Mikhail Robin Wicker, 37, faces charges that he defrauded the government of about $100,000 in benefits after he claimed he was a highly decorated Marine Corps veteran, Purple Heart recipient and prisoner of war in Iraq, according to an indictment filed April 2, 2024, in a Minneapolis district court. (File)
Mikhail Robin Wicker purportedly spent more than a decade telling the people of Dilworth, Minn., that he once served in a Marine Corps unit that suffered one of the highest casualty rates of the Iraq War.
Federal prosecutors say he lied to Dilworth and to the federal government, to the tune of about $100,000 in veterans benefits.
Wicker, 37, never served in the military, according to an indictment filed Tuesday in a Minneapolis district court.
Prosecutors charged Wicker with theft of government funds, wire fraud and providing a false military discharge certificate. He also faces a charge of false use of military medals after fabricating a Purple Heart certificate, an honor given to troops killed or injured by enemy action.
Wicker received health care benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs as part of a scheme that ran from 2015 to 2020 in which he said he suffered from PTSD from his service and from injuries to his shoulder, knee and wrist related to a roadside bomb blast, prosecutors said.
The government accuses Wicker of submitting forged documents, including the fraudulent Purple Heart certificate, in 2016 as part of his disability benefits application.
After receiving about $1,000 a month for disabilities, Wicker applied for education benefits and used them to attend a nearby university, court documents said.
Wicker, who lived in the town of 4,600 people in northwest Minnesota, told people he had been a highly decorated prisoner of war from his time with Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division, according to the court complaint.
Forty-six Marines and two Navy corpsmen serving with 3rd Battalion in Iraq were killed during a roughly nine-month activation in 2005, according to “They Called us ‘Lucky,’” a book written in 2021 by Arizona congressman Ruben Gallego, who served in the regiment as a lance corporal.
Wicker made his initial appearance in federal court Wednesday. A jury trial is scheduled for June 10.
