Charleston man who claimed to be veteran and defrauded the VA is sentenced

[TexasTowelie]

A Charleston man who falsely claimed to be a combat veteran and scammed the Department of Veterans Affairs out of nearly $200,000 in benefits has been sentenced.

Keith R. Hudson, 71, will serve six months in federal prison and six months of home confinement, Sherri Lydon, U.S. attorney for South Carolina, announced Wednesday.

“Evidence presented to the court showed that Hudson falsely claimed that he was entitled to VA benefits because he was a veteran who had been in combat in Vietnam,” according to Lydon’s announcement. “He even went so far as to claim that he had received two Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star.”

In all, he received $197,237 in benefits, the announcement said.

Read more: https://www.postandcourier.com/news/charleston-man-who-claimed-to-be-veteran-and-defrauded-the/article_2b2901a4-edd3-11e8-ae69-2f653c5079a9.html

[Reggie18]

1. How did he do it?

And how do we stop it in the future?

[Nay]

2. My question as well. Surely the VA checks military records to make sure a claimant is an

actual veteran??

[HDSam]

4. The VA does...

However it does not mean every forgery is caught. He probably got hold of a blank DD 214 or someone else’s and put his name on it. Using that, he presented it to VHA enrollment and eligibility and was deemed eligible for services. You’ll notice he claims to have left service in 1971. This is important because con artists claiming Veteran status frequently blame the National Personnel Records Center fire of 1973 for not having any service records.

A favorite faker of mine was one who claimed his records were burned up in that fire but he left the service in 1974.

Another faker who actually was a Veteran (11B) embellished his record and claimed to be an 18A Staff Sergeant. I’ll give one atta-boy to the first person who can tell me how I figured out he was lying.

[Nay]

5. I did know about that fire, and it's not surprising that excuse would be used by con artists. Those

assholes.