Ohio Guardsman Faces Charges for 130 Skipped Funerals

Guardsman Accused of Billing for 130 Funerals He Didn't Attend
Dayton Daily News
by Josh Sweigart
Sep 09, 2015

An Ohio National Guardsman from Kettering accused last week of claiming thousands of dollars in mileage reimbursements for area honor guard duty he didn't attend told investigators he was at the funerals secretly observing the soldiers performing the services.

He could not explain, however, how he performed a funeral at 10 a.m. in Kettering, then traveled roughly 94 miles to Lima to observe a funeral at 11 a.m., and then drove another 94 miles to West Alexandria to perform a funeral at 12:30 p.m., according to a report released Friday by the Ohio Inspector General.

Sgt. 1st Class Jason Daniel Edwards, 38, was indicted last week in a Franklin County court after an OIG investigation concluded he billed for $10,852 in mileage reimbursements for 130 funerals he didn't attend.

Edwards is charged with the third-degree felonies of theft in office and tampering with records. Each carries a maximum penalty of up to three years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Edwards was a part-time Guardsman after a 17-year military career that included coordinating military funerals in the Dayton area. When he moved to part-time in 2014, his sister took over the task of coordinating the funerals but Edwards kept doing it, according to the OIG report.
read more here