A retired Navy commander falsified bank statements and lied about injuries sustained while helping people out of the Pentagon during the Sept. 11 attack in his $331,000 claim to a victim’s fund, a federal attorney said in court records.
Charles E. Coughlin was named in a federal civil suit filed Sept. 18 in the U.S. District Court in Washington, which is seeking his Severna Park home after he used the money as a down payment.
Coughlin claimed he received head injuries from falling debris while trying to help people out of the Pentagon, where he was assigned to the Navy Programming Division, according to the court documents first published on the Web site thesmokinggun.com.
He received a Purple Heart and Meritorious Service Medal for his efforts.
But federal investigators say his injuries were sustained many years ago and that he failed to submit medical records proving the injuries after the Pentagon attack.
The complaint does not call into question his actions on Sept. 11, but whether he was really injured during the terrorist attack.
“I no longer can run marathons, ceased playing lacrosse last season after playing one game and avoided playing basketball to any degree,” Coughlin said in his application to the September 11th Victims Compensation Fund in 2003, according to the documents.
However, two months later, Coughlin participated in the New York City Marathon, and had played several lacrosse games, the documents said. He even injured a finger playing basketball.
When he filed his request for compensation, Coughlin claimed he had healed from his earlier head and neck injuries sustained in 1998 and submitted a doctor’s analysis agreeing with his claim.
But Coughlin did not submit medical records from a doctor he visited at the U.S. Naval Academy after the attack who said he did not need surgery, the documents said.
The government turned down Coughlin’s request, but he appealed.
Federal attorneys said Coughlin then falsified two checks submitted as evidence, claiming they were for power washing and window services he could not do around the house because of his injury; but the checks were actually for a high school and a swim club.
Channing Phillips, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, declined to comment because the case was pending before the court.
Coughlin was originally awarded $60,000, but appealed and later won $331,000 in July 2004. Five months later, Coughlin used $200,000 of the money for down payment of house on St. Bees Street in Severna Park, the documents said.
No one answered the listed phone number for Coughlin’s Severna Park residence, and no one returned messages left Tuesday afternoon.
Andrew Jay Graham, a Baltimore attorney representing Coughlin, declined comment.
Walter Laake, who represented Coughlin and other 9/11 victims pro bono trying to seek compensation, said he was shocked when he heard the news.
“I find it hard to believe that Commander Coughlin did the things the government claims,” said Laake, who added that he submitted the documents Coughlin provided him.
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