An Army Reserve lieutenant colonel has admitted he defrauded the military out of housing money.
Richard Gorka was accused of hiding the ownership of his Valrico home to make it appear as if he was renting the property from a corporation. He is scheduled to plead guilty in September to a federal charge of filing a false claim, which carries a maximum prison sentence of five years.
Gorka was activated into service in October 2003 and assigned to work at U.S. Central Command Headquarters at MacDill Air Force Base, where he served on active duty until December 2007, according to his plea agreement.
In June 2004, Gorka bought the house at 2211 Gulf Manor Blvd. He created the Woodland Living Trust and deeded the property to the trust.
The trust leased the house to Apartment Express Corporate Housing for $2,440 a month. Gorka then signed a sublease with Apartment Express to stay in the house for $83 a day, about the same amount as the lease between the trust and Apartment Express.
"These machinations concealed the ownership of Gorka's home and created the illusion that Gorka had entered into an arms-length rental agreement," his plea agreement states.
Gorka filed about 41 vouchers with the Department of Defense claiming rental expenses he had not incurred. As a consequence, he obtained at least $8,000 to which he was not entitled, the plea agreement states.
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