A Utah man who once worked for Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) through the Wounded Warrior Project on Thursday was charged with fraud for lying about war injuries to collect disability benefits, according to Deseret News.
Gilbert Prado, 49, faces a 15-count indictment, including eight counts of wire fraud for $18,000 in disability payments he received from August 2011 to March 2012.
Prado allegedly made up a number of incidents — including having been thrown by an improvised explosive device blast — during evaluations for Veterans Affairs benefits.
Prado worked in constituent services in one of Chaffetz’s field offices, according to Deseret News, and the office at some point began to have suspicions about Prado’s story.
“We did refer the case to federal authorities,” Chaffetz told the news outlet.