U.S. Department Of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General South Central Field Office 4040 N. Central Expwy, Suite 500 Dallas, TX 75204-3158 (214) 253-3360
Friday, July 23, 2004
U.S. Postal Employee Arrested, Charged with Fraud
John McDermott, Special Agent in Charge, U. S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Inspector General (IG), announced today that on July 21, 2004, in Federal District Court, Western District of Texas, El Paso, TX, John Karl Lee was indicted and subsequently arrested on July 22, 2004 by Federal agents on charges of mail and Office of Worker’s Compensation benefit (OWCP) fraud, and making false statements. McDermott stated that the indictment was filed as a result of the culmination of investigative efforts by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Department of Labor � Office of Inspector General, Defense Criminal Investigative Service, and his Houston Resident Agency. The indictment disclosed that Lee, while employed as a postal worker in the El Paso area, received worker’s compensation benefits from the Postal Service for stress on the job. He was also self-employed operating his own medical equipment company. Additionally, he was fraudulently receiving disability benefit compensation from the Department of Veterans Affairs for stress, trauma, and physical abuse he claimed to have suffered at the hands of the Iraqi military as a prisoner of war (POW) during Desert Storm in 1991. Loss to the government for disability payments exceeds $200,000. The United States Attorney’s Office, in El Paso, TX, is prosecuting the case.