Yesterday federal authorities indicted a California trucking school operator and owner for allegedly cheating the Department of Veterans Affairs out of more than $4 million.
Emmit Marshall, 50, and Robert Waggoner, 54, of the San Fernando Valley-based Alliance School of Trucking were brought up on numerous charges of federal wire fraud and each could face up to 20 years in prison. Marshall was the owner of Alliance School of Trucking. Waggoner acted as the director for the school.
Waggoner was arrested at his home yesterday. Marshall has agreed to surrender himself into police custody on Tuesday.
Marshall and Waggoner are accused of recruiting military veterans to enroll in the trucking school but never requiring them to attend any classes. The veterans were reportedly told that they would be paid a housing allowance as well as money for books and supplies by the VA if they were enrolled at the school full time as part of the Post-9/11 GI Bill. The trucking school, in turn, received payments for the veteran’s tuition directly from the VA, also as a provision of the GI Bill. The indictment alleges that Marshall and Waggoner expressly told the veterans that they would not have to attend any of the classes.
Federal authorities say that Marshall and Waggoner maintained false student files and submitted enrollment fraudulent certification documents as part of the scheme.
According to the indictment, the VA paid the Alliance School of Trucking approximately $2.35 million in tuition and fees from 2011 through 2015. During that time period, the VA also paid out $1.96 million directly to veterans allegedly enrolled at the Alliance School of Trucking.