A New Bedford man is facing multiple criminal charges in connection with a scheme to steal more than $450,000 intended for a 20-year Marine Corps veteran with Lou Gehrig’s Disease.
Joseph Smith has been charged with one count each of theft of government benefits and conspiracy to steal government benefits, the office of Acting U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Joshua S. Levy announced on Friday. Smith is in federal custody on unrelated charges and is scheduled to appear in federal court in Boston on Tuesday.
According to Levy’s office, shortly after the Marine Corps veteran was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in August 2015, the VA approved his application for disability benefits and awarded him a monthly payment of about $8,300, according to the VA. The VA began paying him the following month, by mailing monthly checks to Smith’s former home in New Bedford, where he lived with relatives before his hospitalization, in September 2015.
According to prosecutors, between 2015 and 2020, Smith and others received monthly disability payments intended for the man while he was hospitalized and deposited the money into bank accounts they controlled. Federal prosecutors say Smith first deposited the checks into an account in his own name, then began depositing the money into accounts they had opened in the name of the man who was the recipient of the checks.
Federal prosecutors said Smith is accused of cashing the checks shortly after depositing them and using them for personal expenses.
According to Levy’s office, Smith and others are accused of stealing more than $450,000 in disability benefits that were supposed to be paid to him between 2015 and 2020.
Levy called the charges against Smith “excessive.”
“The immorality exposed by the criminal justice system is sometimes simply staggering,” he said in a statement.
“It is difficult to imagine a more despicable financial crime than this alleged preying on vulnerable members of our community,” said Inspector Ketty D. Larcoward of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service’s Boston Office.
If convicted on both charges, Smith could face up to 15 years in prison, according to Levy’s office.