Eastern WA man spent decades impersonating war hero, stole $1M+ in benefits

A 78-year-old Eastern Washington man has been sentenced to federal prison and ordered to pay more than $1 million in restitution after he claimed veterans benefits in the name of a Vietnam combat veteran.

In 1997 Raymond Kenneth Musgrove began using the identity and Social Security number of an Oklahoma man who served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1967-69, including in Vietnam. The veteran, identified in court documents only as JMC, was awarded a Navy Achievement Medal with Combat “V” in recognition of his service in Vietnam.

Musgrove’s fraud was discovered only after JMC died in 2018.

Musgrove responded to the report of JMC’s death by claiming that he was the real combat veteran and the man who had died had stolen his identity, according to court documents.

“Defendant, frankly, could have gotten away with the fraud, had he not become so greedy that he insisted a deceased war hero had, in fact, stolen defendant’s identity in order to restart the properly terminated payments,” said Frieda Zimmerman, an assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern Washington District, in a court document.

“The nature and circumstances of defendant’s actions are not only criminal — they are disgraceful,” Zimmerman said in the document.

War hero’s benefits stopped

Musgrove notified Veterans Affairs in 1997 that JMC’s address had changed to Moses Lake, Wash., and asked that JMC’s military personnel records be sent there, according to court documents.

Musgrove then purchased a residence in Grant County using a VA loan obtained under JMC’s name.

He also attended a VA compensation and pension examination in early 1998, at which he cited several combat incidents in Vietnam as the source of his PTSD.

The VA concluded that “JMC” was eligible for VA compensation and pension benefits, which were then paid to Musgrove.

Musgrove opened bank accounts as JMC in Grant County, most recently in Ephrata, where government payments were sent.

When the real JMC died in Oklahoma in 2018, the payments sent to the Ephrata bank stopped.

Musgrove contacted the Veterans Benefits Administration in March 2018, saying the reports of JMC’s death were in error, and the administration resumed paying the benefits.

Three years later the payments were stopped at the request of an employee at the VA Office of the Inspector General, based on a headstone for JMC at the Fort Sill National Cemetery in Oklahoma.

Musgrove again fought the end of benefits in May 2021, sending a statement to the Veterans Benefits Administration claiming that JMC was not dead, but was the victim of identity theft.

In January 2023 Musgrove went to the Social Security Administration’s Wenatchee Field Office with a Washington state driver’s license issued to JMC but with Musgrove’s photo.

When Musgrove was asked to provide a work history and school records to prove his identity, Musgrove claimed he had a head injury and could not provide the information.

The federal case against Musgrove was filed in 2024.

‘Very involved fraud scheme’

Musgrove pleaded guilty to two counts of false representation of a Social Security number, five counts of wire fraud and one count of theft of government funds. He was also found guilty at a bench trial of three counts of aggravated identity theft.

Over the decades Musgrove collected more than $860,000 in federal benefits he was not entitled to, plus health care he received under JMC’s identity and travel payments for the health care, according to court documents.

U.S. Judge Rebecca Pennell in Spokane sentenced Musgrove on Thursday to two and a half years in federal prison followed by three years of supervised relief.

In addition to $1,025,545 in restitution, she ordered him to pay a $1,100 special assessment.

Musgrove’s attorney, Justin Lonergan of Spokane, asked the judge for no prison time, given his age and poor health. Musgrove requires full-time oxygen and his heart is failing, according to Lonergan.

Musgrove did serve in the U.S. Navy, but there is no indication he served in Vietnam, according to court documents.

The prosecution argued for a prison sentence of four years and nine months, saying that Musgrove proved “capable of committing a very involved fraud scheme, despite his advanced age and health conditions.”

The Eastern Washington U.S. Attorney’s Office reported that at the sentencing the judge told Musgrove, “Your offense conduct was lengthy and very troubling. I don’t think it can be fairly characterized as just a mistake. ... You have been living a lie for decades.”

The judge noted that Musgrove had a pattern of putting himself before others and seemingly had no concern for how his actions would have impacted the man whose identity he stole or his family, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

The sentence Musgrove received for a “calculated and deeply troubling fraud” reflects the seriousness of his conduct, said Pete Serrano, first assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Washington.

It also underscores the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s commitment to holding accountable those who abuse positions of trust for personal gain, he said.