VA Employee Indicted for Falsely Claiming award of Purple Heart and $180,000.00 in Disability Payments

Full Article at: STOLEN VALOR ACT: Purple Heart claim challenged

VA employee also accused of taking $180,000 in benefits

By CARRI GEER THEVENOT and KEITH ROGERS
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

"The Purple Heart medal is awarded to those who have been wounded or killed in military service.

An excerpt from the indictment of David M. Perelman describes some of the charges against him.

A Veterans Affairs employee from Las Vegas was indicted this week in a case of stolen valor and stolen benefits.

The case against David M. Perelman, who claimed to have received a Purple Heart medal, is the first known prosecution in Nevada under the Stolen Valor Act of 2005, which outlawed false claims of military honor. According to the indictment, Perelman claimed he had been wounded in combat in Vietnam, when in fact he had been wounded by a self-inflicted gunshot in 1991.

"The Purple Heart is a symbol of heroism, patriotism, honor, and symbolic of one's sacrifice and duty to our country," said Daniel Bogden, the U.S. attorney for Nevada. "Those who seek to diminish the sacrifice of others by wearing the Purple Heart when not authorized to do so will be vigorously prosecuted. Federal law calls for imprisonment for up to one year for wearing the Purple Heart when not authorized by law."

Perelman also is accused of stealing about $180,000 in monthly disability benefits from the Veterans Administration, now known as Veterans Affairs, from 1995 until July 2009. He is 56."