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DOJ: Vet's Purple Heart lies cost government $752,000

Published  August 25, 2016 6:59am PDT
Associated Press

TACOMA, Wash. -- Federal prosecutors now say a former soldier who lied his way to a Purple Heart cheated Washington state and the federal government out of more than $750,000.

The total is about three times what investigators cited when they charged Darryl Wright with fraud in 2014.

Wright, a former National Guardsman, is due to be sentenced in U.S. District Court in Tacoma on Thursday.

Prosecutors are seeking a five-year prison term, arguing that Wright lied about having been injured in Iraq in a successful effort to be awarded a Purple Heart and disability and other benefits.

They also argue that he obstructed justice when he accused a co-worker in the U.S. Commerce Department of violating his privacy after she discovered some of his wrongdoing.

Wright is seeking a one-year sentence. His attorney says he was entitled to most of the benefits he received because of PTSD he suffered from his deployment.