Investigation: Still No Answers for Vets in Fiduciary Fiasco

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Investigation: Still No Answers for Vets in Fiduciary Fiasco
Becky Oliver[br />

A presidential commission is urging major changes in veterans' healthcare, including disability pay for vets returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan. But what about veterans who fought in wars of the past?

For more than a year, FOX 4’s Becky Oliver has found plenty of disable veterans in north Texas fighting for basic living essentials. The V.A. claims these disabled vets need help managing their money and can’t do it themselves. But the vets say the V.A.’s management program is what’s disabled.

Kendall Beck dreams of living in a nice home again and perhaps enjoying simple pleasures like working in the yard and flower beds. Instead, Beck and his wife squeeze in to a cramped two-bedroom apartment that can barely hold furniture.

"What gets me if when you serve your country and then when you get back and you are not treated right," Beck told FOX 4.

Beck spent two years in the Air Force. He now takes medication for schizophrenia so the V.A. assigned a “fiduciary,” a money manager, to handle his finances. Beck is supposed to receive about $30,000 a year in disability pay.

Paulette Riley is Beck’s fiduciary. Riley pays Beck’s rent and other bills and gives him $900 a month for expenses. Beck has no idea where the rest of his money is going and when he calls Riley with questions, "she hangs up all the time," claims Beck.

Beck called Riley while we listened on a speaker phone. "Could you send me a bank statement, please?" Becky asked Riley. Riley said, "No." Federal law prevents us from broadcasting the conversation on TV without Riley’s consent.

Beck explained to Riley that he wanted to know where his extra money is going. Riley got angry on the phone, but assured Beck that she isn’t stealing his money and told him "I value my freedom a lot and more than the piddly-(expletive) money you are giving me." Riley then hung up on Beck. Beck says that’s how Riley always treats him when he calls.

In FOX 4’s previous reports on the V.A.’s fiduciary program for disabled vets, the vets have generally complained that they can’t get records about their own money. FOX 4 filed requests for that information under the Freedom of Information Act. Eleven months later, we received one-page summaries of their accounts which raise even more questions about what’s happening with their money.

Beck’s accounting statement shows he had more than $7,000 in his savings account as of December 2006…enough to take a vacation, buy a used car, or rent the home he desperately wants. “I am puzzled,” Beck told FOX 4 when we showed him the paperwork. “It is a shock to me,” Beck continued.

Paulette Riley declined an on-camera interview with FOX 4’s Becky Oliver. So, Becky tried to speak with her outside the V.A. hospital in Dallas. Riley refused to answer questions and referred us to the fiduciary office in Waco. Becky explained to Riley that we wanted to ask her directly about Beck’s finances since she is his fiduciary. Riley said, "Leave me alone."

Matthew Spriggs didn’t know where his disability money was going until we showed him the latest accounting statement from his fiduciary, Paul Stewart. Spriggs' accounting statement shows Stewart disbursed every penny of Spriggs’ money. “That does not make any sense,” said Spriggs. Spriggs thought he was banking money for a house every month. He has no idea why he is paying back a loan amount he doesn’t remember borrowing. Spriggs says no one ever told him they took $6,000 from his account.

FOX 4 first reported on Spriggs’ situation in May 2006. After Paul Stewart declined an on-camera interview with Becky Oliver, we paid him a visit in Waco. “Can I ask you a few questions?” asked Oliver. “No, I don’t want you on my property,” Stewart responded.

Following our stories last year, the V.A. launched an investigation of Paul Stewart and his wife, Sonia Stewart, who is also a fiduciary. The V.A.’s on-site review determined “no indication of misuse of funds” but Spriggs was assigned a new fiduciary. Spriggs still wants to know about the money Paul Stewart paid from his account. “There should have been $9,000 they were banking and in savings and I don’t have nothing,” said Spriggs.

Vanessa Chambers is still fuming over her brother, Earl’s home repair fiasco. The V.A. used Chamber’s money to hire contractors but no one followed-up.

“We had no say over anything,” said Vanessa Chambers. “That’s his money. He should have a say over this contractor versus that contractor,” Chambers continued. The work was sloppy and never completed. The Chambers complain the accounting statement, prepared by Earl Chambers’ fiduciary, Sonia Stewart is so messy they cannot see how they money was sent.

Stewart was cleared of any wrong-doing in the V.A.’s on-site review.

In June, FOX 4 showed V.A. Secretary, Jim Nicholson a copy of Earl Chambers’ accounting statement. “I don’t know about you, but if this is what you got at the end of the year from your accountant, I think you’d be a little disappointed, frustrated in trying to read this and figure out where everything is going,” said Becky Oliver. “Yeah, probably,” responded Nicholson.

“They don’t know where their money is going,” explained Oliver. “Well, they are entitled to know that,” responded Nicholson. “You are talking to the boss so, let’s see if we can get it resolved,” said Nicholson. “I will look in to this because if there is a problem we need to get it solved,” Nicholson continued.

We never heard back from VA Secretary Nicholson and we’re probably not going to. Just last month he announced his resignation, effective October 1, 2007.

The VA’s regional director, Carl Lowe, who oversees the local fiduciary program, spoke to FOX 4 last year, but would not talk to us on camera now.

Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson says she met with secretary Nicholson on this issue, but she too is frustrated with the lack of response from the VA. “I really don’t know what leverage we have to attempt to get better responses,” said Congresswoman Johnson. We have talked about having a hearing on these kind of abuses veterans are suffering and we still might do that,” Johnson continued.

But for families like the Chambers, the Spriggs, and the Becks, it’s all talk and no action.

“My brother got an honorable discharge,” said Vanessa Chambers. “That means he did what he was supposed to do and now…it’s they say you take what we give you. That is not fair and it is very frustrating.”

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