Criminal Investigative Updates

Mikhail Robin Wicker of Clay County, Minnesota, was convicted of wire fraud, mail fraud, using a false military discharge certificate, and fraudulent use of military medals. Wicker spent years posing as a decorated US Marine. He falsely claimed to have been deployed to Iraq and to be a recipient of the Purple Heart Medal and the Prisoner of War Medal. For years, he relied on these claims to obtain more than $140,000 worth of benefits from VA. Wicker never served in any branch of the armed services and supported his fraud scheme using forged documents, including a counterfeit DD-214 and fake medal certificates. The case was investigated by the VA OIG, Defense Criminal Investigative Service, and the Social Security Administration OIG with assistance from Homeland Security Investigations and the Dilworth Police Department.

Sharon Toney-Finch of Newburgh, New York, was sentenced to 12 months and one day in prison for a scheme to defraud military veterans’ charities and falsely claiming that she was a Purple Heart recipient. Toney-Finch is an Army veteran and founder of the Yerik Israel Toney Foundation, a registered 501(c)(3) charity. Her foundation reportedly strived to raise awareness of premature births, offer assistance to premature babies and their families, and provide a place to stay or transportation while the babies were in the neonatal intensive care unit. The foundation also claimed to help homeless and low-income military service veterans in need of living assistance. In fact, she helped virtually no veterans and, instead, used the money donated—approximately $85,000—for her own benefit, including to pay for a vehicle, gym membership, travel, meals, and other personal expenses. She pleaded guilty to charges of wire fraud and making a false claim of valor in March 2025. In addition to incarceration, Toney-Finch was sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $84,000 in restitution and $85,000 in forfeiture. The VA OIG, FBI, Army Criminal Investigation Division, and Orange County Sheriff’s Office in New York investigated this case.

Sharon Toney-Finch of Newburg, New York, was charged with wire fraud, theft of government funds, stolen valor, and altering military discharge paperwork. Allegedly, Toney-Finch engaged in a scheme in which she misappropriated donations for military charities and falsely nominated herself as a Purple Heart recipient to receive disability benefits to which she was not entitled. Between July 2019 and September 2023, she defrauded donors to her charitable organization by falsely claiming that the donated funds would be spent solely to support homeless military veterans, instead spending the funds on personal expenses. This case was investigated by the VA OIG and FBI.

Mikhail Wicker, of Dilworth, Minnesota, was charged with defrauding the VA by falsely claiming to have been a decorated veteran of the US Marine Corps and claiming that he suffered from combat-related injuries that qualified him for disability and other financial benefits. Wicker submitted forged and falsified documents in support of his benefits application to the VA, falsely claiming that he had been a prisoner of war during a deployment in Iraq in 2005. As a result, Wicker received more than $100,000 in benefits, which he was not entitled to because he had never served in the military. Wicker is charged with one count of wire fraud, one count of false military discharge certificates, one count of fraudulent use of military medals, and one count of theft of government funds. The VA OIG, Department of Defense OIG, and Social Security Administration OIG investigated this case with assistance from Homeland Security Investigations and the Dilworth Police Department.

In a case of stolen valor, Darold Maxfield, of North Little Rock, Arkansas, was sentenced to four months in federal prison and three years’ supervised release for submitting a falsified disability application to the VA and receiving more than $91,000 in disability payments. Maxfield filed for disability claiming he sustained psychological trauma after he recovered the remains of a cadet who died while conducting a land navigation exercise at the US Military Academy at West Point. He was enrolled at the US Military Academy Prep School when the incident occurred, but evidence proved he was not on the land navigation course at the time the cadet’s remains were located. The VA was alerted to the potential fraud in 2020 when it was discovered that the physician’s signature on the disability questionnaire had been copied and pasted onto Maxfield’s application from another document. The VA OIG and the Army Criminal Investigation Division investigated this case.