Christopher Stultz, Antrim, New Hampshire veteran pleads guilty to faking disability requiring him needing wheelchair for 20 years, unlawfully collecting $660K. Busted after filmed walking about at malls along with elementary teacher participating in events without wheelchair.
A New Hampshire veteran has admitted to faking his need for a wheelchair for 20 years, leading to him collecting more than $660,000 in benefits he was not entitled to.
Christopher Stultz, of Antrim, N.H., pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court on Thursday to one count of making false statements to the Department of Veterans Affairs according to a Justice Gov release.
The veteran continued the scam, while employed at Antrim Elementary School. According to the school’s website, he worked as a kindergarten teacher, and before that, a library media specialist.
Social media contradiction
On his social media pages, Stultz is pictured without a wheelchair while participating in several activities with his former students. In one photo, he is seen ‘standing’ straight while dressed in a costume. In another photo, he is seen sitting with his students during storytime.
The veteran no longer works at the elementary school.
According to the U.S. Attorney´s Office, Stultz claimed in early 2003 that he could no longer use his feet. His claim prompted the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to rate him as 100 percent disabled, and increase his monthly benefits, according to the Associated Press.
The attorney’s office also cited that Stultz was given money to buy and adapt special cars.
Between January 2003 through December 2022, Stultz received a total of $662,871.77 in VA benefits he wasn’t entitled to, the statement noted, according to court documents.
According to the plea deal, Stultz is mandated to pay back the $662,871.77 he had taken fraudulently.
Stultz’s deception was revealed when law enforcement officers ‘surveilled him on multiple occasions’ walking normally, and without the use of his wheelchair.
Admitted it was wrong for him to collect extra benefits
In 2021, Stultz used a wheelchair while inside a VA medical center in Boston, but after leaving the facility, he stood up and lifted the wheelchair into his car.
He then drove to a mall and walked around various stores, prosecutors said.
A year later, Stultz repeated the same actions when leaving a Manchester VA medical center, driving to the mall and walking around, as per documents.
According to the plea agreement, Stultz ‘admitted that he could use both of his feet and that he knew it was wrong for him to collect extra benefits,’ when he was confronted by law enforcement about his mobility.
‘He also admitted that he did not need the VA-funded vehicles with the special adaptations and that he had sold those vehicles.’
Prosecutors said that several people who knew Stultz – going back to the early 2000s – said they had never known him to need a wheelchair or other ambulatory device for mobility.
Stultz now faces a maximum of five years in prison, and is scheduled for sentencing on May 6.
