A Rhode Island lady was charged in federal court docket Monday with fraudulently claiming to be a U.S. Marine Corps veteran with lung most cancers in a scheme to gather lots of of 1000’s of {dollars} in veterans advantages and charitable contributions.
Rhode Island U.S. Legal professional Zachary Cunha stated Sarah Jane Cavanaugh, 31, of Warwick, is charged with utilizing cast or counterfeited navy discharge certificates, wire fraud, fraudulently holding herself out to be a medal recipient with intent to acquire cash, property, or different tangible profit, and aggravated identification theft.
There isn’t any report of Cavanaugh ever serving within the U.S. navy, Cunha stated.
Cavanaugh appeared in U.S. District Courtroom in Windfall and was launched on a $50,000 unsecured bond. Her legal professional didn’t instantly reply to an e-mail request for remark and the agency, Marin and Barrett, Inc., instructed a reporter who known as that they have been busy Monday coping with present shopper points that want undivided consideration.
Cavanaugh labored on the Veterans Affairs Medical Heart in Windfall. She’s accused of accessing the data for a Marine who makes use of VA providers and utilizing them to falsify navy discharge paperwork, and likewise utilizing her work e-mail to buy and later show on a Marine uniform a Purple Coronary heart and Bronze Star, in accordance with court docket paperwork.
Cavanaugh did so to request monetary help and falsely declare that she was being handled for lung most cancers from publicity to burn pits in struggle zones and inhaling particulate matter from a bomb explosion, Cunha stated.
Posing as a fight veteran, Cavanaugh collected $207,000 from the Wounded Warrior program to pay for groceries and bodily remedy, collected about $18,500 in monetary help from “Code of Assist” in Virginia for mortgage funds, repairs to her dwelling furnace, a fitness center membership and different payments, and $4,700 from a fundraising web site, Cunha stated.
Claiming to be a Purple Coronary heart and Bronze Star recipient, Cavanaugh collected $16,000 from one other charity that gives remedy for veterans by way of artwork applications, CreatiVets, in accordance with court docket paperwork.
An investigation was launched after the Windfall nonprofit HunterSeven contacted the Windfall VA as a result of they have been suspicious of Cavanaugh’s attraction to them. The group helps veterans with most cancers.
Government Director Chelsey Simoni stated Monday that they had issued a $3,000 verify to Cavanaugh in January however canceled it as soon as they realized she was mendacity about service, partly as a result of one other feminine Marine instructed them that she would’ve recognized about Cavanaugh in the event that they served on the identical time and Cavanaugh actually did earn a Purple Coronary heart and Bronze Star for valor.
Simoni stated that what upsets her most is that Cavanaugh took up time she might’ve used to assist veterans who do have most cancers.
“I used to be in ache for her. I listened to her, the whole lot a nurse ought to do,” she stated. “She not solely abused that, she took my compassion and lied. In the meantime we might have put our providers elsewhere. That is what bothers me.”
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