A 67 year old woman is going to prison for five years, for stealing money collected for wounded warriors and their families, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
Assistant U.S. Attorney James Blankenship says Opal Charles of Cibolo was working at the Warrior Transition Battalion at Brooke Army Medical Center, where she made 'false requests for donations' to funds she claimed would help wounded warriors. He says in all, Charles stole more than a half million dollars, money that good hearted citizens and non profits intended to be used to help men and women who had been wounded fighting for their country.
"She would get the money in the form of checks, and it would be deposited into her bank account," Blankenship said. "From there it would be withdrawn from various ATM machines."
He says Charles spent much of the money gambling at the Lucky Eagle Casino in Eagle Pass.From 2004 to 2016, Charles was assigned to attend to the needs of soldiers at BAMC, according to federal records.
'Charles, admittedly, stole those solicited funds and used them for her own private affairs including gambling,' the federal charging papers said.
"Charles further admitted to structuring bank deposits under $10,000, in order to avoid triggering automatic currently transaction reports.'
"After gambling, whether she won or lost, she usually had a big chunk of money, which got back into the account," Blankenship said.
IRS investigator Troy Caldron, whose agents broke the case, says this was a particularly disturbing case.
"IRS-Criminal Investigation is diligent in unraveling the faudulent actions of those, such as Opal Charles, who schemed to defraud those willing to donate to American soldiers in need of assistance," he said.
In addition to serving the five year prison time, U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez ordered Charles repay $260,000 restitution to wounded warrior groups.