A veteran who confessed to feigning a disability to secure over $660,000 worth of benefits is now serving a prison term.
Christopher Stultz, aged 49, from Antrim, New Hampshire, received a sentence of 18 months in prison on Monday. This was the consequence of receiving over $660,000 in disability benefits that he was not eligible for. Stultz admitted to fraudulently stating a physical impediment to receive veteran's disability benefits, as stated by the US attorney for New Hampshire's office in a news update.
Court documents reveal that for about 20 years, Stultz had purported to be disabled from walking and needing a wheelchair to get around. After joining the US Navy in 1995, he sustained a spinal cord injury due to a fall off a horse. He was discharged honorably in 1999, and the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) rated him as partially disabled.
In 2003, Stultz allegedly misrepresented himself as unable to use both feet, leading the VA to rate him 100% disabled and raise his monthly payments. He also received around $190,000 in funding for special adapted vehicles designed for mobility-impaired veterans, but authorities asserted that Stultz never used these adapted cars and instead sold them for cash.
Jane Young, the US attorney for New Hampshire, declared in the release, "This is one of the most flagrant cases of benefits fraud ever prosecuted in this state." Stultz had deceived the VA for two decades to obtain undeserved disability benefits, and his actions diverted funds from taxpayers and fellow deserving veterans.
Prosecutors started investigating the case following receipt of a tip from a worried citizen, according to the US attorney's office. The case involved numerous surveillance and recordings demonstrating Stultz walking free of impairment.
In one instance mentioned in a memorandum outlining sentencing, Stultz used a wheelchair while inside a VA facility in Boston in October 2021. As soon as he left the VA, Stultz lifted the wheelchair into his vehicle and drove to a shopping mall. There, Stultz was seen walking without limping in several shops.
Investigators conducted interviews with individuals familiar with Stultz, such as former employers and friends. Those interviewed expressed that during his work hours and in public, the defendant was in good physical condition and walked normally, and they had no recollection of Stultz using a wheelchair or walking aids back in the early 2000s.
A psychological evaluation in 2023 diagnosed Stultz with factitious disorder. This condition, specified in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, refers to a person faking a physical or psychological illness.
Court documents detail how Stultz received counseling since March 2020 while undergoing physical therapy for various ailments. Stultz's lawyers' petition requested three years of supervision rather than prison time, with a psychologist opining in a sentencing memorandum that the defendant "fulfills the criteria for factitious disorder and it's highly likely it contributed to the alleged fraudulent conduct."
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Source: edition.cnn.com
