WHAT A HEEL!: NJ Pol Claimed Unearned Military Honors, Unearned Disability Benefits
For 40 years former Atlantic City mayor Robert Levy (D) claimed to have served two tours in the U.S. Army, earning a Bronze Star as a Green Beret. Levy, 61, pleaded guilty to a federal judge that he lied about his military record to get nearly an additional $25,000 in disability benefits from the government, and faces up to six months in prison under a plea deal, reports The Associated Press:
As part of a deal negotiated with federal prosecutors, Levy will not appeal the sentence as long as it does not include more than six months of prison time. The count to which he pleaded guilty, making false statements to Veterans Affairs officials, carries a maximum sentence of five years. …
Levy must also repay benefits he received because of the lies, according to his plea agreement. He is trying to keep all the disability money he received from the VA, and wants the government to resume payments for service-related post-traumatic stress disorder.
The Office of the Inspector General for Veteran Affairs, which has been looking into “stolen valor,” has arrested 40 vets for receiving benefits to which they are not entitled and is investigating 79 other cases.
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