, the bayonet and the M203.

The other two DD 214s cite similar achievements, but the dates of domestic and foreign service and MOSs vary, and one form lists him as a master sergeant. In those forms, Moneymaker also claims to have earned a Combat Action Badge, the Special Operations Diver Badge, two Air Medals with V device, five Southwest Asia Service Medals, seven Overseas Service Ribbons, the Afghanistan Campaign Medal and the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary and Service medals.

Evidence submitted during trial shows Moneymaker’s Defense Finance and Accounting Service pay stubs match the time frames listed in his original DD 214 — December 1983 to March 1985, Jacobsen said. Investigators could not find military pay stubs for any of the periods listed in the three fake DD 214s, and tax records show Moneymaker held full-time civilian jobs, including as an independent communications specialist in places such as Florida, Virginia and North Carolina, during the periods he claimed to have been in the active Army and deployed overseas, he said.

Officials at Human Resources Command said they could verify only that Moneymaker enlisted for six years in December 1983 and was discharged in March 1985. During his one year, three months and 20 days in the Army, Moneymaker earned the Army Service Ribbon, the Parachute Badge, Expert Marksmanship in the M16 and a First Class Badge (Grenade), HRC-St. Louis spokesman Master Sgt. Keith O’Donnell said.

Moneymaker enlisted again, this time in the Army Reserve, in December 2003, he said.

“All service information from this point forward, other than [the Active Guard and Reserve] assignment from 12 March 2005 to 14 October 2005 is under review,” O’Donnell wrote in an e-mail.

Moneymaker’s discharge date was being reviewed in connection with his prosecution, and officials were uncertain whether he has yet again been separated from the Army.

Jacobsen said Moneymaker started inquiring about retirement benefits in October 2005 when he met a retirement specialist from HRC at Fort Lee, Va.

The man offered to help and told Moneymaker to submit his DD 214, Jacobsen said.

When he received the DD 214s, the retirement specialist, named Robert Gruver, according to court records listing him as a witness for the prosecution, wrote back to Moneymaker to tell him the forms were riddled with mistakes and asked for verification, Jacobsen said.

He never received any back-up documentation from Moneymaker, and things started to further unravel from there.

In December 2005, as officials took a closer look at Moneymaker’s records, Moneymaker began contacting the VA in Roanoke, according to court records.

When the VA couldn’t find his medical records, officials scheduled a March 2006 medical exam in Salem, Va., for Moneymaker, Jacobsen said.

Moneymaker claimed during the medical exam that the scars on his back were the result of shrapnel wounds received in combat in Panama, Jacobsen said. He also told the doctor that he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder.

A few months after the exam the VA ruled that Moneymaker qualified for 50 percent disability for back, knee and hip problems from the 1990-91 Persian Gulf War, and hearing loss that resulted from what Moneymaker claimed were artillery explosions and firefights, Jacobsen said. He did not receive a disability rating for PTSD, but for those other supposed wounds, Moneymaker ended up receiving $18,449.32 in disability payments over a period of about a year ending in August, Jacobsen said.

The first check Moneymaker received was for $9,569 in back pay. Monthly checks after that ranged from $827.32 to $901, he said.

During the trial, the examining physician from the VA testified that the scars on Moneymaker’s back were in the same locations as incisions made during previous liposuction procedures, Jacobsen said.

Evidence submitted during trial showed that Moneymaker had liposuction three times between May 2001 and November 2003, Jacobsen said.

The last payment Moneymaker received from the VA, for $901, was made Aug. 31. By then, prosecutors were almost ready to indict Moneymaker, and the check was canceled in September, before he had a chance to cash it, Jacobsen said.

Moneymaker did not testify during his trial, which was March 20-24, and his defense attorney did not put on the stand anyone who said they had served in combat with him, Jacobsen said.

Moneymaker faced seven counts, six felonies and one misdemeanor.

The misdemeanor, accusing him of wearing medals and decorations he did not earn, was dropped the day of the trial because of a clerical error, Jacobsen said.

Moneymaker was convicted on the other six counts, including knowingly using a false document in a fraudulent application for military pension benefits; lying about service-connected injuries and illnesses during a claim for military compensation; lying during a VA medical exam that he had been involved in numerous firefights and attacks and had personally seen fellow soldiers and civilians killed or wounded; and embezzling $18,449.32 in disability payments from the VA.

“I’m going to ask for a harsh sentence,” Jacobsen said. “The way this guy did it is appalling. I can’t believe that wouldn’t bother somebody’s conscience to accept that money without suffering any wounds when we have soldiers coming home without an arm or a leg. It’s incomprehensible.”

Talk with the VA

If you believe someone you know is trying to scam benefits from the VA, call the VA Inspector General’s Office hot line at (800) 488-8244 or e-mail vaoighotline@va.gov.

Alleged time in service

According to Army records, Randall A. Moneymaker served in the active Army from Dec. 5, 1983, to March 28, 1985. Though he had enlisted for six years, he was separated early as a private with a general discharge in connection with a pattern of misconduct.

Army records also show he enlisted in the Army Reserve beginning in December 2003. Everything from then, apart from a stint in the Active Guard and Reserve from March 12, 2005, to Oct. 14, 2005, is under review by Human Resources Command.

In one of three separate and falsified DD 214s, Moneymaker claimed he was in the active Army from Oct. 31, 1985, to Dec. 21, 1995. Four of those years were spent overseas, he claimed. Prosecutors could find no evidence he served in the military during this period, although they found records of civilian employment.

In another DD 214, Moneymaker claimed he was in the Army Reserve from Nov. 7, 2004, to Oct. 14, 2005, and in the third DD 214 he claimed to have served from Dec. 22, 1995, to March 17, 2002. He also claimed to have a total of more than eight years of foreign service during an Army career that spanned more than 20 years.

All three DD 214s were entered into evidence during Moneymaker’s federal trial in late March in Roanoke, Va.