In a case of stolen valor, a North Little Rock, Arkansas man was sentenced to prison for submitting a falsified disability application to the Department of Veterans Affairs and receiving more than $91,000 in disability payments.
Darold Maxfield Jr., 30, was sentenced to four months in federal prison on June 8 by United States District Judge Brian S. Miller.
According to a Department of Justice release, in October 2018, Maxfield filed for VA disability benefits, alleging he sustained psychological trauma after he recovered the remains of a cadet who died while conducting a land navigation exercise at West Point Military Academy. At the time, Maxfield was enrolled at the United States Military Academy Prep School. Maxfield’s VA disability application was approved, and he began receiving $1,567 per month.
The VA was alerted of potential fraud regarding Maxfield’s benefit application in May 2020 after it was discovered that the physician’s signature on Maxfield’s disability benefit questionnaire had been cut and pasted onto Maxfield’s application from another application, according to the DOJ release.
Agents were also able to verify that, three days after Maxfield enrolled at the United States Military Academy Prep School, a cadet at West Point Military Academy died during a field training exercise. No evidence was found that Maxfield was anywhere near the proximity where the remains were located; he was not on the land navigation course on the date of the cadet’s death; and the two cadets who did find the dead cadet’s remains stated they were the only two present when the body was located.
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“Today, this defendant was held accountable for falsely claiming to be disabled in order to steal taxpayer dollars from a program meant to benefit deserving service-disabled veterans,” said Special Agent in Charge Kris Raper with the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General’s South Central Field Office. “
Maxfield was charged on June 1, 2021, in an indictment with theft of public money and making a false statement or representation to a department or agency of the United States. He pled guilty to the indictment on Jan. 19, 2023. Maxfield was sentenced to four months in prison on each count, to be served concurrently, three years of supervised release, and he was ordered to pay $91,651.70 in restitution.
Reach Julia LeDoux at Julia@connectingvets.com.
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