Board of Veterans Appeals criminal conduct

[David]

Gimpy

Registered to :Aug 23, 2001
Messages :70
From :Tampa, FL
Posted 20-02-2002 at 23:48
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Listed below are portions of reports issued by the OIG-VA (Office of Inspector General) that details the facts that BVA "Law Judges" are continuing to commit crimes against the very people they're obligated to assist! The military Veterans of this country.

Please write your Congresspersons and Senators AND the Whitehouse to express our disgust with the so-called "Law-Judges" behavior and their less than adequate punishment for these crimes.


####### START Archive article no. 58 ########

BVA Concealment of Evidence:

Mr. Chris Patton an Administrative Chief for the Dept.of Veterans
Affairs, Board of Veterans Appeals (BVA) Decision Team which covers
claims for the Midwest United States, was recently placed on
administrative leave. Patton had allegedly concealed evidence. He
will remain on leave while the VA Inspector General investigates the
matter.

Mr. Patton had concealed letters which were mailed to the BVA by
veterans and their representatives. These letters contained information
and evidence which should have been placed into the veterans files, and
considered when the appealed claims were decided.

The veterans evidence was found by happenstance rather that any
concerted efforts by the BVA to maintain proper controls over veterans
claims. The concealed letters were supposedly found when Patton's desk
was moved for building maintenance. Once the concealment had been found
the BVA assigned workers to place the concealed evidence into the proper
files.

The VA Board of Veterans Appeals decides appeals of veterans claims
decisions from the VA regional offices when the VA regional office
either denies the veterans claim, or the award is not considered
sufficient by the veteran.



##### START VA Inspector General report of the BVA crime listed above #####

Employee Misconduct

An individual employed as the chief of an
administrative team with the Board of Veterans
Appeals (BVA) pleaded guilty after being
arrested on charges of attempted tampering with
physical evidence and was placed in a pretrial
diversion program after admitting responsibility
for his offenses.

As part of the plea, he will
perform 60 hours of community service at a
VAMC and has resigned from VA. A joint
investigation by VA OIG and the FBI disclosed
the individual, in the course of his regular duties,
was responsible for processing approximately
200 veteran's appeals a week. A percentage of
the appeals submitted for processing were
labeled as being extremely time sensitive, in that
they were claims made by veterans in need of
immediate assistance because they were
terminally ill or because their home may have
been on the verge of foreclosure. Investigation
disclosed the individual knowingly allowed a
large amount of unprocessed materials to
accumulate in and around his office and he
falsified weekly reports in order to conceal the
existence of these unprocessed materials.

During an office reorganization, more than
1,300 unprocessed items were found
accumulated in the individual's office area.
While most of the material found was between 1
and 2 years old, there were some items which
dated as far back as 1994. Among the
unprocessed materials found were more than
500 items containing evidence related to
veterans' appeals including some of the
aforementioned urgent, time sensitive items, as
well as Congressional materials. The large
amount of unprocessed mail had a substantial
and continuing effect on BVA operations, and
significant corrective action is required to
resolve the administrative aspects of the case.

(Source: VAOIG semi-annual report to Congress Oct. 1, 1999 to March 2000)

*****END*****


-----------------
Gimpy RIVERENE**MUD-GRUNT "I ain't no fortunate son"