The California National Guard's former bonus and incentives manager has admitted submitting $15.2 million in false and fraudulent claims to the United States Department of Defense.
Retired Master Sgt. Toni L. Jaffe, 52, made the admission as part of a plea agreement filed Monday in federal court in Los Angeles, according to a federal Department of Justice news release.
For more than 15 years, Jaffe, a Citrus Heights resident, was the bonus and incentives manager for the California National Guard. As part of her plea agreement, Jaffe admitted that from 2007 to October 2009, she routinely submitted false claims on behalf of her fellow Guard members.
According to the plea agreement, Jaffe admits responsibility for $15.2 million in wrongfully paid bonuses and loan repayments. An audit of the full loss amount is ongoing, according to the news release.
The plea agreement was filed with a criminal charge that could result in a maximum sentence of five years' imprisonment, a fine of $250,000 and two times the gross gain or gross loss and three years of supervised release. As part of her plea agreement, the defendant also is required to pay restitution, currently estimated to be $15.2 million, to the United States.
A Bee investigation last October found evidence of up to $100 million in improper or illegal bonuses and student loan repayments for California National Guard members. The story sparked scrutiny from elected officials, the National Guard Bureau and Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Federal officials said their investigation is continuing.
© Copyright The Sacramento Bee. All rights reserved.
• Read more articles by Cathy Locke
What You Should Know About Comments on Sacbee.com
Sacbee.com is happy to provide a forum for reader interaction, discussion, feedback and reaction to our stories. However, we reserve the right to delete inappropriate comments or ban users who can't play nice. (See our full terms of service here.)
Here are some rules of the road:
• Keep your comments civil. Don't insult one another or the subjects of our articles. If you think a comment violates our guidelines click the "Report Abuse" link to notify the moderators. Responding to the comment will only encourage bad behavior.
• Don't use profanities, vulgarities or hate speech. This is a general interest news site. Sometimes, there are children present. Don't say anything in a way you wouldn't want your own child to hear.
• Do not attack other users; focus your comments on issues, not individuals.
• Stay on topic. Only post comments relevant to the article at hand.
• Do not copy and paste outside material into the comment box.
• Don't repeat the same comment over and over. We heard you the first time.
• Do not use the commenting system for advertising. That's spam and it isn't allowed.
• Don't use all capital letters. That's akin to yelling and not appreciated by the audience.
• Don't flag other users' comments just because you don't agree with their point of view. Please only flag comments that violate these guidelines.
You should also know that The Sacramento Bee does not screen comments before they are posted. You are more likely to see inappropriate comments before our staff does, so we ask that you click the "Report Abuse" link to submit those comments for moderator review. You also may notify us via email at feedback@sacbee.com. Note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us the profile name of the user who made the comment. Remember, comment moderation is subjective. You may find some material objectionable that we won't and vice versa.
If you submit a comment, the user name of your account will appear along with it. Users cannot remove their own comments once they have submitted them.
Order Reprint
About Comments
Reader comments on Sacbee.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Sacramento Bee. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "Report Abuse" link below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.