HOUSTON - Two Houston women have been taken into custody on charges they committed fraud against the Veterans Administration (VA) by generating purchase orders for fictitious goods and services, announced U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Patrick.
Authorities arrested Eduora McDaniel aka Eudora McDaniel, 75, today, and she is expected to make her initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Nancy Johnson at 1:00 p.m. Co-defendant Angela Hunter aka Angelia Hunter, 53, is expected to appear in federal court Thursday at 2:00 p.m.
The 11-count indictment, returned June 7, 2018, alleges McDaniel was a prosthetics representative at the VA, while Hunter co-owned Divine Iron Works - a company that was an approved VA prosthetics vendor. They allegedly entered into an agreement to split VA payments for goods and services Hunter’s company never provided.
While Divine Iron Works was an approved vendor to provide prosthetic goods and services for the VA, the company was effectively defunct from January 2011 to December 2014 and provided no actual goods or services, according to the charges. The indictment alleges that as a VA prosthetics representative, McDaniel had the authority to obtain prosthetic goods and services if a Veterans Administration physician found it medically necessary, which she was authorized to pay using a government-issued VISA credit card. McDaniel allegedly created bogus purchase orders for Hunter’s company, which Hunter used to obtain payment on McDaniel’s government credit cards. McDaniel and Hunter split the payments according to the charges.
Each is charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and face up to five years in prison, upon conviction. McDaniel is also charged with 10 counts of wire fraud and one count of theft of government property. Each count of wire fraud carries a possible sentence of 20 years in prison, while theft of government property could result in a maximum of 10 years imprisonment. All the charges also carry a possible fine of $250,000.
VA - Office of Inspector General conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Belinda Beek is prosecuting the case.
An indictment is a formal accusation of criminal conduct, not evidence.
A defendant is presumed innocent unless convicted through due process of law.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
