27 months for phony SEAL, phony PTSD

This is what is supposed to happen when a person decides they will take what others have earned. This is what's supposed to happen but because of the rare occasion when someone pulls something like this, the real combat veterans, the real wounded, end up paying the price.

They pay it with delays in having their claims honored when they have done nothing wrong.

When you think of the millions of men and women doing their duty, serving with honor and most of the time true humbleness and humility, having to come home and then face such delays in honoring their wounds, reading something like this hurts them deeply. A fraud can get what they not only paid the price for but they can't manage to get the same when they are telling the truth.

So few so evil to take what is not their's will never, ever justify what we are seeing with real combat veterans carrying real wounds.

27 months for phony SEAL, phony PTSD

By Lance M. Bacon - Staff writer
Posted : Saturday May 8, 2010 8:57:21 EDT

A phony SEAL whose bogus post-traumatic stress disorder defrauded the government of more than $280,000 over seven years was sentenced to 27 months in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release.

Federal Judge Michael McCuskey spent nearly 45 minutes chastising Robert Warren, saying he would have gladly added more time but was constrained by the law’s limits.

Warren was found guilty of six counts of wire fraud, four counts of mail fraud, one count of making false statements and one count of Social Security fraud. He admitted to fraudulently receiving $166,116 in veterans’ benefits and $114,045 in Social Security benefits.

For years, Warren had purported to be a combat-decorated SEAL. Navy records show otherwise. Warren was a sailor from Feb. 21, 1984, to March 23, 1988. He never was a SEAL. He never saw combat.

Warren told VA officials in 2002 he hadn’t worked in four years and couldn’t work around people or in public. He submitted forged statements in support of his claim, court records show. Warren was awarded a 100 percent service-connected disability and granted the same through Social Security two years later. But Warren has owned and operated a local tavern and recorded more than 400 hours as a volunteer firefighter since being awarded the disability rating in 2002.

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http://www.navytimes.com/news/2010/05/navy_warren_050810w/