Fake wounded warrior ‘truly shameless about his mendacity’ Prosecutors say Seattle-area vet lied his way into Purple Heart, $750k in benefits

Snoqualmie resident Darryl Wright lied his way into a Purple Heart and Combat Action Badge while claiming to have been severely injured serving in Iraq with the Idaho National Guard. Prosecutors have asked that he be sentenced to five years in prison for frauds related to the scheme. less Snoqualmie resident Darryl Wright lied his way into a Purple Heart and Combat Action Badge while claiming to have been severely injured serving in Iraq with the Idaho National Guard. Prosecutors have asked that ... more Photo: U.S. Justice Department Photo: U.S. Justice Department Image 1 of / 14 Caption Close Fake wounded warrior ‘truly shameless about his mendacity’ 1 / 14 Back to Gallery

Darryl Lee Wright was a hero. Just not of the caliber he claimed to be.

Wright was a soldier, a national guardsman. He was in harm’s way in Iraq, pulled away from those he loved in the Cascade Mountains foothills east of Seattle and near Boise, Idaho.

What he wasn’t was a severely disabled veteran due the $751,400 in federal benefits he drew in the years since he left the Idaho National Guard. He lied about his service – claiming to have been wounded in combat -- to steal from the government while living well in Snoqualmie.

Prosecutors found that Wright served in the suburb’s government, dated two women simultaneously and held down a steady job all while claiming he was incapacitated by wounds physical and psychological. He nearly duped a federal department into firing the first investigator to try to expose him; that woman’s efforts would go unrecognized for years before Wright’s lies collapsed.

For taking benefits he wasn’t owed, Wright, now 48, could spend the next five years in prison. That’s the sentence federal prosecutors have asked U.S. District Judge Benjamin Settle to impose Thursday.

Wright previously pleaded guilty to two felony counts related to the scheme. His sister Karen Wright was sentenced to probation on Aug. 17 for her role in the long-running fraud; prosecutors claim Darryl Wright enlisted friends and family in Snoqualmie area to help in the scheme he led.

At base, Wright was caught telling a war story that wasn’t true.

Wright’s 2005 tour in Iraq was relatively uneventful, at least compared to the one he claimed to have endured.

On his return, Lt. Wright claimed is vehicle had been blow out from under him during a rocket attack near Kirkuk. In truth, the rocket landed 300 feet from his patrol; it caused little damage generally, and none at all to Wright.

That August 2005 not-so-near miss served as the foundation for Wright’s fraud.

“Wright liked telling the story about the rocket incident, and it gradually grew into a full-fledged tale of battle,” Assistant U.S. Attorney David Reese Jennings said in court papers.

Wright would later claim he suffered from combat-connected traumas, including traumatic brain injury, spinal injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder.

To sell the lie, Wright concocted documents, pressured government workers and forced his way into benefits meant to help Americans who’ve sacrificed dearly serving the nation.

“He is truly shameless about his mendacity,” Jennings said. “He shrugs off getting caught lying with the casualness others might display about getting caught without an umbrella.”

The money paid to Wright was enough to finance a fulltime live-in caregiver. He claimed he needed one to manage his injuries; in truth, the assistance payments were an unearned paycheck for his sister.

While claiming to be housebound by his disabilities, Wright coached basketball, dated and worked. He served on the Snoqualmie Planning Commission, serving as chairman while claiming he couldn’t ride the bus or go out in public because of crushing PTSD.

Wright forged paperwork supporting his bogus claims. He filed statements with the Army under the names of his battle buddies, Jennings said, and the Boise State graduate kept pushing the fraud even after he was confronted by investigators in 2014.

His lies won him the Combat Action Badge, a medal reserved for soldiers who have engaged in combat, and eventually the Purple Heart.

“Wright built an entire myth system on these two awards, relying on them to obtain every possible benefit that might be available to a wounded veteran,” Jennings said in court papers.

PREVIOUSLY IN SEATTLEPI.COM: Feds: Snoqualmie coach lied his way into Purple Heart

For Wright, the medals and benefits were a ladder, Jennings told the court. He used each one he stole to bolster his case for another. Wright drew most deeply from the Veteran’s Administration coffers, but he also stole from Social Security, the Department of Education and Washington state’s unemployment assistance program.

Jennings said Wright also used his concocted disabilities to excuse his bullying, violent behavior. Wright sued his employer, the Department of Commerce, claiming he’d been discriminated against because he was a wounded vet.

Christina Jackson, the Commerce Department worker who first exposed Wright’s fraud in 2009, found herself struggling to keep her job after her bosses sided with Wright. Five years passed before Wright was prosecuted; by then Jackson had spent $20,000 in legal bills fighting bogus claims that she somehow wronged Wright.

"Cristina Jackson's willingness to come forward was critical to uncovering the truth," Jennings previously told The Associated Press. "But for her actions, law enforcement would not have had what they needed to uncover the fraud."

(Click through for Associated Press reporter Gene Johnson’s detailed report on Jackson’s ordeal.)

Responding to prosecution claims that Wright pushed those close to him into backing his scheme, defense attorney Christopher Black said his client, “if anything, … did the opposite of attempt to obstruct justice.”

“His conduct consisted essentially of admitting his wrongdoing, apologizing, and telling his friends to be honest with investigators if they were contacted,” Black continued in court papers. “Mr. Wright knew that his friends could potentially be torn by their loyalty to him and he did not want them to get into any trouble.”

Even after a lengthy investigation and prosecution, it’s unclear how far Wright’s fraud extends.

“Wright is such a prodigious liar that it is impossible to know the truth,” Jennings said in court papers. “The number of lies, false documents, and the extensiveness of his scheme are without comparison.”

Though he pleaded guilty, Wright contends his fraud didn’t cost the government as much as prosecutors claim. Arguing that a jail term would be sufficient punishment for Wright, Black said his client was owed some of the assistance he received and that the total loss to the government was $15,000 to $40,000.

Equally difficult to measure are the harms Wright’s fraud did to men and women he’ll never meet and shares nothing with – veterans hurting because of their service. Jennings described them as “those who yearn to be taken seriously about their disabilities, to be believed, but who now find their struggle more difficult because Darryl Lee Wright has given everyone the perfect example of a veteran who falsely claimed to suffer from something that cannot be seen or measured.”

Jennings went on to note that Wright is still telling lies – most recently, the prosecutor said, to an Idaho judge interested in his taxes – and trying to get back on the dole. But the prosecutor acknowledged that “there is something very wrong with Darryl Wright.

“He is and always has been a liar.”

Wright is expected to be sentenced Thursday morning at U.S. District Court at Tacoma. He is not presently jailed.

CORRECTION: Wright is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday, Aug. 25. An earlier version of this story noted the wrong date.

Seattlepi.com reporter Levi Pulkkinen can be reached at 206-448-8348 or levipulkkinen@seattlepi.com. Follow Levi on Twitter at twitter.com/levipulk.