William Anderson, Fraud, Tennessee 2015

Six individuals who pleaded guilty to knowingly and willfully submitting false claims for travel to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) have been sentenced to serve a total of 26 months in prison.

The six individuals, including William Anderson, 59, of Knoxville, Tenn.; Georgia Adkins, 40, of Johnson City, Tenn.; David Bell, 54, of Jonesborough, Tenn.; Frederick Deer, 52, of Johnson City, Tenn.; Elliott Harris, 51, of Knoxville, Tenn.; and Matthew Lewandowski, 26, of Johnson City, Tenn., were sentenced on May 18, 2015.

They were found guilty of submitting a total of 464 false claims for travel to the VA, which provides travel assistance to qualified veterans who travel outside their communities to receive health care benefits.

The individuals who abuse the benefit by submitting false information to the VA diminish resources which could be available to qualified veterans.

“The costs of providing medical care for our veterans should never be increased due to false claims submitted by those who would defraud the federal government,” said United States Attorney Bill Killian. “These convictions are notice to those who would consider defrauding the Department of Veterans Affairs, that appropriate penalties await criminal conduct,” he added.

The investigation was conducted by the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General, Nashville Resident Agency, and VA Police Service of Mountain Home, Tenn.

The defendants were also ordered to pay restitution of $24,581, assessments of $600, and to serve four years of federal probation and 15 years of federal supervised release. They must also complete 300 hours of community service.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-edtn/pr/six-individuals-sentenced-fraudlent-schemes-against-us-department-veterans-affairs