SAN ANTONIO, Texas (ValleyCentral) — A Texas woman was defrauded on Tuesday after her husband, who he claimed was paralyzed from a playing injury, was spotted walking around his neighborhood and playing basketball. Convicted of a crime.
Josephine Cassandra Perez Gorda, 39, was found guilty of defrauding the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Social Security Administration out of more than $300,000, according to a news release from the U.S. District Attorney’s Office.
The release said the fraud occurred from October 2011 to August 2017 after the couple exaggerated the severity and extent of their husband’s injuries.
Perez Gorda’s husband, who is now deceased, was a military veteran, and the couple claims an injury sustained while on active duty left him paralyzed from the waist down.
This couple from Dripping Springs applied for and received a specially modified home and car.
The couple claimed Perez Gorda’s husband was paralyzed “from below the navel,” but he was seen walking around the neighborhood and playing basketball, the release said.
Agents in the Inspector General’s VA office also videotaped Perez walking without assistance.
Perez-Gorda was convicted of 11 counts of wire fraud and of making false statements related to health matters, conspiring to commit medical fraud, and stealing government funds.
She faces up to 20 years in prison for each wire fraud charge and up to 10 years in prison for each medical expense charge, the release said.
The research is being conducted by VA-OIG and SSA-OIG.
https://www.kxan.com/news/texas/texas-woman-found-guilty-of-fraud-after-paralyzed-veteran-husband-seen-walking-playing-basketball/ Texas woman convicted of fraud after seeing ‘paralyzed’ veteran husband walking and playing basketball