Kelly M. Lee-Carroll, a 58-year-old Army veteran, was fined and sentenced to prison Friday for falsely claiming she had severe disabilities in order to collect benefits for more than a decade from the Department of Veterans Affairs. (Joshua Magbanua/U.S. Air Force)
WASHINGTON — A 58-year-old Army veteran was sentenced in federal court Friday for stealing more than $1 million in benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs after falsely claiming that she was partially paralyzed and required round-the-clock care from family caregivers, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Kelly M. Lee-Carroll, 58, of Kent, Wash., was fined and sentenced to 17 months in prison for carrying out a scheme between 2012 and 2024 to defraud the Veterans Administration, according to Charles Neil Floyd, first assistant U.S. attorney in the Western District of Washington state.
Lee-Carroll falsely claimed she was unable to walk, used a wheelchair and required round-the-clock care because of service-connected injuries, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
She recruited her sister and her son to help her unlawfully obtain health care and disability benefits for which she did not qualify, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
“These benefits to pay for care, and for caregivers, need to be carefully utilized so that they serve veterans as intended. They should not go for second homes, cars, exotic trips or casino gambling as they did in this case,” Floyd said.
“This defendant not only pays the price for her conduct, she roped in her family members who now have felony convictions,” Floyd said.
Lee-Carroll used the benefits to help pay for travel on exotic vacations and purchase a second home in Las Vegas, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a statement Friday.
Lee-Carroll had served in the Army for three months in 1986 and then served in the Army Reserve from 1986 to 1994, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Lee-Carroll was ordered to pay $932,142 in restitution.
Her son, Robert H. Nelson III, 28, was sentenced in November to 14 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $282,698 in restitution.
Her sister, Katoya F. Grant, 41, was sentenced in March to “time-served” with six months of supervised release. She was ordered to pay $293,787 in restitution.
All three defendants pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit theft of government property and one count of health care fraud, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
“This sentence sends a clear message that individuals who steal VA benefits will be held accountable,” said Dimitriana Nikolov, a special agent with the VA Office of Inspector General, which investigated the case.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Lee-Carroll falsely claimed to be bedridden with paralysis in one leg and arm.
She repeatedly misrepresented that she needed a wheelchair to leave home.
Lee-Carroll also designated her sister and son as caregivers in order to obtain more benefits from the VA, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
She filed for a service-related disability in 2012 and received caregiver funding in 2013, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Prosecutors said that Lee-Carroll qualified for disability but not the more than $11,000 per month that she was receiving, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Her sister and son claimed to be caring for Lee-Carroll, even though they were working at other jobs, including as a truck driver and administrative assistant, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
“On some of the occasions that they claimed to be caring for Lee-Carroll, she was traveling to Las Vegas, Tennessee, or internationally to Mexico or Jamaica, without any caregivers,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
