NEWS RELEASE
UNITED STATES ATTORNEY'S OFFICE
WESTERN DISTRICT OF VIRGINIA
Julia C. Dudley Acting United States Attorney Brian McGinn Public Affairs Specialist |
BB&T Building 310 1st Street, S.W., Room 906 Roanoke, Virginia 24011 (540) 857-2974 FAX (540) 857-2179 |
May 19, 2008
HURLEY MAN WHO LIED ABOUT BEING A QUADRIPLEGIC SENTENCED TO 20 YEARS IN PRISON AND ORDERED TO PAY MORE THAN $500,000 IN RESTITUTION
Acting United States Attorney Julia C. Dudley announced today that Timothy Carl Ling, age, 31, of Hurley, Virginia, was sentenced in United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia in Abingdon to 20 years of Federal imprisonment for orchestrating and directing multiple fraud schemes in which he, his mother, and his father both participated and benefitted financially.
“Timothy Carl Ling, and his family, through a series of lies and deceptions, decided to line their own pockets by stealing money and aid from individuals in our community who are truly in need of assistance,” Acting United States Attorney Julia C. Dudley said today. “I want to thank all the men and women who investigated this difficult case and brought these three individuals to justice.”
Timothy Carl Ling had previously pleaded guilty to a variety of charges, including obstruction of justice, Social Security fraud, conspiracy to commit mail fraud, conspiracy to commit bank fraud, conspiracy to commit income tax evasion, money laundering and aggravated identity theft.
Timothy Carl Ling’s mother, Carol Irene Estep, age 54, also of Hurley, was previously sentenced to 94 months of Federal imprisonment in connection with her role in the fraud schemes. She previously pleaded guilty to multiple charges, including conspiracy to commit mail fraud, conspiracy to commit bank fraud, conspiracy to commit tax evasion, aggravated identity theft, money laundering and Social Security fraud.
In addition, Timothy Ling’s father, Herman Scott Ling, age, 67, of Hurley, previously pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and one count of money laundering. He is currently serving a five-year probation sentence in relation to his fraudulent activity.
All three family members were ordered to pay a total of more than $500,000 in restitution to many of the victims of their criminal conduct. Also, two parcels of property purchased by Timothy Carl Ling and Carol Irene Estep in Pikeville, Kentucky and Hurley, Virginia, have been forfeited to the United States.
According to evidence presented at earlier hearings and at Timothy Carl Ling’s sentencing hearing last week by Assistant United States Attorney Zachary Lee, Timothy Carl Ling began portraying himself as a quadriplegic in January 2004 in order to avoid being sent to prison in Buchanan County, Virginia, for a probation violation. In the course of his fraudulent conduct, Ling applied for, and received, benefits from the Social Security Administration for his feigned medical condition. He also received benefits from Medicaid to pay for numerous medical appointments and ambulance transports.
In April 2006, the Social Security Administration Office of the Inspector General began investigating Timothy Carl Ling for Social Security fraud after agents received information that the defendant was not paralyzed and was in fact faking his condition.
The investigation determined that not only was Timothy Carl Ling not a quadriplegic, as he had reported, but rather that by using a variety of schemes had defrauded numerous agencies that provided aid and assistance to individuals with disabilities.
These schemes included a mail fraud scheme in which Timothy Carl Ling, Carol Irene Estep, and Herman Scott Ling defrauded the Virginia Consumer Services Fund and Clinch Independent Living Services, Inc., agencies which provide funding and services to disabled individuals so that they may live a more independent life.
According to the investigation, Timothy Carl Ling , Carol Irene Estep, and Herman Scott Ling applied for funding from these agencies and falsely claimed that Timothy Carl Ling was a quadriplegic and needed financial assistance in order to provide him with transportation and modify his home to accommodate his disability. These agencies provided money to the family so that they could purchase a specially equipped van and build ramps on Carol Irene Estep’s home based upon the fraudulent representations that Timothy Carl Ling was a quadriplegic.
According to testimony presented at the sentencing hearings, the agencies spent more than 40 staff hours and more than $18,000 assisting Timothy Carl Ling, Carol Irene Estep, and Herman Scott Ling. In all, the agencies assist 2,000 other individuals with disabilities in Buchanan, Dickenson, Russell, and Tazewell Counties. Additionally, Timothy Carl Ling’s fabricated medical condition led to the payment of over $200,000 of his medical bills by Medicaid, and $19,000 in Social Security benefits, payments to which he was not entitled.
In conjunction with the Social Security Administration’s investigation, agents with the United States Secret Service and the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation Division discovered that Timothy Carl Ling and Carol Irene Estep had perpetrated a credit card fraud scheme between the summer of 2005 and October 2006 in which they defrauded five separate credit card companies and incurred a total loss to these companies, and a variety of merchants, of $344,465.09. According to information discovered during the investigation, the money was used for shopping sprees, vacations, casino gambling, and to purchase property in both Pikeville, Kentucky, and Hurley, Virginia. In addition, Carol Irene Estep and Timothy Carl Ling used the proceeds of their criminal conduct to build two homes in Pikeville, Kentucky.
In another act of fraudulent activity, Timothy Carl Ling and Carol Irene Estep also used the Social Security number and date of birth of another family member in order to attempt to hide their criminal conduct and falsely implicate this individual in their credit card fraud scheme.
Additionally, Timothy Carl Ling and Carol Irene Estep, both recipients of Social Security disability benefits, used the proceeds of their credit card fraud scheme to establish a recycling business in Hurley known as “The Yard.” Pursuant to records collected during the investigation, “The Yard” had gross profits of $210,641.93, during 2005 and 2006. The profits of the Yard were divided between Timothy Carl Ling, Carol Irene Estep, and others. None of these individuals reported the income earned from “The Yard” to the Internal Revenue Service or the Social Security Administration. Timothy Carl Ling, Carol Irene Estep, and Herman Ling actively tried to hide this income from the Internal Revenue Service by engaging in money laundering transactions.
At Timothy Carl Ling’s sentencing hearing, Ling also admitted to facilitating drug transactions involving Oxycontin and numerous other fraud schemes in which he had been involved, including an identity theft perpetrated in order to purchase a mobile home in Tazewell County, Virginia in October 2000 valued at $82,415.
In addition, three other identity thefts were made in order to purchase motor vehicles with a total value over $100,000 in Princeton, West Virginia in January 2001,multiple instances of auto insurance fraud in 2005 in which he received over $20,000, and one instance in which Ling falsely implicated a car salesman in a fraud scheme in December 2006.
The investigation of this case was conducted by the Social Security Administration’s Office of the Inspector General, Charleston, West Virginia Office, the United States Secret Service, Roanoke Office, and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division, Bristol Office. Assistant United States Attorney Zachary T. Lee of the United States Attorney’s Office, Western District of Virginia, prosecuted the case.