A veteran in New Hampshire admits he spent the last 20 years confined to a wheelchair to collect more than $660,000 in benefits for his fake injuries after he was caught “walking like normal” following a visit to his Veterans Affairs office.
Christopher Stultz, 49, pleaded guilty Thursday to making false statements to the Department of Veterans Affairs in 2003 to collect a 100% disability rating, according to the US Attorney’s Office.
Stultz’s elaborate scheme began in January 2003 when he told the VA he couldn’t use his legs after leaving the service, giving him a massive rating.
The 100% disability rating currently ranges from $3,800 to $4,200 per month, but compensation has fluctuated over the years.
Stultz also secured funding through VA Automobile Adaptive Equipment to purchase “special cars and vehicle adaptations designed to assist veterans with mobility issues.”
Stultz, a kindergarten teacher at Antrim Elementary School, received $662,871.77 in VA benefits she was not entitled to between January 2003 and Dec. 2022, the official claimed.
Stultz is a kindergarten teacher at Antrim Elementary School. Mr. Stultz/X
Before admitting his lie, Stultz was witnessed and filmed several times walking without the need for a wheelchair or other ambulatory device to get around.
On Oct. 2021, Stultz was seen using his wheelchair at the VA Medical Center in Jamaica Plain in Boston only to be lifted into his car and driven out of the facility moments later.
He then went to the mall, where he was seen walking as usual without his wheelchair.
Prosecutors said Stultz was later “investigated several times” since the first incident.
The veteran repeated the same act he did a year earlier at the VA facility in Manchester, but this time was recorded walking normally throughout the mall without any assistance on Oct. 2022.
Several people who knew Stultz in the early 2000s also shared with investigators that they never knew he needed a wheelchair or other walking aids.
When confronted by law enforcement officials about his mobility, Stultz admitted that he could use both legs and realized he had mistakenly collected extra benefits, documents show.
The teacher was officially charged with one count of making a false statement on September 13, 2023.
Stultz’s sentencing date has been set for May 6, 2024. He faces up to 5 years in prison and three years of supervised release.
He may also be ordered to pay back the entire amount of money he fraudulently received over the years.
The Department of Veterans Affairs has begun cracking down on false claims over the years.
In September 2023, Paul John “PJ” Herbert was indicted by a federal grand jury and arrested on one count of government theft and one count of making false statements.
Herbert, a Marine veteran, is accused of stealing more than $344,000 in military disability benefits and submitting a Purple Heart application for injuries sustained in a roadside bombing that never happened.
The veteran claimed he suffered a traumatic brain injury from an IED (Improvised Explosive Device) during a deployment to Iraq after the end of the Gulf War, but has it been revealed that he “falsely represented” himself as a decorated war hero wounded in the line of duty.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
