War veteran jailed in theft of benefits from soldiers

An Iraq War veteran suffering the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder and a traumatic brain injury will have to spend three months in jail followed by three months of electronically monitored home confinement for using the identities of fellow Army veterans to claim their GI Bill benefits.

U.S. District Judge Leslie E. Koba­ya­shi sentenced Brittany A. Taft on Thursday. She also ordered Taft, 26, to repay her six victims the $18,000 in benefits she stole from them.

Taft pleaded guilty to mail fraud in January and admitted that she applied for and received $3,000 Post-9/11 GI Bill advance payment checks for each of her victims at her home in Wai­pahu in November and December 2009. She then cashed or deposited the checks into her own bank account using false power of attorney forms she prepared in her victims’ names.

Federal prosecutor Lawrence Tong said Taft obtained a document containing the names, Social Security numbers and birth dates of fellow soldiers from a roommate and personally knew two of her victims. He said some of the victims lost their benefits because of Taft’s actions, one had a tax refund check withheld by the IRS and another was forced to pay back the $3,000 to clear the debt.

The Post-9/11 GI Bill gives qualifying veterans who are enrolled in school but have yet to receive their educational benefits the opportunity to get one-time advance payments of up to $3,000 so they can begin their education immediately. The money is an advance and must be repaid.

Kobayashi said that when she accepted Taft’s guilty plea in January, she thought Taft might qualify for probation because of her lack of a criminal record, her youth and her circumstances due to her service to the country.

Tong said he agreed to drop the aggravated identity theft charge, which carries a mandatory two-year prison term, against Taft in recognition of her military service.

Kobayashi ordered Taft into custody Tuesday for violating the terms of her release on bail by getting arrested and charged for other crimes and for failing to report the arrests to the court staff assigned to monitor her.

In February an Oahu grand jury indicted Taft on charges of theft, resisting arrest and two counts of assaulting a law enforcement officer.

The city prosecutor said Taft and an accomplice shoplifted more than $600 worth of merchandise from Walmart on Kee­au­moku Street in June. Store personnel called police when she returned two days later.

The prosecutor said Taft punched one arresting officer, bit a second one and kicked a third in the chest. The case is scheduled for trial in December.

Then, on March 26, police arrested Taft for allegedly shoplifting a bottle of vodka from a different store. She pleaded no contest and paid a $64 fine.

Taft’s lawyer, Salina Alt­hof, said Taft was driving a Humvee in Iraq in 2007 when an explosion destroyed the vehicle in front of hers, killing several soldiers and blowing out her front windshield. She said Taft hit her head on the steering wheel and lost unconscious.

After she regained consciousness, Taft was able to drive the Humvee and her passengers to an aid station, Althof said. Taft later learned she suffered a traumatic brain injury.

In addition to the PTSD and brain injury, Taft said she also suffers from attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder.