Authorities: Fayetteville veteran faked war injury to get VA benefits

A Fayetteville man was sentenced Tuesday to five years on probation and ordered to repay more than $900,000 he fraudulently obtained to the Department of Veterans Affairs, authorities said.

Willie Dosher Cain, 73, a U.S. Army veteran and former Fayetteville police officer, told VA officials that, as a result of shrapnel wounds sustained in Vietnam in 1965, he had suffered the loss of use of both legs, as well as loss of bowel and bladder control. He said he was unable to perform daily activities, such as dressing and bathing, without assistance and was dependent on a wheelchair or motorized scooter for mobility.

Federal investigators determined, however, that Cain played basketball, danced and attended social events when he was supposedly injured. He even bought a condominium at Carolina Beach on the third floor of a building with no elevator, they said.

Cain pleaded guilty last June to embezzlement. In addition to repaying the benefits he wasn't entitled to, U.S. District Judge Thomas Schroeder ordered that he forfeit $155,000, a modified 2018 Toyota Sienna van and a mobility scooter and perform 250 hours of community service. In a related civil forfeiture action, he also forfeited the Carolina Beach condo, authorities said.