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Killing the Messenger:

Part 2
When Veterans Advocacy Results in Retaliation, Intimidation and Harassment

By Daniel R. Gaita MA, LMSW - January 26, 2019

What I witnessed that day was the worst case of abject neglect carried out by a
department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Vocational Rehabilitation (VR&E) employee to date.
Little did I know how bad things were to get over the next year. We had hoped this was just
an isolated case involving one dysfunctional VA employee, then the complaints kept coming

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in. "Dan, why is the North Charleston VR&E office telling me I can't use my benefits to get my
welders license?", said one Marine. Another said:

"What happened to me at that office stifled my success and compiled more stress on my life at a
time when I was simply fighting to survive. How many others have to endure the same
treatment before these issues are remedied?”

The pattern of alleged abuses appeared to stem around this particular regional office
and its insistence that the combat veterans attain a dead end, low wage job rather than the
veterans desired intention of attaining the required education to attain gainful employment
in a career of their choice. Worse, it was not just one VR&E employee, but several. One by one
the complaints reiterated the same issues.

"I've had a discouraging experience with this office and had to dis-enroll out of confusion and
frustration"

Our agency then began to seek answers from the


office director, and were ignored. So we began
climbing the chain of command until we got ahold
of the VR&E Regional Director, Dr. Paul Knight
(Pictured Left) He quickly dismissed our concerns,
professional observations and complaints and
defended the actions and decisions of his staff. He
even went further with an implied threat: "Be careful,
you don't want the VA taking a look at your file, it could
open things up" A threat he later made good on.

As a result, We sought out his direct supervisor, the


Columbia S.C. Regional Director, Ms. Leanne
Weldin. Contacting her was a challenge since she
has no publicly listed phone or email address and Dr. Knight was obstructing our efforts to
obtain her contact information. This led our agency to assist our aggrieved combat veterans

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in compiling formal complaints for submission to our
congressional leaders as well as formal complaints to
the Office of Inspector General (OIG)
Eventually, we did make contact with Ms. Weldin
(Pictured Right) following numerous attempts through
various other agencies (White House Complaints
Hotline, VA Ombudsman and others) As the
congressional complaints worked their way through
the VA, Ms. Weldin was finally accessible for a phone
call. During our conversation she gave the impression
that she was empathetic to our combat veterans
complaints. In fact, she even set up a meeting between
her, our vets, and the VR&E staff at the North
Charleston location on June 28th, 2018. In the
meantime, more complaints had come in from other combat veterans:
"It seems my VR&E counselor is only concerned about my prior life issues and getting me a
dead end job rather than completing the degree program needed for the career I am seeking"

During our June 28th, 2018 meeting several of our aggrieved veterans, one by one,
articulated their struggles and frustrations with several of the VR&E staff counselors as well
as Dr. Knight. We were able to identify the causes of the errors and issues while also
providing a pathway for solutions.
One proposed solution, was that our agency would voluntarily conduct a satisfaction
survey of that location by providing the following link for distribution to their serviced
veterans at that location (http://www.operationvetfit.org/vasurvey). Ms Weldin was not
agreeable to sending out the link due to "policy and privacy" concerns. However, she did
support our efforts and looked forward to the results.
On July 6th, the survey went live and with the help of a July 9th, 2018 local news story
here: the data began to come in. None of it was good. On July 26th, 2018 the completed
survey was provided to Ms. Weldin, POTUS, our Congressional members, the Secretary of
the VA, and made publicly available here.
The survey details the systemic issues at this location. Veterans reported feeling that
neither their goals nor career objectives were being respected. Additionally that the
counselors were using fear tactics to dissuade veterans from using the benefits towards a

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college degree program. Telling veterans that they were
putting their service connected disability compensation at
risk if they went to college. Veterans reported feeling
humiliated upon leaving that office, discouraged and without
optimism. They pointed out how the VA's VR&E promotional
video was hardly in line with how they were treated by
counselors, Robbert Moffitt and Gerald Sealey (pictured left)
who were often referred to as very condescending,
unprofessional and more eager to get the veterans to the S.C.
Works Job Service than through college. Veterans further
detailed the lack of communication they received when
complaining to the locations director, Lurlene Scott.
Complaints over the lack of timeliness in processing claims
and payouts amongst those currently enrolled in the program were also expressed. But
rather than working to formulate solutions to these problems, they began a retaliation
effort against me and our agency.

The Retaliation Begins

On July 10th, (four days after the survey went live and one day after the news story
broke) a VA employee filed a formal complaint through the Office of Inspector General (OIG)
(pictured below) claiming that I was a fraud. The complaint attempted to shed false light on
my injuries and Operation
Vet Fit, calling it an
unclaimed source of
income and calling into
question how I am able to
exercise and play golf with
my combined injuries. The
complaint quickly resulted
in a full blown
investigation requiring
that I be reevaluated for
my injuries, forcing me to

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undergo multiple repeat psychological, neuropsychological, back, head, knee, and nerve
conductance evaluations. I was forced to either comply with the scheduled evals or lose my
VA benefits and face criminal prosecution for fraud.
Immediately concerned that this was an act of retaliation I reached out, via email to
Leanne Weldin to inquire who originated this complaint. She was not quick to reply and
ignored several emails until she finally attempted to send me an encrypted email that I was
unable to open. The email, once sent as plain text on August 8th, 2018 assured me that "there
was, and still is, no malicious or retaliatory intent by any VA employee as a result of your concerns
regarding Charleston VR&E or any other reason." Still not convinced of the integrity of her
assurance, I filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the VA OIG requesting the
originating source of the false complaint of fraud that had been made against me on July
10th.
This request resulted in a VA OIG-FOIA denial letter under a new exemption that
excludes the release of information currently under investigation. As a result, I would have to
wait for the investigation to conclude. In the mean time, the Columbia SC Regional VA office
scheduled five separate reevaluation appointments for weekends, holidays and even on
September 11th while our city was under evacuation orders ahead of a Hurricane.
I showed up to each appointment
as directed and underwent the
forced re-evaluations.
Interestingly, I had been
provided room numbers that
were incorrect, and arrived for
appointments that had been
cancelled without me being
notified. By September 17th, 2018
I had completed each of the
forced re-evaluations.

That same day I also received a


letter from Leanne Weldin
(pictured left) which accused me
of "attempting to harass a VA
employee" and went further to

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claim I had been "accusatory towards the VA". The irony of the date of this letter corresponding
with the date that I attended my final (fifth) forced re-evaluation (September 17th, 2018) is
certainly worth further inspection.
As a result I contacted my Senator and the VA White House Complaints line to inform
them of this development. Specifically, that the Columbia, SC Regional Director, Leanne
Weldin had falsely accused me, in writing, of committing a felony. Further that she did so on
the day I completed all forced reevaluations. This development has since become part of a
larger investigation that is ongoing through another newly established federal agency. The
picture was becoming much more clear, but the outcome of the OIG investigation against me
still hung over my head. If it was not Leanne Weldin or Dr Paul Knight, then who? I'd have to
wait until the investigation concluded to find out.

The Investigation Concludes

On October 1st, 2018 the OIG closed the investigation (Pictured below) finding no fraud
while highlighting the contributions of our agency and the medical re-evaluation evidence
supporting both my activities and those of our agency. While this served as vindication and
provided some relief, We're still seeking to learn who was ultimately responsible for the
initiating complaint which now encompassed our allegations of retaliation and intimidation
coupled with gross waste and abuse of VA resources.

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Since I had just been reevaluated a year prior, and not scheduled for another evaluation
for another year, we are also seeking the financial cost associated with each of the medical re-
evaluations I was forced to undergo, as well as the overall cost of the entire investigation
from a stand-point of wasted man-hours and resources which could've been directed towards
more productive activities.

Why Would The VA Retaliate?

It is our allegation, made in good faith, based on


the evidence of this case that the information provided
to Ms. Weldin and Dr. Paul Knight through our survey,
congressional complaints, and meetings has exposed a
systemic problem within the Columbia, SC Region.
These specific and critical observations are well
articulated in the survey report discussion in pages
24-43 which has been made public.
Further, were I to have not shown up to any of
the five forced re-evaluations, I would have faced
federal fraud charges which would've effectively destroyed the credibility of our entire
survey report detailing the abuses we witnessed. Additionally, Ms. Weldins September 17th,
2018 letter falsely accusing me of a federal crime against a VA employee appears to have been
a desperate attempt to either insight an angry or threatening reply from me or to support her
baseless allegations of harassment when she realized I had completed all evaluations and that
those evaluations supported my injuries and activities.
However, in all cases I complied with the OIG investigation, ceased all communications
with Ms. Weldin and currently await a remedy through non-traditional avenues such as this
article, social media and our ongoing complaints to other federal agencies.

Seeking Accountability

The malicious intent to "kill the


messenger" by accusing me and our
agency of committing federal felonies is
the type of misconduct by senior VA
officials which warrants a full and

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thorough public airing of details so such abuses can no longer occur. Furthermore that those
responsible are held accountable through standard processes of adjudication.
Since most veterans are not equipped with the intellectual property tools we have at
our disposal at Operation Vet Fit, the types of abuses we've detailed often go without
punishment. Furthermore, many veterans have already killed themselves in VA parking lots
across the country due to many of the issues we have articulated through our work in this
arena. It is our continued goal to stop these tragedies by looking into the mirror and asking
ourselves what we can each do to make the VA better.

"Who will rise up for me against the wicked? Who will take a stand for me against evildoers?
Unless the Lord had given me help, I would soon have dwelt in the silence of death. When I said, “My
foot is slipping,” your unfailing love, Lord, supported me. When anxiety was great within me, your
consolation brought me joy. Can a corrupt throne be allied with you— a throne that brings on misery
by its decrees? The wicked band together against the righteous and condemn the innocent to death. But
the Lord has become my fortress, and my God the rock in whom I take refuge. He will repay them for
their sins and destroy them for their wickedness" - Psalm 94:16-2

Civil Litigation ?

Why don't you sue them? We have been offered free legal services on an award
contingency basis by several attorneys and legal
firms to sue the VA for damages that have been
suffered as a result of this retaliation campaign.
However, this is not a VA problem, but rather a
regional issue which we believe was carried out by a
select few employees associated with our agency
work here. Since we are unable to sue them
personally due to their capacity as federal
employees, We feel it would be both selfish and
irresponsible to hold the entire VA accountable
through costly litigation and an undoubtedly large award for damages due to the actions of a
few dysfunctional employees.
Therefore, we continue to seek to work through non-litigous avenues of collaboration
with the VA to remedy what we've endured and observed. However, should our best efforts

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to avoid litigation not bring forth a suitable remedy, a federal tort claim will be our only
remaining option. An option we seek to avoid if at all possible.

The Good News

While I was being retaliated against, the aggrieved combat veterans whom we initiated this
advocacy work for have each been contacted by either Leanne Weldin or the VR&E
Counselors and assured that they would not have the same issues if they chose to again
apply for vocational rehabilitation benefits in the future. But for nearly all of them, the
reaction was "too little, too late" the damage had been done.

About the Author: Daniel R. Gaita, MA, LMSW, a United


States Marine turned veterans' advocate. He is the founder
of Operation Vet Fit, a 501C(3), combat veteran advocacy
agency recognized by the Department of Veterans Affairs
Mental Health Services for his ground breaking research on
veteran suicide causes and solutions.

He is a South Carolina Licensed Social Worker specializing


in Mental Health and Military Families; a volunteer research
assistant at the Citadel, inducted into the Phi Alpha Honor
Society while a graduate student at the University of
Southern California, also a Presidential Management
Fellowship Finalist; a participant in Military Clinical Skills
Training and research conducted through the Center for
Innovation and Research on Veterans and Military Families. Dan earned his Bachelors in
Psychology from combined studies at the University of Connecticut and Western Connecticut
State University, His first Masters degree in Organizational Leadership at Gonzaga
University with a concentration in Servant Leadership. He later
completed his second Masters degree in Social Work from
combined studies at Fordham University and the University of
Souther California.
Contact: dan@operationvetfit.org
Other Related Articles by this Author:
Killing the Messenger Part 1
Stop Blaming the VA & Look In The Mirror

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