Living high on the VA's money
Nancy Cook spent freely on meals, clothes, rent; official audit under way
BY RENEE DUDLEY
rdudley@postandcourier.com
Sunday, July 31, 2011
When Nancy Cook dined out, she used a debit card to cover the tab.
When she paid her personal cell phone bill, she used the same card.
When she withdrew cash, she used it again.
The only problem is that the card wasn't hers. It drew from a taxpayer-funded account used to pay bills for homeless veterans at the North Charleston shelter Cook then managed as its executive director.
Some expenses were for the legitimate benefit of the center and the veterans.
Others -- clothing and antiques at high-end King Street boutiques, pricey meals at fine restaurants, rent at her private-practice office -- were questionable. Cook even used the Good Neighbor Center's account to pay her personal federal withholding tax.
For more than 15 years, Cook had managed the 32-bed Spruill Avenue shelter where homeless veterans sought help finding work, obtaining permanent housing and overcoming alcohol and drug addiction.
Officials at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the primary source of the grant money that bankrolled Cook's lifestyle, did nothing to stop her spending. VA officials conducted annual inspections at the nonprofit shelter, but rarely reported more than minor health or safety violations.
VA inspectors' financial reviews were perfunctory and relied on Cook's documentation.
Cook's management went unchallenged until last fall when The Post and Courier published its first reports detailing problems at the shelter.
Now Cook, a former Charleston County School Board chairwoman, is at the center of a federal investigation.
Auditors said this year that the shelter owes the government more than $122,000 in grant funds that were spent inappropriately. Now they are probing whether Cook broke federal laws.
Cook was fired in May and her access to the shelter's funds has been suspended.
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Living high on the VA money
What the heck is wrong with this country and the people living here. What Hypocrites! More and more each day, it makes it easier to believe what the Bible says of who "Esau' is, among many other Ungodly things it says "They are a people who live in their own Vainess! meaning their words are Shallow and Meaningless, i.e, not worth the paper its printed on. I am not an advocate of war, but these young men and women go out and fight this country's wars, putting their lives on the line to protect the shallow, the vain the weak and the strong, the old the young, the child and the adult,the rich and the poor, yet America speaks about honoring these young men and women spewing words of bravery, honor, and patriotism, but in reality their words are nothing more than shallow, vain rhetoric ! To let these young men and women who sacrifice their lives and put their lives on the line every day come back home to homelessness, living in shelters, no jobs, some even without family, is a National Disgrace, its Criminal and Downright Digusting. It's an Outrage! Is this the best that America can do for these soldiers, A country which is considered one of the Greatest countries in the world, is this the Best America has to offer these Brave Men and Women, these Brave Soldiers! Shame on America!!! Shame! Shame! Shame!
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