A 48-year-old Lakewood man was sentenced this morning to six years in prison for using Vietnamese seniors to scam the state out of about $1 million in pension funds, prosecutors said.
Jeffrey Dan Van recruited more than 45 elderly Vietnamese men and women from throughout the country to come to Colorado and file bogus claims against a state-funded Old Age Pension program to which they were not entitled, according to a media release from the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office.
Van paid a slight amount to the seniors and kept a majority of the illegally gained money, estimated at about $1 million, for himself, prosecutors said.
He carried out the scam from January 2001 through the end of 2008, according to the DA’s Office.
Over the years Van, acting as interpreter, accompanied Vietnamese seniors to a Human Services Department in Golden and helped sign them up for a $629 monthly benefit.
The seniors did not speak English, the release said. Investigators believe most of the seniors are in the country legally.
The seniors’ bogus benefits were registered to Van’s home address or to his relatives addresses in Jefferson County, according to the release.
“This was a lengthy and extremely difficult investigation,” said District Attorney Scott Storey. “All of the witnesses lived out of state and did not speak English. Based on many interviews, it still isn’t clear if they understood what Van was doing and their role in this fraudulent activity.”
Van pleaded guilty to felony theft and forgery charges in July.
Kieran Nicholson: 303-954-1822 or knicholson@denverpost.com
