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News

March 04, 2009

BAKERSFIELD VETERAN CONVICTED OF DEFRAUDING DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS

FRESNO, Calif.—Acting United States Attorney Lawrence G. Brown announced today that a federal jury returned a guilty verdict today, convicting ROGER KEITH REMY, 55, of Bakersfield, Calif., of three counts of submitting false documents and three counts of submitting false claims to the Department of Veterans Affairs. The jury returned the guilty verdict after a three-day trial in Fresno before United States District Judge Oliver Wanger.

This case is the product of an extensive investigation by the Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Inspector General.

According to Assistant United States Attorney Mark J. McKeon, who is prosecuting the case, the evidence introduced at trial showed that REMY was a veteran who left the military in 1973. In 2002 he devised a scheme to get VA benefits for what he claimed was a service-connected disability. To support this claim, REMY obtained medical records from Queens Medical Center in Hawaii relating to admissions he had to this facility in 1974 and 1975 for a tonsillectomy and circumcision. He altered the documents to make it appear he had been treated for a heart attack earlier in the year when a heart attack would still be considered to have occurred during his time in the U.S. Army. He then made a photocopy of the medical records to hide the alteration, and submitted them to the Department of Veterans Affairs.

REMY’s initial claim for benefits was granted, and he subsequently received more than $200,000 in benefits.

In January 2005, REMY attempted to broaden the scheme by asking for his benefits to be made retroactive to 1974. He supported his claim for retroactive benefits by resubmitting the same altered medical records. The scheme was discovered when the Department of Veterans Affairs noticed the documents looked a little odd, and they obtained copies of the real medical records directly from Queens Medical Center in Hawaii. The 2005 claim was denied. Had the claim been successful, REMY would have been entitled to receive retroactive benefits of over $550,000.

REMY is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Wanger on May 18, 2009, at 1:30 p.m.
The maximum cumulative statutory penalty for the six counts on which REMY was convicted is 30 years in prison and a $1.5 million fine. The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables and any applicable statutory sentencing factors.

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For more information on federal criminal defense law, contact the Law Offices of Joseph Shemaria of Los Angeles, California.