Trucking school director sentenced to 15 months for $4M VA, GI Bill scam

The former director of a San Fernando Valley trucking school was sentenced to 15 months behind bars for siphoning off over $4 million in GI Bill funds. 

59-year-old Robert Waggoner was sentenced to 15 months behind bars on Monday, October 18th, along with an additional three years of supervised release. 

According to Daily News, Waggoner will also be required to pay $4.19 million in restitution to the US Department of Veteran Affairs. Waggoner pleaded guilty to five federal wire-fraud counts last year, and his co-defendant, Emmit Marshall, owner and president of the Alliance School of Trucking, was sentenced a year ago. Marshall will serve four years behind bars and will also pay restitution. 

Marshall recruited military veterans to take trucking classes to be paid for under the post-9/11 GI Bill and told the recruited veterans that they wouldn’t have to attend the classes, but could still collect the housing and book fees supplied by the VA. Meanwhile, tuition payments were given directly to the trucking school. 

During this scheme, Marshall and Waggoner created fake enrollment certifications and student files with counterfeit documents. 

The scheme lasted from the end of 2011 through April 2015. During that time, the VA paid AST approximately $2.35 million in tuition and fee payments for veterans who never attended classes and never intended to. During that same time, the VA also paid $1.96 million directly to the veterans.