Family wants answers about veteran's missing money

Family wants answers about veteran's missing money
By Lise Olsen and Lindsay Wise, HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Updated 09:41 p.m., Thursday, January 12, 2012

Jesus C. Garcia is 90 years old, his memories of serving as an Army infantryman in World War II as time-worn as the shrapnel still lodged in his head from his battle wounds.

And though the American war veteran receives disability benefits for his service and his sacrifice, almost half of that money from the last 15 years remains unaccounted for - routed through a stranger selected by the very agency that pays Garcia.

Deemed incapable of managing his own money by the Department of Veterans Affairs, his daughter Erminia Molina serves as her father's guardian by the appointment of a judge in their hometown of Laredo. But a professional fiduciary picked by the VA regional office in Houston has overseen his assets since 1995.

Molina has been unable to find out what happened to about $600,000 in benefits that Garcia never received from the San Antonio attorney who serves as fiduciary, court records and interviews show.

Across the United States, approximately 122,271 veterans have been judged "incompetent" to manage their funds. Their $3.3 billion in assets are handled by VA-selected fiduciaries: family, friends or strangers screened by the government, according to information the VA provided to the Chronicle. In Texas, 8,261 veterans' assets are managed by fiduciaries, who can be paid 4 percent of the benefits.
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