A man was arrested in Collier County Friday after an Ohio grand jury indicted Senior Veterans Administration Services (SVAS), SVAS founder and four SVAS employees, accusing them of exploiting veterans and scamming the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) out of about $20 million in fraudulent benefits.
Richard Rompala, 64, founded SVAS and was arrested by the Collier County Sheriff's Office. A grand jury in Cuyahoga County indicted Rompala Tuesday, and he now faces 19 charges, according to the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office.
The organization was founded by Rompala as a charitable organization to help veterans.
SVAS is accused of contacting veterans to inform them of the free services they offered, and also letting them know that they were eligible to receive benefits. But they were not eligible for these benefits because, according to the prosecutor's office, SVAS is accused of forging documents in order to make veterans eligible. These documents were then sent to the VA.
The VA provided SVAS financial benefits, but SVAS is accused of taking a large percentage of those benefits before veterans received any, according to the prosecutor's office.
This was then investigated by the VA, the Office of Inspector General, the Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost and the Ohio Department of Commerce.
Along with SVAS itself and Rompala, four SVAS employees were also indicted following the investigation, including Carolina Riemer, 72, Karen Kral, 47, Gina Ayala, 61 and Mary Lou Griffin, 68.
“Defrauding the VA of $20 million by exploiting our veterans is despicable,” Prosecutor O’Malley said. “These defendants rolled the dice believing they could get away with it. Thanks to the diligent work of our law enforcement partners, they lost the bet.”
According to the prosecutor's office, the case is part of Operation No VA SCAMs (No VA “Service-Connected Account Manipulation”). It is a nationwide initiative led by the VA Office of Inspector General in collaboration with federal and state prosecutors.
Rompala faces 19 charges for the following including seven counts of filing incomplete, false, and fraudulent returns; three counts of prohibited acts and practices for charities; two counts of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity; two counts of tampering with records; one count of conspiracy; one count of aggravated theft; one count of telecommunications fraud; one count of money laundering; and one count of grand theft.
Rompala and the others will be arraigned at the Cuyahoga County Justice Center at a later date, according to the prosecutor's office.
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