(Tribune News Service) — A 66-year-old man walks with a cane. He has a history of heart problems and seizures, federal officials say.

Two and a half years ago, after many battles with his health, Patrick John McKenna applied for health care benefits with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in Helena, Mont., writing on his application that he had served with the Navy from 1981 to 1984, according to court documents. He was approved.

The problem was, McKenna had never actually served in the military, officials say.

McClatchy News reached out to his attorney on Jan. 25 but did not immediately receive a response.

Sometime after his approval, VA Veterans Benefits Administration representatives searched their systems and were unable to find records of McKenna’s service, according to a Jan. 22 news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Montana.

In the interview with them that followed, McKenna admitted that he did not serve in the Navy and that he had applied for the benefits due to “the high cost of private healthcare,” prosecutors said.

Last year, the average cost for private health insurance in the U.S. was $456 for one person and $1,152 for a family per month, according to eHealth, an online marketplace for health insurance. For someone in poor health, in his 60s and not yet qualifying for Medicare at the time, these rates would likely have been even higher.

In August 2023, McKenna pleaded guilty to health care fraud, and he was sentenced on Jan. 22 to three years of probation, with 180 days of home confinement, and required to pay $46,075 in restitution.

“The nature of the offense is closely tied with (his) health issues,” reads McKenna’s sentencing memo, filed by his attorney.

He “has a voluminous medical history. … He has acknowledged that he was not entitled to the benefits that he was receiving, and that he committed the crime in order to receive better health care than that available for civilians.”

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