27 months for phony SEAL, phony PTSD - Military News | News From Afghanistan, Iraq And Around The World - Military Times

27 months for phony SEAL, phony PTSD

A phony SEAL whose bogus post-traumatic stress disorder defrauded the government of more than $280,000 over seven years was sentenced to 27 months in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release.

Federal Judge Michael McCuskey spent nearly 45 minutes chastising Robert Warren, saying he would have gladly added more time but was constrained by the law’s limits.

Warren was found guilty of six counts of wire fraud, four counts of mail fraud, one count of making false statements and one count of Social Security fraud. He admitted to fraudulently receiving $166,116 in veterans’ benefits and $114,045 in Social Security benefits.

For years, Warren had purported to be a combat-decorated SEAL. Navy records show otherwise. Warren was a sailor from Feb. 21, 1984, to March 23, 1988. He never was a SEAL. He never saw combat.

Warren “feigned and exaggerated various symptoms and causes of mental and physical illness and disease causing doctors and other health care providers to conclude that the defendant suffered from PTSD,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Ronda Coleman, who prosecuted the case, told Navy Times. Warren told Veterans Affairs officials his “disability” resulted not from countless incursions as a SEAL but from seeing a fellow crew member aboard the submarine tender Hunley severely burned and electrocuted.

Warren told VA officials in 2002 he hadn’t worked in four years and couldn’t work around people or in public. He submitted forged statements in support of his claim, court records show. Warren was awarded a 100 percent service-connected disability and granted the same through Social Security two years later. But Warren has owned and operated a local tavern and recorded more than 400 hours as a volunteer firefighter since being awarded the disability rating in 2002.

“This is just the first step in making things right,” said Don Malin, a former friend who testified against Warren. Malin, himself a Seabee veteran, said he is going to work to see Warren charged under the “Stolen Valor Act,” which makes the unauthorized wear, manufacture, sale or written or oral claim of any military decorations and medals a federal misdemeanor.