retired U.S. Navy officer was sentenced to more than three years in federal prison Monday for stealing $150,000 from the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund
retired U.S. Navy officer was sentenced to more than three years in federal prison Monday for stealing $150,000 from the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund by exaggerating injuries he said he sustained in the terrorist attack on the Pentagon. The sentencing capped a three-year legal journey for Charles E. Coughlin that included three trials, the last of which ended in his conviction in August on charges of filing a false claim and theft of government property. In sentencing the 52-year-old Severna Park resident to three years and five months in prison, Chief U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth called the crime a “serious offense” and ordered the former Navy commander to pay restitution of $151,034 to the federal government. “You have damaged your life and career,” the judge told Coughlin. Coughlin, a U.S. Naval Academy graduate, said little during the hearing but told Lamberth that he took “responsibility for the errors and mistakes he made.” D...