An Eastern Washington man stole the identity of a U.S. combat veteran to fraudulently collect more than $825,000 in Veterans Affairs benefits, according to the Eastern Washington District U.S. Attorney’s Office.
A federal grand jury indicted Raymond Kenneth Musgrove earlier this month on 11 counts, including aggravated identity theft, wire fraud, theft of government funds and false representation of a Social Security number.
He lived in Grant County at the time of the alleged fraud and was arrested in Eugene, Ore., shortly after his indictment.
The indictment alleges he collected Veterans Affairs compensation payments intended for veterans with injuries or illnesses from their service and also received VA healthcare for more than two decades.
He used the name, date of birth and Social Security number of a veteran to collect the VA benefits and also to open a bank account where checks were sent, according to federal documents.
Musgrove sent a request to the VA in January 1998 for the military records of a veteran identified in court records only as J.M.C., who lived in Oklahoma. They were sent to Musgrove’s address then in Moses Lake, Wash.
The next month Musgrove attended a compensation and pension examination for benefits, using the veteran’s identification, according to court documents. In the meeting he discussed combat in Vietnam as a source of his post traumatic stress disorder.
Musgrove had served in the U.S. Marine Corps for two years, but there was no indication he had been in Vietnam. J.M.C. had served overseas and was awarded a Navy Achievement Medal with recognition of his combat service in Vietnam.
VA compensation benefits were approved for Musgrove under his false identity and he began collecting benefits in a bank account he set up using J.M.C.’s identity, according to a court document. He gave an Ephrata address for that account and a later account he set up to receive VA benefits.
J.M.C. died in 2018 and the Veterans Benefit Administration stopped payments, according to a federal court documents.
However, Musgrove convinced the VA that the death information was incorrect. The VA compensation benefits program concluded it was possible that the veteran was still alive and the victim of fraud.
It resumed sending compensation payments that Musgrove received, according to a court document.
In May 2021 the compensation payments were again stopped after a VA Office of Inspector General employee provided information that J.M.C. had a headstone and was buried at Fort Sill National Cemetery in Oklahoma.
The Veterans Benefit Administration heard from Musgrove again, who claimed to be J.M.C. Officials again believed his story that he was J.M.C. and the victim of identity theft, according to a court document.
In early 2023 he went to the Social Security Administration’s office in Wenatchee and presented a Washington state driver’s license with his photo and J.M.C.’s name and date of birth.
He was asked to provide work and school records, but said Musgrove said he had a head injury and could not provide that information, according to a court document.
His indictment followed an investigation by the Offices of Inspector General of the VA and Social Security Administration.
“Military veterans have given selfless service to this country,” said U.S. Attorney Vanessa Waldref for Eastern Washington. “Schemes to steal funds set aside to support them are an insult to their sacrifices.”
The charges against Musgrove carry sentences of up to 20 years in federal prison plus restitution.
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