Providence Man Charged in Alleged Scheme to Obtain Veterans’ Healthcare Benefits

Providence Man Charged in Alleged Scheme to Obtain Veterans’ Healthcare Benefits

A U.S. Army veteran who allegedly made false claims of combat injuries in order to obtain veterans’ healthcare benefits that he was not entitled to receive has been charged by way of a federal criminal complaint.

 

According to the Department of Justice, Nicholas Ash, 38, made false statements relating to healthcare matters and making false statements to agents.

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It is alleged in court documents by the government that Ash of Providence, fraudulently claimed to a Providence Veterans Affairs Medical Center doctor that he was suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder as the result of a combat deployment to Iraq/Middle East where, he claimed, he experienced a blast from an Improvised Explosive Device (IED). Ash claimed that the IED blast caused him to suffer from seizures.

 

As alleged in court documents, Defense Department records reflect that Ash served in the U.S. Army from July 2005 to September 2007. Following completion of basic training in Oklahoma, Ash was assigned to Schofield Barracks in Hawaii, where he served as a motor transport operator. While stationed in Hawaii, for an unrelated medical matter Ash was hospitalized and placed on non-deployable status, having been deemed not medically fit to deploy on any military operation.  Defense Department records show no indication that Ash was ever deployed anywhere outside of the United States.

 

When initially confronted with these facts by the VA doctor, and when interviewed later by a federal agent, Ash is alleged to have claimed to have been injured after he was discharged from the Army, as the result of an IED blast he experienced while employed overseas as a private military contractor.

 

Court records reflect that investigators could find no record Ash ever worked for the private contractor.

 

In support of his claim that he was injured in the Middle East and that he experienced an IED blast, Ash allegedly presented the physician with a letter written by a veteran who served in the Middle East, and claimed to know of Ash’s tour of duty in Iraq. The individual, an Army veteran, later told an investigator that he did not meet Ash until 2015 or 2017, and that he wrote the letter at Ash’s request.

 

Ash made an initial appearance before a U.S. Magistrate on Thursday and was released on unsecured bond. A federal criminal complaint is merely an accusation. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

 

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Ronald R. Gendron.

 

The matter was investigated by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Inspector General.