From a press release issued by Social Security's Office of Inspector General:
United States Attorney Bill Nettles stated today that Dennis Paulsen, age 45, of Blythewood, was convicted of stealing more than $1.5 million from the United States Department of Veterans Affairs and the Social Security Administration following a seven-day jury trial in federal court in Columbia [SC]. ...
After being diagnosed [with Multiple Sclerosis] and discharged from the Navy in the early 1990s, Paulsen began receiving a monthly VA benefit as a result of his diagnosis. Unsatisfied with the amount he was receiving, Paulsen began a pattern of malingering by claiming his MS rendered him unable to use his hands or feet in any respect. Still unhappy with the money he was awarded, Paulsen ramped up his claims, lying to his doctors, presenting himself as house- and wheelchair-bound, and making false claims that he required daily professional medical care to live until his benefits were increased to the maximum disability payments available to a Veteran. At the same time, Paulsen used the same feigned impairments to convince the Social Security Administration that he was entitled to Social Security disability benefits. Despite his feigned claims of impairments and presenting himself in a wheelchair to his doctors, Paulsen lived in a non-handicap accessible residence and was able to ride his motorcycle and jet skis plus play baseball and golf on a regular basis. ...
The extensive investigation by the VA and SSA included undercover agents, surveillance, and photographs and video footage from banks, stores, and the Columbia Metropolitan Airport. Family photographs kept by Paulsen’s ex-wife were also obtained showing Paulsen’s many activities with his family, playing baseball, and participating in a Marine Mud Run. Paulsen testified, in a wheelchair, for four hours and called three doctors as expert witnesses in an attempt to support his claim that he was and had been totally disabled. The guilty verdict reflects that the jury did not find this testimony credible.MS is a strange disease. A person with relapsing and remitting MS can have dramatic fluctuations in their functional abilities. They can legitimately go from having few symptoms to being in a wheelchair to again having few symptoms over the course of a few weeks. A jury convicted this man so I assume the evidence against him was strong but an MS patient who tells a story of severe symptoms that come and go may well be telling the truth. If you deal with MS patients at all, you really get struck by how strange MS is.
11 comments:
If he said he was confined to a wheelchair with any frequency, it would be pretty surprising if he continued to live in non-accessible housing.
Can someone explain how - if the reports are correct - he was able to receive $9,400 monthly in combined tax-free benefits from the VA and SSA? If true, it definitely undermines the notion that these benefits are just a lifeline. He was living an upper-middle-class lifestyle.
In response to Charles' suggestion that this guy may have simply had periods of exacerbation and dormancy, here is a blurb from the same OIG report:
"In Blythewood, Paulsen purchased a two-story brick house that was not handicapped accessible and stopped going to neurologists for his MS. Illustrating his lack of impairment, Paulsen was active in several gyms, joined a baseball league from 2006 until 2014, and lived an active lifestyle, including playing pool, swimming in his backyard pool, playing on the beach, and driving his Escalade and manual shift Mini-Cooper. In 2014, a concerned citizen reported Paulsen to the VA and explained how Paulsen lacked the impairments that he claimed. Upon learning that the VA was looking into his actual impairment from MS, Paulsen immediately quit his baseball league and began appearing at the VA again in his wheelchair, claiming to be unable to walk or use his hands."
Even with a tricky condition like MS, it sounds like his level of treatment and activity were entirely inconsistent with his reported limitations. I'd gladly take on an MS diagnosis for that lifestyle, even if I could only enjoy it in spurts.
It is so hard for Charles to accept true due process...
Hopefully he saved some of these ill gotten proceeds. It sure sounds like he will be paying the government back.
@1:19 I'd bet that the prosecution added the costs associated with all of the possibly unnecessary medial appointments and prescriptions into the final figure.
The evidence is clear that this guy is an absolute fraud. Hopefully he'll file a request for waiver of the o/p as well. Can convolute the system even more. Take take take
I agree MS is a strange disease. It is very hard to prove malingering with MS because a person could literally be walking one day, and a wheelchair the next.
In this guy's case, both ex wife and ex father reported him. Why didn't she report him while they were married? That seems like a credibility issue on her part as well.
One of thousands... Reps, how many like this did u (un)knowingly rep'ed?
I have MS, and I believe this guy got what he deserved. he must have a very mild ms to not need his wheelchair for almost 10 years. if I could do what he could do, I would have my life back.
He had "convienent" remissions, right after he found out the va was after him so that is why the jury didn't find him credible. When I go to my doctor, I tell him the truth. Somedays I feel great, and some days I don't. Sometimes I need a walker, sometimes I don't. this is all in my medical records.
@9:31, in response to your question, below is part of a comment I previously posted on another thread of Charles' blog. Even among the 25-30% of potential clients' cases which I rejected, I haven't seen much true "fraud." What many commenters to this blog and the 'disability deniers' include in that definition are claimants with severe health problems who will not meet SSA's criteria for disability but probably cannot work without significant accommodations.
"I guess that if 'disability deniers' can cite anecdotal 'evidence,' I should be able to cite the opposite. I'm now closing out my SSDI/SSI practice after 26 years and what must be a few thousand cases (I've never attempted to count). Especially in the last 10 years, I've rejected about 25-30% of all the claimants who came to me seeking representation (the biggest reason has been that they could not afford medical treatment to document their impairments which do appear to be legitimate). While I've always represented my clients zealously, I've tried to maintain my credibility with ALJs, so I have never knowingly accepted a case in which I could detect ANY fraud whatsoever. During these years, I have only seen 7-8 cases which I believed to be COMPLETELY fraudulent. Surprise--the majority of claimants whose claims I believed were COMPLETELY or had AN ELEMENT OF FRAUD were those claims submitted by retired law enforcement officers. Compared to several thousands of honest claimants, these cases ARE but mere drops in the bucket."
A bit late, but like others have stated this would not be entirely uncommon for MS. Having an aunt with MS, there are days she continues to live almost like any other person, but then for weeks at a time, she is practically bedridden. What they have on this gentleman though, seems to easily support fraud.
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