Chubbuck man sentenced for bilking veteran
Travis John Attanasio, 54, of Chubbuck was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Pocatello Wednesday to 18 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release. U.S. District Judge Edward J. Lodge ordered Attanasio to pay $259,563 in restitution.
Attanasio pleaded guilty to chages of wire fraud and theft of government funds on December 1, 2015.
In court proceedings, Attanasio admitted that between June 29, 2012 and Ocotber 30, 2014 he defrauded a disabled veteran and the federal government of $259,563.12.
The documents state Attanasio volunteered to serve as the fiduciary for the vteran. But, instead of conserving the victim’s funds and monthly benefits from Veterans Affairs, he spent them at various retail and online vendors. The purchases included gold and silver coins, guns, and a trailer. Attnasio also requested and received a portion of the victim’s conserved Social Security funds, which he subsequently spent.
During the time Attanasio received and spent the funds, he knew that the victim was a disable veteran living in a state veteran’s home.
The case was jointly investigated by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General and the Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General with help from the Pocatello Police Department. The case was being prosecuted by a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney as part of a partnership venture between the Social Security Administration Office of General Counsel and the United States Attorney’s Office to prosecute social security fraud.
Veteran Service Officer Melissa Hartman says veterans have many options on preventing fraud.One of those, is contacting her or a fiduciary.
“Sometimes you will get someone who will take advantage or just not be on the up and up,” said Hartman.
Attanasio had spent the money on silver and gold coins, guns and a new trailer. He also knew that he was stealing money from a disabled vet, who was living at a local veterans home.
“I’ll be honest with you, I think that disabled vets, seniors, are targeted most for scams, but I think as a community, we’re doing our best to arm our seniors with knowledge.”
Hartman is the Veteran Services Officer at Idaho State University and takes care of mostly student veterans. Whatever they need help with, her and her team are there, even for financial advice.
“Sometimes, it’s just best to pick a really good agency that handles fiduciary funds, that’s insured. So that, if an employee of that agency commits some kind of fraud, that there’s some kind of bond in place.”
A silver lining to the gray cloud…
“I think it’s comforting to know that it doesn’t happen very often. So if there’s some good silver lining to this whole thing, there are many implemented practices that keep that from happening.”
If you’re a veteran and have concerns on fraud, you can also contact your local veteran affairs office for more information.
