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Cheating husband

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Mustang Sally

Junior Member
ArialWhat is the name of your state? Utah
This is complex, so bear with me. My wife's ex-husband is a retired Army Colonel. In their divorce settlement she was awarded the Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) with the stipulation that she pay the premiums. By remarrying before age 55, she had to make only one payment to establish the account, then the account would become inactive as long as she remained married to me. SBP payments are deducted from the Colonel's retirement pay, and she was to reimburse him. Seven consecutive premium payments were taken out of his pay, six because of a clerical error. He dunned her for those seven payments for over a year. On October 10, 2005, she received a certified letter from him demanding approximately $2,500 from her or he was going to court.

I had kept out of this fray until then, but I decided to get the facts from DFAS (acronym for the agency that handles all military pay). I got an email from them saying they had refunded ALL of the excess premiums to the Colonel on January 3, 2005. The premium deductions had reduced my wife's portion of his retirement pay in a total amount greater than the first SBP premium.

I've done a little online research and believe his actions constitute mail fraud. He lives in Virginia, and their law seems to indicate the same thing. We contacted the local prosecutor and he said this is a civil matter and refused to take action.

This entire affair has taken quite an emotional toll on my wife, and I am wondering if there is any possible redress available for her. That he could harrass her for over a year for money he knew she didn't owe him is at least unconscionable, and in my opinion amounts to unlawful conduct.

Any ideas?
 
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LdiJ

Senior Member
Its a civil matter.....and your wife did not suffer any financial loss. I doubt that there is anything that your wife can do....other than to let him know what she found out. She could certainly threaten to have him charged with harassment and fraud, and at least make him a little nervous.
 

Mustang Sally

Junior Member
Follow up

LdiJ said:
Its a civil matter.....and your wife did not suffer any financial loss. I doubt that there is anything that your wife can do....other than to let him know what she found out. She could certainly threaten to have him charged with harassment and fraud, and at least make him a little nervous.
The federal law did not distinguish between ordinary persons and former spouses. In fact, it said the attempt to commit fraud was included in the scope of the statute, so how does this become simply a civil matter?

He denies any wrongdoing, but is now magnanimously going to "forgive the debt".
 

Kane

Member
Mustang Sally said:
The federal law did not distinguish between ordinary persons and former spouses. In fact, it said the attempt to commit fraud was included in the scope of the statute, so how does this become simply a civil matter?

He denies any wrongdoing, but is now magnanimously going to "forgive the debt".
Prosecutors are in charge of deciding which cases to prosecute. If the prosecutor with jurisdiction has told you your wife's ex is not going to jail, he's not going to jail.

Sorry.
 

LdiJ

Senior Member
Mustang Sally said:
The federal law did not distinguish between ordinary persons and former spouses. In fact, it said the attempt to commit fraud was included in the scope of the statute, so how does this become simply a civil matter?

He denies any wrongdoing, but is now magnanimously going to "forgive the debt".

The problem is that you contacted the prosecutor and the prosecutor refused to take action, stating that it was a civil matter. No matter how much research you do, if the prosecutor won't pursue the case on a criminal level, you are sol on pursuing criminal charges for fraud or harassment. It also wasn't fraud, it was attempted fraud at best (because she didn't actually give him the money).

He also may have actually believed that she owed him that money, and only discovered that he was wrong after you pointed it out to him and he checked his records. He is not going to admit that he did it on purpose...or that he even made a mistake.

Yeah, he is obviously an arrogant ass (and not the only one around these days) but you aren't going to get him arrested for doing that. I am sorry.
 

Mustang Sally

Junior Member
Check the federal statute on mail fraud

LdiJ said:
It also wasn't fraud, it was attempted fraud at best (because she didn't actually give him the money).

He also may have actually believed that she owed him that money, and only discovered that he was wrong after you pointed it out to him and he checked his records.
The Federal statute I looked up specifically included attempted fraud in the mail fraud definition. Also, how can anyone not notice that his monthly direct deposit suddenly increases by $2,500, less taxes withheld? If this is the caliber of officers we have serving in the Army, we are in serious trouble. My wife said during their 21 years of marriage he balanced the check book every month and made her account for anything that he was unclear on. We are creatures of habit, and I can't believe that he never noticed the extra money. In fact, DFAS told me that they included an explanation in his monthly statement.

If nothing can be done about this rat, then that speaks loudly against equal justice for all. They won't hesitate to drag people into court on a traffic violation, but will ignore an attempted theft of over $2,000? That appears to me that our courts have become a revenue source instead of places where you can get justice.
 

ceara19

Senior Member
Mustang Sally said:
The Federal statute I looked up specifically included attempted fraud in the mail fraud definition. Also, how can anyone not notice that his monthly direct deposit suddenly increases by $2,500, less taxes withheld? If this is the caliber of officers we have serving in the Army, we are in serious trouble. My wife said during their 21 years of marriage he balanced the check book every month and made her account for anything that he was unclear on. We are creatures of habit, and I can't believe that he never noticed the extra money. In fact, DFAS told me that they included an explanation in his monthly statement.

If nothing can be done about this rat, then that speaks loudly against equal justice for all. They won't hesitate to drag people into court on a traffic violation, but will ignore an attempted theft of over $2,000? That appears to me that our courts have become a revenue source instead of places where you can get justice.

That is the problem. The theft didn't actually take place. The DA dosn't take on cases without a reasonable expectation that they can win. It would be irresponsible if they did. They are paid by the taxpayers. It is taxpayer money used to try criminal cases. The DA has a limited amount of money to deal with each year and they must make the sometimes difficult choices as to which cases to proceed with. Obviously, they don't feel as though there is enough to get a guilty verdict. I know it sounds unfair, but which would you rather see, the DA try a man for POSSIBLY attempting to obtian funds fraudulently or the DA try a man accused of raping and murdering a young child?
 

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