A retired Navy commander was sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison for faking an injury in the Sept. 11, 2001 attack on the Pentagon so he could steal hundreds of thousands of dollars from the federal victims compensation fund. Cmdr. Charles Coughlin, 52, of Severna Park, did not react when the sentence was announced Monday in Washington, according to the Associated Press. When asked by U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth if he had anything to say before the verdict, Coughlin responded, “I take full responsibility for the errors and mistakes I made.”
U.S. Attorney Ronald Machen Jr. called the prison sentence a “just punishment” for Coughlin.
“Charles Coughlin treated America’s response to 9/11 as a get-rich-quick opportunity,” Machen said. “This sentence is just punishment for his scheme to defraud the American taxpayer.”
Coughlin, a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and Harvard Business School, was working at the Pentagon when a hijacked jet liner crashed into the military building.
Coughlin claimed that he suffered an injury when objects fell on him as he rushed into the burning Pentagon to rescue fallen comrades, and he was given a Purple Heart and Meritorious Service Medal.
Coughlin filed a claim with the 9/11 victims compensation fund seeking damages resulting from the injuries. He claimed that he suffered constant pain in his neck, headaches, weakness and numbness in his left hand and elbow. He said he could no longer run distance races, play basketball or work on projects around the house.
The fund offered Coughlin $60,000 in compensation, but he rejected it. Coughlin testified at before a hearing officer, submitting forged documentary evidence claiming he lost time from work to attend to his medical conditions and paying others to perform household chores that he was no longer capable of performing.
Coughlin testified that a neurosurgeon told him that he would need surgery.
Coughlin’s claim to the victim’s fund allowed him to receive $331,000 in compensation.
At trial, prosecutors said Coughlin ran the New York Marathon two months after the terrorist attacks in 3 hours and 43 minutes, and showed photos of Coughlin playing lacrosse and basketball.
They also provided evidence that Coughlin had not sought medical treatment for his neck for than two years.
