Nashville Army Vet's Faked Disability Earns Him Federal Prison Term

[pacmanx1]

Nashville Army vet's faked

disability earns him federal

prison term

By Jim Suhr • ASSOCIATED PRESS • April 23,

2010

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. — An Army veteran who

prosecutors say bilked the U.S. government by

faking paralysis to get disability benefits and avoid

being deployed to Iraq was sentenced Friday to 6

1/2 years in prison and ordered to repay more than

$300,000.

Jeffrey Rush, 27, apologized at times tearfully to U.S.

District Judge William Stiehl, who handed down the

prison term prosecutors had requested.

"I hope you will use the time in prison to learn to

conduct yourself in an honest way once you are

out," Stiehl, 84, told Rush, who stood straight in his

cream-colored suit, yellow shirt and striped tie.

Stiehl — a federal judge for nearly a quarter century

— never told the man who dodged being dispatched

to Iraq that he was a Navy veteran of World War II

and the Korean War.

Afterward, Stiehl told The Associated Press that his

own military past had no bearing on how he

punished Rush, who pleaded guilty in November to

two fraud conspiracy counts and one count apiece

of mail fraud and making false statements to the

Social Security Administration.

Rush asked Stiehl for lenience for his ex-wife, who

has pleaded guilty in the scheme and is scheduled

to be sentenced on Monday.

Authorities say the Rushes stuck to his bogus story

that he had lost the use of his legs after a 2004

rollover crash, just weeks before his Army company

from Kansas shipped off to Iraq without him.

As part of the scheme, court records show, Rush

received $107,857 in benefits from the Department

of Veterans Affairs and $28,730 from the Social

Security Administration. Court documents and

discussions offered no details on how Rush

perpetuated the scheme.

The scam unraveled after the Rushes in 2005 sued

Ford and the maker of the seat belts used in Rush's

sport utility vehicle, blaming both companies for his

purported paralysis and his wife's resulting "loss of

consortium and conjugal relations." The Rushes

went on to have a child in July 2006.

Stiehl agreed to a defense request that Rush, who

now lives in Nashville, be allowed to remain free on

bond until ordered to report to federal prison.

Edited April 23, 2010 by pacmanx1

[Vync]

It really bites when people do this.

Even if a guy is paralyzed from the waist down, medical procedures can make it possible to extract the goods so his wife bear children.

I think this guy has other problems, especially if he went to court and "stood straight in his cream-colored suit, yellow shirt and striped tie". Geez...

[sharon]

Have you noticed how many of these people get caught because they were GREEDY

[rdnkjeeper]

Good! More people like this need to be caught and the book tossed at them!

[carlie]

I'd like to know how the heck he was able to FAKE paralysis of both legs,

to both VA and Social Security.

Whom ever signed off on his disability of paralysis.

"Court documents and discussions offered no details on how Rush

perpetuated the scheme."

Sounds to me like more than his wife was involved in this scheme

and theres certainly no reason I feel his wife should get any lenience

as she most probably helped spend the cash.

These are some of the lying,punk,scumbuckets that make life harder on those that

truly have disabilities.

After serving his prison time this POS will find a way to get out of paying restitution.

I hope he goes to Maricopa jail with sheriff Joe.

Sharon, you are right and I am so glad he got greedy so he got caught !

jmho,

carlie

[MikeR]

Ok, I have real disabilities with an IMO from board certified doctors, and had to fight like hell all along and this clown can fake it? An EMG test would have told the VA he was faking it. This dip got greedy and going after Ford was his undoing. Ford self insures for liability and they have been very aggressive fighting claims.

Ok, I have real disabilities with an IMO from board certified doctors, and had to fight like hell all along and this clown can fake it? An EMG test would have told the VA he was faking it. This dip got greedy and going after Ford was his undoing. Ford self insures for liability and they have been very aggressive fighting claims.