Vet claimed to be blind for VA benefits, then drove to appointments

migration — Thu, 09 Mar 2017 16:14:22 +0000

A Kansas veteran who claimed to be legally blind to receive supplemental assistance from the Department of Veteran Affairs is under indictment for fraud.

Department of Justice officials said that Billy J. Alumbaugh, 61, of Turon, Kansas, claimed to be legally blind and unable to drive, requiring assistance for “reading medication labels, grocery shopping and going to doctor appointments.”

But from 2009 to 2016, the indictment alleges that Alumbaugh drove himself regularly, maintaining a Kansas driver’s license that noted he required no corrective lenses.

Despite VA specialists not being able to identify the medical diagnosis of his blindness, Almbaugh was witnessed leaving a VA appointment in October 2016 with his ex-wife, Debra K. Alumbaugh, driving.

A few blocks from the Witchita VA facility, witnesses saw the couple stop, swap seats and Billy Almbaugh drive off.

The March 2 indictment said that Almbaugh received $63,000 in supplemental pension benefits for his blindness. The couple is charged with one count of conspiracy to defraud the government and one count of theft of government funds.

If convicted, they face five years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine for the conspiracy charge in addition to a possible 10-year sentence and a $250,000 fine on the theft charge.

House GOP walks back ethics office vote after Trump criticism

migration — Tue, 03 Jan 2017 16:07:54 +0000

After facing a swift critique from the president-elect, House GOP members are dropping an amendment that would have stripped a nonpartisan ethics office of its power.

A day after Republicans sought to move the Office of Congressional Ethics under the purview of the House Ethics Committee, Donald Trump questioned the immediacy of the move.

In a pair of Jan. 3 tweets, Trump said that Congress should focus on issues like tax reform and health care before removing funding from an independent ethics office, though he called the body unfair.

House Republicans had held a closed-door vote on Jan. 2 where members voted 119-74 to move the OCE under the House Ethics Committee in an amendment to a new House rules package.

It was expected that the move would formally be adopted on Jan. 3, rebranding the body as the Office of Congressional Complaint Review, but House Republicans dropped the measure after facing critique for the amendment.

But that doesn’t mean the OCE will remain unchanged. Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., told Bloomberg that House leadership promiseda bipartisan reform package by August.

“I think people just did not want this story on opening day,” he said.

The OCE was established in March 2008 in response to the Jack Abramoff scandal and reviewed allegations of misconduct by House members and their staff.

The nonpartisan, seven-member board reviewed misconduct allegations in a number of investigations before referring them to the House Committee on Ethics.

The OCE played prominent roles in the ethics investigations of Reps. Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y.; Maxine Waters, D-Calif.; and former Rep. Nathan Deal, R-Ga.

Trump’s criticism follows that of House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., whom The Washington Post reported spoke out against the amendment.

In addition to its board — which is composed of non-federal employee, bipartisan members — the OCE employees a staff of eight investigators and counsel.

Oversight - Military Times

Vet claimed to be blind for VA benefits, then drove to appointments

House GOP walks back ethics office vote after Trump criticism