‘Blind’ veteran got nearly $1M in disability — until VA caught him driving, feds say

John Paul Cook’s fall from a ladder in 1986 while on duty put an end to his short-lived career in the U.S. Army, according to the Department of Justice.

But that didn’t stop him from profiting off it for the next three decades, prosecutors said.

Cook, 57, is accused of defrauding the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs of nearly $1 million from 1987 to 2017 while claiming to be legally blind and unable to drive to get groceries or go to medical appointments after his accident, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of North Carolina said Wednesday in a news release.

The VA was reportedly tipped off about the alleged fraud after investigators observed Cook driving around his hometown of Alexander in Western North Carolina — including to and from his appointments at the VA clinic in nearby Asheville.

“They informed him that he was being investigated for fraud and false claims, that they had surveilled him and had frequently observed him driving various vehicles, and that they knew that he had passed driver’s license tests and had been a licensed driver during the entire time he had claimed to the VA that he was blind,” prosecutors said in court filings.

Cook enrolled in the Army in 1985 with a “lifelong history” of amblyopia in his right eye — also known as a “lazy eye,” according to an indictment filed in federal court Tuesday.

Six months later, prosecutors said he fell from the ladder. Cook claimed his condition worsened after the accident, and he was discharged from the Army with disability benefits in August 1987, the indictment states.

In subsequent requests for increased benefits, prosecutors said Cook claimed he couldn’t find work because of his injury and wasn’t able to “drive, shop or read.” By 2005, he reportedly told the VA he was all but blind — prompting officials to classify his injury as “100% disabling,” according to the indictment.

Cook also became entitled to extra monthly payments “due to the severity of his disability” as well as grants toward remodeling and special adaptations for his home, prosecutors said.

The VA’s monthly payments to Cook went from $1,411 in 1987 to $3,990 in 2017 — netting him a total of $978,138 in disability benefits over 30 years, the indictment states.

But during that same period, prosecutors said Cook was able to pass vision screening tests to renew his driver’s license in North Carolina every few years. He also reportedly received a license in South Carolina in 2009 without difficulty.

Cook and his wife owned roughly 30 different cars between 2001 and 2016, the indictment states. Prosecutors said he was able to drive his children to and from school, take himself to appointments, grocery shop, go to restaurants, run errands and take road trips out of town.

He was also active in Boy Scouts of America, where he reportedly became a certified range officer for BB guns and archery.

Cook’s eye exams at the VA, meanwhile, indicated he was at minimum blind in one eye with severely reduced sight in the other, according to court filings.

The VA caught on to the alleged lies by early 2017, and prosecutors said they met with Cook to let him know he was under investigation. When another eye doctor in Asheville was contracted by the VA to perform an examination on Cook in August that year, she confirmed he was legally blind but said his diagnoses didn’t add up.

“There is no objective evidence that correlates to the veteran’s degree of vision loss...,” she wrote in her notes, according to the indictment. “While TBIs (traumatic brain injuries) can certainly cause vision loss, the veteran’s ability to independently move about the office, navigate around coffee tables in the waiting room unaided, and watch for his ride approaching from the windows does not correlate...”

The VA stopped his disability payments in October 2017, prosecutors said.

Cook is charged with one count of stealing from the VA, three counts of making false statements for obtaining disability benefits and three counts of making false statements for VA travel benefits.

He faces up to 10 years in prison on the first count and up to five years in prison on each count of making a false statement as well as hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines. Prosecutors said he will also be asked to forfeit the $978,138 in benefits he received over the last three decades.