Veteran who admitted faking disability to obtain more than $660,000 in benefits gets prison time

A US military veteran who admitted he faked being unable to walk for more than 20 years while claiming several hundred thousand dollars in disability benefits will be heading to prison.

A US military veteran who admitted he faked being unable to walk for more than 20 years while claiming several hundred thousand dollars in disability benefits has been sentenced to prison time. Christopher Stultz, 49, of Antrim, New Hampshire, was sentenced Monday to 18 months in prison after receiving more than $660,000 in disability benefits to which he was not entitled, the office of the US attorney for New Hampshire said in a news release. Stultz had pleaded guilty to making false statements by faking the impairment that prevented him from walking to obtain veteran’s disability benefits, according to the US attorney’s office. Court documents show that for more than two decades, Stultz falsely claimed that he was unable to walk and needed a wheelchair to move around. In addition to his prison sentence, Stultz was ordered to pay $662,871.77 in restitution, which is the total amount he is said to have gained from veteran’s disability benefits. A year after joining the US Navy in 1995, Stultz suffered a spinal cord injury after falling off a horse. He was honorably discharged in 1999, according to court documents, and was rated as partially disabled by the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). In 2003, however, Stultz claimed to the VA that he could no longer use both his feet. With that, the VA rated Stultz as 100% disabled and increased his monthly benefits. He was also given a total of nearly $190,000 in funding for special adapted cars to help mobility-impaired veterans, according to the US attorney’s office. Prosecutors say that Stultz never used the adapted cars and instead sold them for cash.