What Happened?
Richard Overton is a living legend! He’s 112-year-olds and the oldest living WWII veteran. The man smokes around 12 cigars a day and adds a bit of whiskey to his morning coffee. Yet, someone had the guts to steal his identity.
At the end of June, Richard’s cousin Volma noticed his bank account was empty. Apparently, the thief made 4 withdrawals from Richard’s account. The money was used to buy bonds on an account that had been set-up with Richard’s personal information.
Richard’s Current Situation
Luckily, the account that was compromised does not hold any of the funds that was raise in a 2015 fundraiser to help Richard remain in his home. A GoFundMe page was set up to help pay Richard’s monthly $15,000 care fee.
The Department of Veteran Affairs does provide Richard the option to move into an assisted-living care facility. However, he does not want to leave his Austin, Texas home because he built it himself after he returned from WWII.
Fortunately, Bank of America restored the stolen funds to Richards account. The incident did not disrupt his care and it will continue uninterrupted.
Hopefully, the perpetrator is caught quickly and justice is swiftly served. Taking advantage of our senior community is a despicable act, even more so when it’s a veteran. Volma stated “Everyone wants to get to the bottom of this. I don’t think it’s going to be long before we know.” We couldn’t have said it better ourselves!
