this morning we are continuing the
conversation about our i-team
investigation that revealed hundreds of
thousands of your tax dollars being
swindled by people who say they're
disabled but aren't we showed you hidden
camera video during the five o'clock
newscast last night of this local
military veteran who said he was blind
collected tens of thousands of dollars
in VA disability payments yet he was
recorded as you see here mowing his lawn
also video of him washing his car
driving even though he told everyone
again that he's blind he is one of three
we discovered taking your tax dollars
for a disability nowhere near as serious
as they said it was again that is your
money
former US prosecutor Curtis fog adder is
joining us here this morning works now
as a defense attorney but spent 17 years
at the u.s. state at the u.s. and the
federal court side you know all of these
people Curtis good morning to you they
were specifically ordered they were
convicted they were ordered to pay
restitution but we hear that and we make
assumptions that they're that the
government we are gonna get our money
back and that rarely ever happens why is
that it is very rare well typically the
people that do that type of embezzlement
and from government program frauds don't
have any money and they use that money
and spend it that's true really with any
embezzlement case the money is typically
gone so the the federal statutes require
restitution judges always impose it but
if the money's gone is gone you know
Lingle and they had what's called a
debtors prison if you a debt they could
keep you in prison till you paint it
America doesn't have a debtors prison
except for child support it feels like
that so if you are placed on probation
for example for five years you're
supposed to pay the $250,000 back that
you embezzled at the end of five years
if you've only paid ten thousand back
and I had a case just like it when I was
a prosecutor they have to let you off
probation because you've not willfully
failed to pay it back so most what does
that mean willfully fail because they
can get it if you're making the money
can't they correct you make the money
you win the lottery you've got a nice
job if the money's there and you refuse
to pay it they can put you in jail they
can hold you in contempt but if you were
making your hundred dollars a month
payment a lot of times probation calls
for and that's all you can afford by the
end of your five-year probation if you
haven't paid it off you get released
from probation and the government never
gets its money we you know we
specifically
focus on disability payments but I have
also heard that Social Security fraud is
also just as rampant
how does someone pull that off because
that typically is is it not someone
who's taking someone else's Social
Security check we'd have a lot of cases
where someone would pass away a parent
and the checks would keep coming in and
a child or the caregiver would open up
an account and deposit the checks
sometimes they would go on for months
and years it depends a bit on the family
you know typically the funeral parlor is
supposed to notify Social Security
government but that doesn't always
happen so when it doesn't happen you
know years can go by when the checks
keep coming in and the folks keep
cashing them and you know I know that
there are people at home I certainly
heard from them I felt this way when I
looked at this video this makes them
angry I mean this is after are all our
money and it is money that in the
disability standpoint is meant for true
military veterans in some of these cases
who are disabled and rely on this money
just to make ends meet that said is
there something that the message that we
can give in terms of you know something
that neighbors or friends or family can
learn from this and maybe help stop it
or even catch it by reporting it what
are the signs and I agree on you know
fraud it's it's just cheating the whole
country and you know it's very offensive
the sentences are typically pretty low
even though are the lost are fairly high
if you have a neighbor that all of a
sudden has kind of a change in lifestyle
they're out buying new cars maybe
they're unemployed and all of a sudden
you know they have some luxury items
that's the kind of a clue that maybe
something's going wrong most of these
cases though are uncovered by family
members that find out about it and maybe
report it sometimes there's some
internal investigations they'll do kind
of an audit but most of it goes
undetected they did a study of 2015
where the estimate of there was close to
140 billion dollars in fraud and
government programs a hundred and forty
billion dollars that's how often this
happens that's right you compare that
with the space shuttle they've got
contracts that NASA does with with a
couple of vendors SpaceX well not I
think that's about a six billion dollar
contract it gives you a real perspective
that and it's why all of us need to pay
more attention if our neighbor passes
away you know and a relative keeps
coming and getting their mail that might
be a signal that's a clue Curtis thank
you for being here really
and of course we have posted more
information websites and phone numbers
for you to report government fraud on
our website news for Jax click comm just
click on the i-team tab and then look
for my story caught on camera