As Roberts was adjudicating his claim with the VA, after Roberts had accused the VA of fraudulently handling his claims in 2003, Stephen Biskupic, US Atty for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, in an extraordinary development, stepped in 2005 and secured federal indictments and a conviction of Roberts on charges of wire fraud in obtaining over $350,000 for the period of 1992 to 2004.
Critics see Roberts as an innocent victim—a poster boy and cautionary tale—of a VA bureaucracy determined to deter PTSD claims from Vietnam vets, rightwing forces allied with VA Secretary Nicholson, and an overzealous prosecutor.
This exculpatory Henning document was not presented at trial.
“Again, never entered at (t)rial. This was a railroad job from the get go including Keith’s court appointed attorney. He never presented one piece of information from Keith’s VA C-file records. He flat out refused to do it, he told Keith that no jury would convict him on the evidence, that may have been so, but the jury did (convict Robets) because no evidence favorable to Keith was ever presented,” e-mailed Delores Roberts.
Stressors
The VA demands rigorous documentation to prove a stressor causing PTSD.
“The process of gathering evidence to prove PTSD disability is extremely time-consuming,” said Sen. Barrack Obama (D-IL) on August 10, 2005 at a time when the VA was set to review 72,000 PTSD cases, but backed down under intense pressure from veterans and democrats. “It requires the compilation of medical records, military service records, and testimonies from other veterans who can attest to a person’s combat exposure. I cannot fathom why the VA would require veterans to go through this emotionally painful process a second time.”
But Roberts was able to prove to several medial professionals his condition of PTSD and to the VA, until he accused the VA of fraud.
“So again, I state, if VA says they based his grant in 1998 upon ‘stressors’ what the hell is going on, why is my husband in prison,” said Deloris Roberts.
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