Two former VA employees, Monika D. Schorer and Teresa Schorer, both 59 and from Jonesborough, Tennessee, have taken a fall for their role in a scheme that duped the VA out of hundreds of thousands. They've pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud, with a daunting potential of up to 20 years in the slammer, a fine of a quarter-million dollars, and a supervised release of three years, as reported by the Department of Justice.
In copping to the crime, they've also agreed to pay restitution to the tune of over $213,000 each, which totals up to about $426,309. Talk about a costly mistake. The sentencing ritual—it's a double feature scheduled back to back for July 23, 2025, before Judge Clifton L. Corker in the United States District Court at Greeneville.
Their day jobs at the James H. Quillen VA Medical Center in Mountain Home, Tennessee, might have seemed unremarkable, but according to their plea agreements, they were wheeling and dealing on the side. They accepted cold, hard cash from sales reps profiting from an orthopedic company, selling equipment to the VA like hotcakes. "The sales representatives routinely sold products to the VA Medical Center where the women worked," according to the plea agreements released by the Department of Justice.
These aren't your everyday sales reps though; they hatched a plan and started their own company in June 2018, seeing an opportunity to sell at inflated prices, even when not medically necessary, bleeding the VA dry. The duo partook in the shady dealing, taking payments of $9,900 and $7,000 each at different times throughout 2018 as they greased the wheels of their conspiracy, as per the guilty pleas they've submitted.
The long arm of the law in the form of U.S. Attorney Francis M. "Trey" Hamilton III, alongside agents from the VA OIG, GSA OIG, and IRS-CI, made sure these schemes didn't go unnoticed. Now, Assistant United States Attorneys Mac D. Heavener, III, and Ryan Blackwell are stepping up to represent Uncle Sam in what's surely a reminder that crime doesn't pay, especially when it's at the expense of veterans' health and taxpayers' wallets.
