Army veteran sentenced to prison for disability fraud committed in St. Lucie County
FORT PIERCE — A former St. Lucie County resident who is a U.S. Army veteran will serve one year in federal prison after pleading guilty to lying about his medical condition to collect more money in disability benefits, court records show.
Zachary Barton, 36, a Miami native who now resides in Colorado, was also ordered to serve three years of supervised release and pay $245,932 in restitution, according to court filings.
During an Aug. 11 sentencing hearing at the federal courthouse in Fort Pierce, Barton had faced up to 10 years in prison after being arrested in 2021 on charges related to making false claims to the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in West Palm Beach.
He claimed he had been in combat, which qualified him for post-traumatic stress disorder benefits worth more than $245,000, court records show.
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According to federal prosecutors, Barton also falsely reported that he could not lift more than 10 to 20 pounds and had been using a cane to walk since 2010. Instead, social media posts between 2019 and 2021 showed Barton was an avid bodybuilder who participated in competitions.
While he lived in St. Lucie County, Barton had a membership at the Palm Beach Sports Club in Port St. Lucie from September 2017 to February 2019, federal investigators said. Records showed he checked-in almost daily during that time.
Barton moved to Colorado Springs in the summer of 2019, the U.S. Attorney's Office said in announcing his guilty plea May 19 to one count of theft of funds from a government agency.
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Surveillance set up by investigators in St. Lucie County showed Barton moving furniture out of his home with no signs of physical ailment, court filings stated. He was arrested Aug. 5, 2021 in Colorado and later released on $50,000 bond.
Federal prosecutors dropped one count of making false statements.
In a sentencing memo, his Miami lawyer Daniel Forman noted that Barton enlisted in the Army in 2008 and had served as a platoon medic in Iraq until he was honorably discharged in 2016 after being diagnosed with Guillain-Barre syndrome, "a rare, non-curable auto immune disorder."
Barton’s disability was rated as 80% until 2017, when he applied for additional benefits and was upgraded to 100% after “claiming he was unable to maintain a job,” Forman wrote.
“This provided Barton with an extra $1,400 per month that he was not entitled to,” between 2017 and 2021, Forman added.
Forman in court papers noted Barton received $75,903 more than he was entitled to because of his fraudulent claims.
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“He knows he was wrong. Barton has sought to make things right and restitute the VA for the illegal gains,” Forman wrote. “He has also sought forgiveness from his wife and family and vows to work hard to make things right.”
Melissa E. Holsman is the legal affairs reporter for TCPalm and Treasure Coast Newspapers, and is writer and co-host of Uncertain Terms, a true crime podcast. Reach her at melissa.holsman@tcpalm.com.
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Army veteran SLC imprisoned for lying to boost disability payments
