Fraud: NH Man Faked Disability to Obtain Over $660,000 in Veterans Benefits

A New Hampshire man has been sentenced to 18 months in federal prison for faking a disability in order to illegally obtain more than $660,000 in veteran’s benefits, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Hampshire announced Monday.

Christopher Stultz, 49, of Antrim, N.H., was sentenced Monday by U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Laplante to 18 months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release.

Stultz, who in January pleaded guilty to making false statements, was also ordered to pay a total of $662,871.77 in restitution.

“This is one of the most egregious benefits fraud cases ever prosecuted in this state,” said U.S. Attorney Jane Young in a Monday press release. “The defendant lied to the VA for 20 years to obtain disability benefits he was not entitled to. 

“He stole not only from taxpayers, but also his fellow veterans who were entitled to the benefits,” Young said. “Today’s sentence shows that the consequence of stealing from programs that support our veterans is federal prison.”

According to federal prosecutors, Stultz joined the U.S. Navy in 1995, and was injured the following year after falling off a horse. He remained in the Navy until discharged in 1999.

While Stultz was initially rated as “partly disabled” by the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs (VA), prosecutors accused Stultz of falsely claiming that he could no longer use both of his feet beginning in 2003, resulting in the VA rating Stultz as 100 percent disabled, increasing his monthly benefits.

As a result of his claimed disability, Stultz was awarded nearly $190,000 in funding through the VA to purchase special cars and vehicle adaptations designed to help mobility-impaired veterans.

But rather than use the special cars, prosecutors say Stultz sold them for cash.

Following a report of potential fraud from a concerned citizen, Stultz was surveilled by the VA’s Office of the Inspector General (VA-OIG) on multiple occasions walking without impairment.

In one example cited by prosecutors, in October 2021, Stultz went to the VA Medical Center in Jamaica Plain in Boston, using a wheelchair while inside the facility.

However, upon leaving the VA, Stultz stood up, lifting the wheelchair into his car, and drove to a shopping mall where he walked without impairment through multiple stores, prosecutors stated.

Multiple witnesses reported to the VA-OIG that they had never known Stultz to use a wheelchair or other ambulatory devices as far back as the early 2000s.

“Today’s sentencing holds this defendant accountable for faking injuries that resulted in him receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars in VA disability compensation that he did not deserve,” said Christopher Algieri, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General’s Northeast Field Office.  “The VA OIG is committed to investigating anyone who exploits these critical programs for financial gain.”