Federal prosecutors say a U.S. Air Force veteran who allegedly claimed to be paralyzed from the waist down so he could receive about $300,000 in disability benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs has been charged with fraud.
A federal indictment says James Sebero, 58, of Laclede, received federal benefit payments into an Idaho bank from August 2003 to October 2007. But during part of that period, the indictment says, Sebero also worked as a seasonal marine patrol deputy for the Bonner County sheriff’s office, and for that job had completed “rigorous law enforcement and marine training and fulfilled his law enforcement duties without physical restrictions.”
Sebero was charged last month in the U.S. District Court in Coeur d’Alene with 55 counts of wire fraud, one count for each deposit to his account at a Sandpoint bank, a period that corresponds to the four-year period he worked with the sheriff’s department. According to court documents the amount of the deposits ranged from as little as $600 to as much as $6,303.
He also was charged last month in U.S. District Court in Spokane, Washington, with three counts of making false statements during a medical examination in 2007 where he reported to VA authorities that complications from treatment for an injury he received while in the Air Force caused him to lose the use of both legs, control of bodily functions, and to become impotent. He received compensation and medical benefits as a result.
Prosecutors say Sebero reported he was injured while an active member of the Air Force from 1969 to 1975, and that he was medically retired from the service in 1980. According to the Idaho indictment, he received disability benefits connected to his injury beginning in April 1976.
If convicted, Sebero faces up to 20 years in prison for each count in Idaho and a fine of $250,000. (AP)