Marine Veteran With PTSD Gets Justice and No Jail Time

Marine vet takes plea deal in PTSD pot bust
KSWO News
By Rhiannon Poolaw, Digital Producer
Friday, May 26th 2017

LAWTON, OK (KSWO)- Kristoffer Lewandowski, the Marine veteran charged with possession of multiple marijuana plants in Comanche County, has accepted a plea deal. The plea agreement with the Comanche County District Attorney's office resolves all pending charges filed against Lewandowski.

According to Thomas Hurley, the retired Marine's Oklahoma-based attorney, in the plea deal, Lewandowski, who served ten years in the U.S. Marine Corps deployed in Iraq, Afghanistan and the waters off of Somalia, will serve no jail time and plead guilty to a deferred felony charge for marijuana cultivation. If he does not violate the law during a five-year period of probation, no felony will be placed on his record.

"Tens of thousands of people around the country who have remained steadfast in supporting Kris throughout this ordeal have shown we can make progress even in states like Oklahoma that have not yet recognized the many medical benefits of cannabis." Michael Minardi, a medical cannabis attorney based in Tampa, Florida who is serving as part of Lewandowski's trial team commented, "the decision by Oklahoma to go from seeking years of prison time to no jail time at all and just a deferred felony is a huge victory for all of us in this country who are fighting for medical cannabis patients' rights."

In 2012, he was diagnosed with severe Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) following his service tours in Iraq and Afghanistan and, after a cocktail of 14 different pharmaceutical drugs proved ineffective for treating his PTSD, Lewandowski began using medical cannabis.
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70 Year Old Veteran Died From Choking on Trash Bag

Sapulpa veteran died with 2-foot trash bag in his throat at state care home, new autopsy report says

Sapulpa man died from choking on a trash bag while in the care of state veterans center in Talihina, report shows

• By Andrea Eger Tulsa World

A new report from the Oklahoma Medical Examiner’s Office confirms that a Sapulpa man died from choking on a trash bag while in the care of a state nursing home for veterans.

Leonard Smith, 70, was an advanced-dementia patient living in a locked-down special-needs unit at the Oklahoma Veterans Center in Talihina when he choked to death Jan. 31 after being given food, fluids and medication. After he died, a medical provider found that he had a plastic bag lodged deep in his throat.

In its final report on the death, the medical examiner determined Smith’s probable cause of death was asphyxia due to choking on a foreign body and the manner of his death was accidental.

The ME’s report revealed that included with items sent with Smith’s body to be examined was what was found in his throat: “a twisted clear trash bag covered in pink vomitus. The trash bag is intact and measures 24 (inches) in length and 1 (inch) in width when twisted. When the trash bag is untwisted, it measures 5 (inches) in width.”

Christine Cornwell, a Tulsa County resident and Smith’s niece, whom he had entrusted with his power of attorney, said the ME’s report may close a chapter in Smith’s death but not her and other relatives’ anguish over the circumstances.

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Almost a Victim of Murder-Suicide, Soldier Sees How Far He's Come

Life shouldn't be like this. But all too often it is. When this Mom came home one day, her life changed. She took that pain and then tried to make life different for others suffering from domestic violence. When her child grew up, he joined the Army and now has a family of his own. 

The lesson here is that while you cannot control what some do to you, what you do for others in in your control and there is the miracle of life.

Mother of hanged baby speaks out to raise awareness of domestic abuse signs
Tulsa World
By Paighten Harkins
Apr 23, 2017

Hindsight • Mother of hanged toddler speaks out to raise awareness of domestic abuse signs

Early one morning, Vera Jane “Janie” Birdwell (then Huddleston) went home from her job at a diner on North Sheridan Road. It was just before 4:30 a.m. She’d left a half-hour early because she felt sick.

When she arrived at home that day, March 1, 1997, she couldn’t get inside. She soon learned why.

Her then-husband had locked himself in with their 22-month-old son. He’d been trying to hang himself and their child using electrical cords and shoestrings — all of which had snapped — before she arrived.

Although neither died, Birdwell said she’s been living with the trauma of that night — and the repercussions of the abuse leading to it — for the past two decades. Now in counseling and diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, Birdwell wanted to share her story as a cautionary tale for other victims of domestic abuse.

“I went home, opened the door, and there it was,” Birdwell said. “My life’s been a living hell ever since.”

Dakota said he considers himself successful. He graduated from high school and joined the Army. He lives in California with his wife, who he says is his rock. They had a baby girl in October.

He doesn’t remember the night he almost died, but he can’t ignore it. It won’t go away. He said he used to be embarrassed to talk about it but now uses it as a way to see how far he’s come.

“You can’t let stuff hold you down, because if you let stuff hold you down, it keeps you from growing,” he said.
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Marine Not Good Enough to Be Buried in Veteran's Cemetery, Now Has Highway With His Name

Fallen Oklahoma Vietnam veteran finally being recognized for his sacrifice
BY KFOR-TV and K. QUERRY
APRIL 14, 2017

On Friday, a portion of I-40 by Henryetta was renamed the Anthony Grundy Memorial Highway.

HENRYETTA, Okla. - An Oklahoma community is righting a wrong that dates back to the Vietnam War.

Anthony Grundy was the only service member from Henryetta that died in the war. He was a brave Marine who signed up in 1967 and died in the Tet Offensive.

When Grundy's parents sought permission to bury their son with other veterans in the Henryetta Cemetery, they were denied.

At the time, they were told it was due to a lack of space.

"We tried in Henryetta but they said they didn't have the space," Alpheus Grundy, Anthony's brother, told NewsChannel 4 in 2016.

"I didn't cry then but I cried later," he continues.

However, everyone now acknowledges that it was because Grundy was African-American.
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The Rest of the Story on Veteran Suicides

As with most things, numbers are really important but data is king. If the researchers do not tell where numbers came from, it is up to the reviewer to put the pieces together. So far, I'm totally confused.

As the number of veterans living in the US has gone down since 1999, and "efforts" have increased to the point where "awareness" has become a mega money maker, the number of reported suicides should have gone down after all these years. So why are they virtually the same? 

This is such a serious issue and so far I've seen little to do with seeking answers as much as folks run around seeking publicity, including politicians.

Department Veterans Affairs 2016 Suicide Report Start with these charts from the report.

2013 Report from Alaska
Veteran Suicides Twice as High as Civilian Rates
by Jeff Hargarten, Forrest Burnson, Bonnie Campo and Chase Cook | News21

News21 filed a Freedom of Information Act request for the raw data collected by the VA to this point, but it was denied because the “disclosure of raw research data poses a serious threat to the scientific process” and because of fears the information would be misinterpreted without peer review.
Most states provided veteran suicide information gleaned from death certificates. VA research, Kemp said, shows death certificates are about 90 percent accurate and “good enough” to help understand veteran suicides.

Veterans are over-represented among suicides compared to the general population, a trend seen in most states between 2005 and 2011.

For example, in Alaska, veterans were about 14 percent of the population, but represented about 21 percent of all suicides in 2010. The same year in Washington, Census data showed veterans were about 11 percent of the population, but state vital statistics showed they represented about 23 percent of suicides.

Florida
Military, veteran suicides account for nearly one in every four in Florida ... but the numbers don't explain why
Jacksonville Times Union
By Clifford Davis
Posted April 26, 2014

STATE NUMBERS STAGGERING

In Florida, the numbers are staggering.

Although veterans make up only 8 percent of the state’s population, they accounted for more than 25 percent of its suicides, according to the report.

Between 1999 and 2011, 31,885 suicides were reported in the state, according to the Florida Department of Health. That would mean more than 8,000 Florida veterans took their lives during those 13 years, according to the VA.

The numbers put Florida among states with the highest percentage of veteran suicides — but the numbers don't explain why.

Aside from Florida, most states report the veteran suicide rate is double the civilian population rate.

Oklahoma Veterans Commit Suicide at Twice the Rate of Civilians
By Chase Cook August 27, 2013
The veteran suicide rate in Oklahoma is down from a peak of about 46 in 2008, but researchers said that year had increased suicides due to the Great Recession. The rate dropped to about 39 in 2009 and has since climbed back up.

But the puzzling thing is that California does not tract veteran suicides.

Valley Assembly members introduce legislation to track veteran suicide rates
Fresno Bee
BY CHUEYEE YANG
January 20, 2017

Assemblymen Joaquin Arambula, D-Fresno and Jim Patterson, R-Fresno introduced legislation Monday that would require the State of California to track how many veterans die by suicide.

AB 242 would require the California Department of Public Health to send veteran suicide rates and data from the electronic death registration system to the California Department of Veterans Affairs and the Legislature.

And in Illinois, they do not have the ability to list it on their death certificates.

Cullerton advanced Senate Bill 1693 to allow deceased veterans with military service to include their veteran status, branch of military and the period of time served in the military on their death certificate.

I went through the suicide report from the VA and they say they used the VA, DOD and CDC for reports, but with these two states not even tracking the numbers, how good is this report? The next question is, when do reporters actually start to ask for answers? When do folks running around the country actually get held accountable for "raising" awareness cash while the problem veterans face has gotten worse and when the hell do they start to raise awareness about the rest of the story?

Oklahoma Nursing Home Deaths Covered Up?

‘Horrific’ veteran deaths covered up in Oklahoma state-run nursing home, insiders say
Tulsa World
By Andrea Eger
March 5, 2017

“We’re all gonna die. Kevin’s gonna die. But it’s gonna be on God’s time – not because you neglected him or failed to do your job!” said Molly Kimbrough.

Molly Kimbrough kisses her brother Kevin Kimbrough goodbye after a visit at the Talihina Veterans Center on Feb. 28. MIKE SIMONS/Tulsa World

Kevin Kimbrough survived 13 months of combat in Vietnam and the related post-traumatic stress disorder that plunged him into a dozen years of self-medicating with alcohol and drugs. Between 2013 and early 2015, he even survived a major stroke and the amputations of both of his legs. But two years at the Oklahoma Veterans Center in Talihina has left him battered and bruised, and two months ago, on the brink of death. 

His sister, who moved halfway across the country to see to his care, has had enough. She’s transferring him to a state veterans home in Fayetteville, Arkansas, where the patient-to-aide ratio is a fourth of what it is at Talihina.

“I don’t think it’s a Talihina problem,” said a high-ranking staffer. “The system is sick and it starts from the top down.” The individual added: “There are deaths the public isn’t even aware of and there have been a lot more near-misses — lab work not done in a timely fashion or not at all; one nurse having to pass meds to 50 people within one hour of a meal; three aides to feed, toilet and clean 50 patients on a unit. When you spread people that thin, bad things are going to happen. And it’s veterans who are suffering.”
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This is one of the "horrific deaths"

Died a ‘horrific’ death

The Tulsa World began its investigation after the Oct. 3 death of Vietnam veteran Owen Reese Peterson, who was found with maggots in his body and later died from sepsis.
State officials have said Peterson needed a morphine pump for pain management but couldn’t get one because the center didn’t have a medical doctor on staff at the time. Insiders say he died a slow, “horrific” death over the course of two months.

Investigations continue of death at Oklahoma veterans center

Investigations continue of death at Oklahoma veterans center 
Pilot Online 
Feb 19, 2017

"I took care of Leonard almost three years before I had to put him in there. In all of that time, he never swallowed or wanted to eat anything that was inedible," Harger said. "This has upset me so bad — and not just about Leonard. It's all of these other men down there that are not getting the care that they are needing."

TULSA, Okla. (AP) — Federal and state investigations are underway into the choking death of a man with later-stage dementia at the Oklahoma Veterans Center in Talihina. 

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the Oklahoma Department of Human Services and the Oklahoma Department of Veterans Affairs have launched separate investigations into the Jan. 31 death of 70-year-old Leonard Smith, formerly of Sapulpa. 

Smith died in the nursing home's locked-down, special-needs unit. read more here

Soldier Saved Seven Lives After Motorcycle Crash Claimed His

Soldier gives ultimate gift to seven strangers
Claremore Progress
Diana Dickinson
February 19, 2017

While family members were praying to God to save their loved one after a tragic motorcycle crash left him brain dead, other individuals elsewhere were praying to God for another day.

Twenty-one-year-old Oklahoma Army Reserve National Guardsman SPC Teddy L. Keys Jr., of Oologah, was a soldier who saved or improved the lives of seven people when doctors could not save him after a crash on April 27, 2015.

Because he became brain dead prior to his death and had maintained great physical health, his bones, tissues and other organs were all eligible for reuse and were harvested.
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Wave American Flag for Suicide Awareness or White Flag to Surrender More Lives?

While I do not question their motives or their intentions, they might as well replace the American flag they wave with a white one to surrender more lives to suicide. Raising awareness has failed. When well meaning folks like these quote the number of "22 a day" it means they are unaware of the truth behind the numbers. 

A decade of talking about the problem has actually produced worse results than when no one was doing public displays. The VA report had the number of "20 a day" in their report back in 1999 when we had over 5 million more veterans in the country. If that does not prove these stunts do not work, then please drop to ground and do some push-ups to make yourself feel better about the results we allowed to happen.

Waving flags to raise awareness
KSWO News
By Chelsea Floyd
Sunday, January 1st 2017

LAWTON, OK (KSWO)- If you were passing through Duncan on January 1st you may have seen people waving American flags on the side of highway 81.

Proposition USA, a focus group targeted to helping veterans, asked people to wave the flag to bring awareness to issues that face the men and women who have served our country.

Veteran Cori Gilbert says she's been raising awareness for veterans for years and was glad to take part in waving the flag for the group.

"This flag is the single most important symbol for our government, for our troops,” said Gilbert. They wave this flag when they go into battle and come out of battle. This is what they stand for and this is what I stand for."

Since the organization's start in 2007 volunteers like Gilbert and Vietnam veteran, David Cook will continue their support for many reasons.

"Twenty-two veterans a day commit suicide, 200,000 veterans are homeless at any given moment, three hundred and seven thousand veterans have died from the lack of care,” said Cook. “We are trying to bring awareness to it."

Cooks son spent a year in Afghanistan and now suffers from PTSD.
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Veteran Died With Maggot Infested Wound at Oklahoma Department of Veterans Affairs

Four resign from Talihina veterans center after resident found with maggots in wound
Tulsa World
Barbara Hoberock
December 2, 2016

A veteran who later died had been found with maggots in a wound

OKLAHOMA CITY — Four staff members at the Oklahoma Department of Veterans Affairs Talihina facility have resigned after a resident who later died was found with maggots in a wound, the agency said.

Executive Director Myles Deering said the maggots were discovered while the patient was alive but were not the cause of his death. He said the man came into the center with an infection.

“He did not succumb as a result of the parasites,” Deering said Tuesday. “He succumbed as a result of the sepsis.” Sepsis is a potentially life-threatening complication of an infection.

A physician’s assistant and three nurses, including the director of nursing, resigned in the wake of the investigation, said Shane Faulkner, a spokesman for the agency.

“All four chose to resign before the termination process began,” Faulkner said.
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PTSD On Trial: Four Tour Veteran of Afghanistan and Iraq

Logan County Jurors Hear Witness Testimony Regarding Shooting Of Lora Karras
Times Record
By Pat McHughes
Paris Express
March 26, 2016

The jury heard testimony Friday that when Lora Karras, 40, was shot three times and killed in March 2014 at her home near Scranton she may not have been the intended victim.

The jury heard that information when a taped interview between a Logan County Sheriff’s Office investigator and the man accused of her murder was played in court. On the tape, the accused, Josh Johnson, 40, of New Blaine, described an argument he’d had with Jennifer Johnson, who was then his wife, which led to her taking their two children and leaving their home. During the interview, conducted the night of March 19, 2014, a few hours after Karras was killed, Johnson told then-investigator Ray Gack what happened next.

“I loaded my gun,” Johnson told Gack. “I got in my truck and drove down there. I was hoping to get Robert.”

Robert Karras is the husband of the deceased. However, he wasn’t home. After Johnson arrived at the Karras home on Rodeo Arena Road, according to testimony presented Friday, he shot Lora Karras three times with a shot gun.

Johnson has been charged with first-degree murder and his trial opened Thursday in 15th Judicial District Circuit Court in Paris. Johnson has entered a plea of not guilty by reason of mental defect or disease. His lawyers — public defenders John Irwin of Morrilton and Aubrey Barr of Fort Smith — contend that Johnson suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder brought about by four tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. Johnson served in the Marines.
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Police Chief in Coma, Vietnam Veteran Dead After Crisis Call

Man killed after shooting Pond Creek police chief
KSWO News Oklahoma
Posted: Sep 14, 2015

POND CREEK, Okla.
An Oklahoma police chief is in a medically-induced coma in an Oklahoma city hospital after being shot by a man officers say was acting erratically.

Pond Creek Police Chief Tim Barwick, along with other officers, responded to a call on the 18000 block of U.S. 81 about a man trying to break into a home in Pond Creek Sunday morning. When officers got there, they found 67-year-old Clifford Butler Jr. of McAlester in the front yard saying people were in the bushes trying to hurt him.

While the officers were trying to calm Bulter down, he pulled a gun from behind him and shot Barwick once. A Grant County sheriff deputy returned fire, killing Butler. Barwick's condition is critical, but he's stable. Barwick has been the police chief for about 19 years and is a retired firefighter.

Butler's nephew says his uncle was a veteran who served in Vietnam and suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder.
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Vandals Destroy Future Home of Veteran

Vandals Destroy Tulsa Home Going To Veteran In Need
News On 6 Oklahoma
LORI FULLBRIGHT
Sep 07, 2015

"To come in and see somebody, just out of meanness, for no good reason, damage something to this extent, it's unheard of. You can't believe it when you walk through," Pierce said.

TULSA, Oklahoma - Police are looking for the vandals responsible for destroying a Tulsa home that was supposed to go to a veteran in need.

Richard Pierce with McGraw Realtors can’t believe what vandals have done to the Tulsa home.

The North Delaware home was in foreclosure and donated to Roofs for Troops who came in and totally remodeled it. But thanks to the vandals, they’ll have to start over.

With carpet ripped off the floors, holes knocked in the sheetrock and paint splashed on the windows, Richard Pierce with McGraw Realtors can’t believe what vandals have done to the Tulsa home.

“It made me sick. I couldn’t believe it because this is done to help somebody, not for profit.

Roofs for Troops spent $25,000 and months of labor remodeling the house – new paint, carpet, flooring, light fixtures, appliances and more.

But now, a sink is missing from the bathroom and the whole place is flooded after vandals turned on every faucet and left them running, ruining the home going to a veteran with low-income.
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PTSD Marine Faces Prison for Pot

UPDATE
UPDATE: Charges Dropped Against Okla. Veteran Treating His PTSD With Marijuana


Veteran With PTSD Faces Up To Life In Prison For Growing Marijuana
BuzzFeed
Claudia Koerner
BuzzFeed News Reporter
Jul. 7, 2015, at 1:28 a.m.

A former Marine is facing a severe sentence for growing marijuana in his Oklahoma backyard for medicinal use. His wife says the situation has been “devastating.”

Whitney Lewandowski

Kris Lewandowski had survived tours in Iraq and Afghanistan as a Marine, but he feared the side effects of the dozen pills prescribed by a doctor would kill him.

That’s when the 33-year-old father of two began growing marijuana in his backyard to treat his PTSD symptoms, his wife, Whitney Lewandowski, told BuzzFeed News.

The couple and their two young sons were living outside Fort Sill, Oklahoma, in June 2014 as his honorable discharge from the Marines processed. Finding the best mix of medication for his mental health was a process of trial and error, Whitney Lewandowski said, and one Sunday night, there was an “issue.”

“We called for help,” she said.

Comanche County Sheriff’s deputies responded around 10 p.m. to a report that Kris Lewandowski had been chasing his wife with a knife. As he surrendered to authorities, they found six marijuana plants in the garden.

Local media called it a “major pot bust.”

“When we get there and we find out we have marijuana there that’s being grown, it seems to get worse,” Sheriff Kenny Stradley told KSWO-TV. “And then with children present this is a bad situation gone worse for the whole entire family.”

Though the amount of pot growing at the Lewandowski home would in many states be seen as appropriate, Oklahoma law has no provision for medical marijuana. Cultivation of any amount of the drug carries a sentence of between two years and life in prison — among the strictest penalties in the country.

Kris Lewandowski’s next hearing is scheduled for July 22, and in the meantime, his wife is talking with more lawyers in Oklahoma, raising money for his defense, and petitioning Gov. Mary Fallin for clemency.
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Coffee Bunker "Brothers" Made Sure Veteran Buried With Honor

Coffee Bunker buries veteran with honors who likely died in sleep in parking lot
He was found dead in his SUV at a Tulsa Wal-Mart.
Tulsa World
By COREY JONES World Staff Writer
May 17, 2015

Blackburn said Marcussen was a broadcaster in Los Angeles — “did a couple of commercials and things” — but ended up divorced, falling on hard times and moving far from his home.

For one airman, his military brethren were able to step in and offer a final goodbye when his family couldn’t.

His body was found inside his SUV in April after several weeks parked at a south Tulsa Wal-Mart.

Presumed dead of natural causes, he was a veteran and regular of the Coffee Bunker.

Ronald Ralph Marcussen had fallen on hard times, but life was on the upswing for the 48-year-old before his death. After being homeless, Marcussen had recently found an apartment on the west side of Tulsa.

He held a job as a pizza delivery man on the other side of town, and had just purchased the white Mitsubishi Endeavor where his body would later be discovered on a mattress in the back seat.

Marcussen’s death had a deep impact on Scott Blackburn, who described the Air Force veteran as a pleasant man who had a positive effect on anyone he met.

So as Coffee Bunker’s executive director, Blackburn worked to ensure Marcussen would receive a military funeral and be laid to rest with honors.

That ceremony took place Thursday morning at Fort Gibson National Cemetery.

“I can’t imagine he had an enemy in the world,” Blackburn said.
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Memorial For Homeless Veteran Attended by Hundreds

Hundreds Gather For Funeral Of Homeless Oklahoma Veteran 
6 News Oklahoma
Posted: May 01, 2015

OKLAHOMA CITY - Hundreds packed into the chapel to say goodbye to Jerry Bryan Billings. Even more stood outside. Billings was born in 1945 in Sulphur. He died on Christmas Eve at the age of 69. 

For two months, Christine Hoffman with Oklahoma County Social services tried to track down his family. But after having no success, she contacted Dignity Memorial Homeless Veterans Burial program. And after word got out on social media about the memorial service, it went viral.

"This was just amazing, absolutely amazing, my heart is swollen," said Hoffman.

“The more people that will show up to celebrate the life of these veterans, the more meaningful it is,” said Chapel Hill Funeral General Manager, Todd Tramel.

“Sometimes it brings tears to you just because these men and women gave so much for our country and just to celebrate their lives, and to give back in a manner like this is beautiful.”
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Oklahoma VA Investigator Was Convicted Felon?

Fired Oklahoma Veterans Affairs investigator is charged with 26 counts
The Oklahoman
by Nolan Clay
Published: April 24, 2015

Steven B. Pancoast Jr., a fired Oklahoma Veterans Affairs Department investigator, is charged with perjury, forgery and other crimes. The accusations already have had an impact on pending criminal cases and investigations where he was involved.

EL RENO — Prosecutors are accusing the fired chief investigator of the Oklahoma Veterans Affairs Department of being such a fraud that he even faked the college diplomas on his office wall.

Prosecutors on Friday filed 26 criminal counts against Steven B. Pancoast Jr., 41, of Mustang.

Pancoast was fired March 13 after authorities concluded he had faked his credentials and was actually a convicted felon, not a state-certified law enforcement officer. He was originally charged March 23 with three felony counts.

He is accused in the new charge of lying about his credentials at a 2012 rape trial, at a 2014 murder preliminary hearing, on arrest warrant requests, on a search warrant request, in a deposition and on multicounty grand jury subpoenas for bank records.

He also is accused of carrying around a counterfeit badge, forging law enforcement credentials, forging business cards, forging a diploma from Oklahoma State University and forging a diploma from Southwestern Oklahoma State University.

He is accused of carrying a firearm as part of his ruse for almost a year, even though it is illegal for him to possess a firearm because of his 1993 felony convictions.
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Fort Sill CSM Found Guilty of Stolen Valor

Fort Sill Command Sergeant Major Convicted of 'Stolen Valor' 
Military.com
April 13, 2015

U.S. Army Command Sgt. Maj. Perry McNeill salutes alongside U.S. Airmen and coalition forces during a Dutch army change of command ceremony on Sept. 27, 2013, at Incirlik Air Base, Turkey. Chase Hedrick/Air Force

Associated Press | Apr 13, 2015

LAWTON, Okla. -- A command sergeant major at Fort Sill has been convicted of wearing unauthorized military insignia, including a Ranger Tab and the Pathfinder Badge.

Command Sgt. Maj. Perry McNeill was convicted last week by a military judge who sentenced McNeill to a demotion to sergeant first class, a letter of reprimand and to forfeit $500 in pay per month for 10 months. read more here

Woman Charged Defrauding Vietnam Veterans

Woman charged in scam 
Suspect accused in fraud of veteran and vet organization
Durant Democrat.com
By Matt Swearengin
January 24. 2015

A Caddo woman is facing felony charges dealing with defrauding a veteran and using a computer to obtain money from an organization for veterans. Sixty-two-year-old Deborah Sue Lemmones was charged Friday with exploitation of an elderly person or disabled adult and computer fraud. 

Lemmones came under investigation after Richard Chase, a Marine Corps Vietnam veteran who is now deceased, spoke to the Bryan County District Attorney’s Office about a woman he said had been defrauding veterans. Before his death on July 26, 2014, Chase was active with the Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 986 in Durant.

He contacted authorities after learning of several incidents where Lemmones had allegedly convinced veterans to loan her large sums of money. Chase also had spoken with the Democrat about the allegations and he had prepared an article he planned to release after the suspect was charged.

Chase said one of the victims suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and other health problems. He said there was another victim in a nursing home and that individual later died, and also a victim in Madill.

District Attorney Investigator David Cathey then investigated allegations that Lemmones had financially exploited several disabled veterans in southern Oklahoma.

Local Vietnam Veterans of America Treasurer Paul Blake told Cathey he had identified 20 electronic withdrawals from February 2012 until December 2013 from the VVA bank account at First United Bank, and according to the affidavit, each of the transactions, totaling $7,953.11, was used to pay the phone bill of Walter Lemmones.

“Lemmones believed it was OK to have the VVA pay her phone bill even though she had been ousted from the organization for quite some time because she was still using the phone to help veterans,” Cathey wrote in his affidavit. read more here

Off Duty Oklahoma VA Officer Involved in Fatal Shooting

Off-Duty Dept. Of Veterans Affairs Officer Involved In Fatal Tulsa Shooting
New On 6
Tony Russell
Posted: Jan 16, 2015

TULSA, Oklahoma - An off-duty officer on his way to the Garth Brooks concert with his family shot and killed a man who reportedly had attacked a woman on the street Friday evening, Tulsa police said. Police said the officer stopped to break up a fight on the side of the street, but the attacker pulled a gun and the off-duty officer opened fire.

We've learned Andrew Bryiant is from the Oklahoma City area and is a security officer for the Veterans Affairs department.

Downtown Tulsa was brought to a standstill during rush-hour traffic after shots were fired near 11th and Denver. Joy Smith was across the street and said she saw a fight break out across the street and someone pull a gun.

"It was a loud pop, pop, pop, pop," Smith said.

"I just truly went into shock. I thought about hitting the ground and, yeah, I just stood there."
read more here