tonight a news for Jax i-team
investigation issue your tax dollars
being swindled by people who say they
need the government to pay them for a
disability that they don't really have
yeah so to veterans and a government
worker collected hundreds of thousands
of dollars to pretended to be completely
blind and another claiming her back
injury was so severe she couldn't work i
team reporter Jennifer wash shows us
they got away with it for years until
they were caught on hidden camera this
man appears to be enjoying a morning
walk with family here in Jacksonville
he's pushing a toddler in a stroller
occasionally glancing over his shoulder
to make sure no cars are behind him and
on another day if you watch closely this
hidden camera records him getting into
his truck and after a few seconds drives
away a few hours later he pulls back in
it may not seem unusual except Jose
Calderon Fuentes has told the government
he is so blind he's disabled here during
another walk he doesn't appear to have
any trouble seeing this man or the paper
he's holding to give him directions
Calderon Fuentes collected more than
43,000 dollars in disability payments
from the Department of Veterans Affairs
for bilateral blindness he was also
caught on tape mowing the lawn outside
his home and if you look closely on the
left you can see his hood is up as he
works on his truck and on the right
that's him washing a red car in his
driveway he was convicted of stealing
government property your tax dollars and
sentenced to five years probation
this is Susan Gizzi in the orange
swimsuit enjoying a day at the water
park climbing the stairs eventually
reaching the top no hesitation to ride
here you see her at the bottom as she
steps out of the water and heads back up
dizzy also recorded here during a
tropical vacation has collected more
than 112 thousand dollars in workers
compensation payments for a back injury
that she got while working as a mail
carrier for the US Postal Service in
Ocala
an injury she said was so severe she was
deemed permanently disabled here she's
clear
excited about a scuba-diving trip she's
preparing to take in the Dominican
Republic this hidden camera captures it
all she's loaded up with gear and as we
continue to watch she walks with the
heavy equipment to the beach it appears
to be a bumpy ride as she heads out to
sea dizzy was convicted of stealing from
the government again your tax dollars do
you think that people realize how often
these kinds of fraud cases occur
involving taxpayer dollars probably not
Curtis ball Gators spent 17 years as an
assistant US attorney he says these
kinds of white-collar crimes involving
stolen tax dollars are rampant well I'm
just like robbing a bank but it's easier
and you don't have to use a gun so you
know there's a very large number of
folks that are cheating our government
these videos and pictures catching fraud
in the act
make prosecuting them easier but fall
Gator says actually getting your tax
dollars back after they're caught rarely
happens barely making ends meet which is
probably why they stole the money in the
first place they will not have very much
to contribute to the restitution when
their probation term expires the judge
has no choice other than to let him off
Calderone Fuentes agreed to pay $500 a
month for five years in restitutions
that's only thirty thousand dollars of
the forty three thousand eight hundred
and eighty-one dollars he received in
fraudulent va disability payments so
that's a loss of more than thirteen
thousand dollars to our government susan
Gizzi said that she could only afford to
pay $100 a month over three years so if
you do that map that's only thirty six
hundred dollars that's nowhere near the
more than 112,000 she received so the
big loser here is you the taxpayer to
the tune of 108 thousand dollars which
is why it's so important for you to
report fraud to the US government look
for those numbers inside my story caught
on camera which you can find under the
i-team tab of news for Jax comm where
you can also see hidden camera video of
another veteran Veronica Hahn who built
the government out of more than three
hundred ninety thousand dollars in
disability payments she was caught
driving even though she claimed to be
blonde
Jennifer watch Channel Ford the local
station