Man Pleads Guilty To Defrauding Disabled Veteran In VA Fiduciary
A Pennsylvania man pled guilty recently to defrauding a disabled veteran in the VA Fiduciary program of $316,360.
The man, Jason Ehrhart, will serve out a sentence for his role in misappropriation of the veteran’s disability benefits as well as health care fraud. Ehrhart swindled the veteran, suffering from multiple sclerosis, of his VA and Social Security disability payments for years.
I wrote about this previously during the prosecution and wanted to follow up now that Ehrhart pled guilty to further highlight the dangers of VA Fiduciary and how it can be abused.
VA Fiduciary Fraud
According to the SSA IG press release, in italics below:
In August of 2006, the veteran was deemed by the VA to be incompetent to handle his own financial affairs. As a result, on October 2, 2006, Jason Ehrhart applied to serve as the veteran’s VA Fiduciary and Legal Custodian. Under the terms of a Fiduciary Agreement, Jason Ehrhart agreed to use all of the veteran’s VA disability benefits exclusively for the veteran’s benefit. The agreement warned him that the funds were not for his personal use. The Fiduciary Agreement also required Jason Ehrhart to submit an annual accounting to the VA with respect to the amount of money spent on the veteran’s behalf.
While Jason Ehrhart served as the veteran’s VA Fiduciary and Legal Custodian, all of the veteran’s VA benefits, plus most of his Social Security disability checks, were deposited into a checking account Jason opened at The Orrstown Bank. Altogether, $476,260 in federal benefits ($422,828 in VA disability, $48,187 in Social Security disability, and $5,244 in VA clothing allowance) were deposited into the account between January 2009 and August 2016.
According to Jason Ehrhart’s criminal information and Laurie Ehrhart’s indictment, at least $316,360 of the $476,260 was misappropriated by Jason and Laurie Ehrhart and converted to their own use between October 2006 and August 2016. Checks totaling $218,832 ($96,202 payable to Jason Ehrhart and $122,630 payable to Laurie Ehrhart), were drawn against the account. Of the $218,832, $157,742 was deposited into Jason and Laurie Ehrhart’s joint checking account at the Juniata Valley Bank (JVB) and at least $23,496 was converted to cash. Thereafter, the funds in the joint JVB account were employed by Jason and Laurie Ehrhart to pay their personal expenses.
Another $7,174 in checks were made payable to Jason and Laurie Ehrhart’s two minor children. According to the charges Jason Ehrhart instructed the children to take the checks to the bank, cash them, and to surrender the cash to him.
Another $19,890 in checks were made payable to another couple who were Jason and Laurie Ehrhart’s best friends. According to the charges Jason Ehrhart regularly treated the couple and their children to dinners out and at least two, all-expense paid vacations to Disney World in Florida, purchased two automobiles for the family, and paid for the wife’s dental work.
To conceal his embezzlements, Jason Ehrhart submitted eight false annual accountings to the VA in which he falsely claimed he spent $402,408 on the veteran’s behalf between October 2006 and October 2015. The itemized expenditures in the accountings were grossly inflated. For example, Jason Ehrhart claimed he paid the mortgage on the veteran’s residence ($1,631 per month) plus the veteran’s share of the mortgage on his mother’s residence ($881) after she died in May 2011. However, the lenders against both properties obtained judgments and they were eventually foreclosed and sold.
Jason Ehrhart also falsely claimed in the annual accountings that he spent thousands on miscellaneous expenditures for the veteran, including storage unit rentals, vehicle maintenance bills, state and local taxes, life and auto insurance, and credit card bills. However, in 2016 the veteran’s specially equipped wheelchair van, for which Jason Ehrhart claimed he spent approximately $32,395 for vehicle maintenance, was found broken down and abandoned along a Perry County roadside.
The veteran died at the Lebanon VA Hospital on July 30, 2018.
Jason Ehrhart agreed to make full restitution of the monies owed to the veteran’s estate. No date was set by Chief Judge Conner for Jason Ehrhart’s sentencing pending preparation of a presentence report. Laurie Ehrhart is currently scheduled for trial on January 8, 2019.
The problem today in studies, people prefer someone who is nice, smiles and act respectful, they could could care less about intelligence or background. All they care is the shyster plays his part as caring person assuring all is well. Pretty messed up you need to be afraid of nice people.
when this person goes to trial 8 january 019 – lets pray that his jury WILL NOT BE HIS PEERS – instead he should have a jury of 12 disabled vets
Should he be found guilty ( i am sure he will) his sentence would be:
nail his testicles to a log – set the log on fire – hand him a knife
after he is cauterized – return him to the prison populace with a jar of vaseline
He and his wife won’t get any more than 3-5 years each, I’m sure there are hundreds of cases out there that never get Audited by the VA with smaller 100 dollar amounts.
I do not want to sound deranged, but taking of his right arm would be just the right thing to do
The Lebanon VA medical center should be investigated also, how long has this been going on 11 or twelve years, they knew about it, either way I believe they were complicit. A lot more questions in this case need to be asked and answered. Give up the whole story Jason Ehrhart, Bubba be waiting,
Firing squad or hanging? Pit bull with an appetite for whats left hanging? Grenade up his ass? Let me know Ben so I can check his name off my list. Thanks.