News-Info-Alerts

To: ALL

From: Andi Wolos & Bob Necci

(POW-MIA InterNetwork)

Re: Phony POW Charged With Fraud

Date: February 08, 2002

"Army Vet Charged With Fraud
By John Gerome - Associated Press Writer
Friday, February 8, 2002; 7:59 PM

NASHVILLE, Tenn. –– An Army veteran who figured in the exposure of the refugee killings at No Gun Ri, South Korea, in 1950 was charged Friday with scheming to defraud the federal government.

Edward Lee Daily falsely claimed he was a Korean POW and that he had been wounded by shrapnel, U.S. Attorney Richard F. Clippard said.

Daily was one of a dozen U.S. Army veterans cited by The Associated Press in 1999 as witnesses corroborating the accounts of South Korean survivors that the 7th Cavalry Regiment killed a large number of refugees at No Gun Ri.

Daily later acknowledged he could not have been there at the time, and had learned about the killings second-hand.

From February 1986 to October 2001, Daily received compensation from the Department of Veteran's Affairs and its predecessor, the Veteran's Administration, based on an application he filed listing the injury and claiming POW status, Clippard said.

Benefits included $324,911 in monetary payments that were wired to his bank and $87,928 in medical care for his claimed service-related disabilities, Clippard said.

Daily was indicted on a charge of wire fraud. If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

He could not immediately be reached for comment. A call to the Clarksville, Tenn., home phone number provided by directory assistance reached a recording saying the number had been disconnected.

His public defender, Sumter Camp, did not return phone calls from the AP.

Clippard said Daily had not been arrested and that an arraignment date had not yet been set.

A Pentagon investigation last year confirmed that U.S. troops killed the refugees at No Gun Ri. At least 35 ex-GIs have described the events to the AP or Pentagon investigators or both.

The killings were first reported by a team of AP reporters, who won the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting."