DOJ Reports Vet’s Purple Heart Lies Cost Government $752,000
TACOMA, Wash. (AP) — Federal prosecutors now say a former soldier who lied his way to a Purple Heart cheated Washington state and the federal government out of more than $750,000.
The total is about three times what investigators cited when they charged Darryl Wright with fraud in 2014.
Wright, a former National Guardsman, is due to be sentenced in U.S. District Court in Tacoma on Thursday. Prosecutors are seeking a five-year prison term, arguing that Wright lied about having been injured in Iraq in a successful effort to be awarded a Purple Heart and disability and other benefits.
They also argue that he obstructed justice when he accused a co-worker in the U.S. Commerce Department of violating his privacy after she discovered some of his wrongdoing.
Wright is seeking a one-year sentence. His attorney says he was entitled to most of the benefits he received because of PTSD he suffered from his deployment.