ORLANDO, Fla. — An Army veteran who received $300,000 in benefits over the course of six years is facing more than a decade in prison after investigators found she was faking her disability.
A federal jury found her guilty on two charges in connection with the case Thursday in Jacksonville.
A trip she took with her daughter to Walt Disney World near Orlando turned out to be a key piece of evidence as investigators unraveled the scam Crystel Lee Riedling, 44, had perpetrated since the beginning of 2009.
Riedling, of Lake City, was injured while serving in the Army in 2003 and was receiving benefits because she claimed she was completely unable to use her right arm and that she needed help from her husband and their daughter with everything, court documents say.
“I was a fast tracker. I was going to be sergeant major,” she told agents. “And when this happened, it took everything away."
She continued to emphasize the severity of her injury when she was interviewed at her home by agents from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and Social Security Administration in June 2015.
“So you have no use of your right hand whatsoever?” one of the agents asked according to a transcript of the interview.
“No,” she replied.
“OK, we have a slight problem, all right?” the agent said.
The agents then revealed to Riedling that she had been under investigation and they had surveillance of her using her hand during a trip to Disney World with her daughter, court documents said.
They explained that Riedling had been recorded numerous times using her hand as part of a “massive, massive amount of investigation,” the transcript said.
Riedling gave the agents a statement, in which she admitted she had “stated I was more disabled that I was.”
“I know that this is completely wrong,” she wrote.
Agents said she told them she “felt like I earned this,” referring to her disability payments.
Riedling told agents that she was a single mother of four on the run from her ex-husband, records said.
“I was desperate to care for my children,” she said.
Riedling was indicted on charges of theft of government property and making a false statement in February.
She faces up to 15 years in prison when she has her sentencing hearing on April 11.
Cox Media Group
