SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTGS) — A sixth defendant pled guilty to involvement in a scheme involving Georgia scuba dive shop employees defrauding the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
According to officials, the training director of a Camden County dive shop admitted to participating in the submission of false claims to the VA for scuba classes targeting military veterans' education benefits.
Documents from the prosecution in the Southern District of Georgia allege that John Spyker, 39, of Yulee, Fla., pled guilty to charges of false, fictitious and fraudulent claims, which hold a possible statutory penalty of up to five years in prison.
Spyker, a School Certifying Official and Director of Training at Diver's Den in St. Marys, Ga., admitted to submitting fraudulent information to the VA for tuition payments under the Post-9/11 GI Bill totaling $722,399.19.
Five other defendants previously entered guilty pleas and were responsible for defrauding more than $6 million from VA education benefits. The defendants are owners, managers and/or instructors at Diver's Den, as well as Scooba Shack in Savannah and Richmond Hill.
As the sixth defendant admitting culpability in this investigation, John Spyker represents one more falling domino in the effort to unravel this substantial theft of veterans’ education benefits,” U.S. Attorney David Estes said. “The VA Office of Inspector General continues to do outstanding work in identifying and ending this fraud.
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