Veteran Collected Benefits After Lying About Purple Heart, U.S. Says

Sharon Toney-Finch, who served in Iraq in 2010, was charged with fraudulently claiming to have a Purple Heart and with defrauding the Department of Veterans Affairs.

A woman in upstate New York was arrested on Wednesday and charged with fraudulently claiming to be a Purple Heart recipient, federal prosecutors said.

The woman, Sharon Toney-Finch, 43, of Newburgh, N.Y., defrauded military charities and the Department of Veterans Affairs by lying about having received the Purple Heart, a military award given to those wounded or killed in action, Damian Williams, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a statement.

Ms. Toney-Finch claimed that she had survived a terrorist attack on her convoy in Iraq while serving a tour in March 2010, the statement said. She also claimed to have been wounded in a mortar attack the preceding February.

In March 2016, Ms. Toney-Finch began collecting disability benefits from the department after lying about getting injured during her military service, federal prosecutors said. Between July 2019 and September 2023, she defrauded donors to a charity she founded by claiming any money donated would go to supporting homeless veterans, when she in fact spent the funds on personal expenses, the statement said.

If convicted, Ms. Toney-Finch faces more than 30 years in prison for wire fraud, theft of government funds, stolen valor and altering military paperwork.

“Sharon Toney-Finch allegedly engaged in a series of lies in which she misappropriated donations for military charities and falsely nominated herself as a Purple Heart recipient to receive illicit disability benefits,” James Smith, the F.B.I. assistant director in charge of the investigation, said in a statement. “Acts of stolen valor are especially egregious as they distract from sacrifices of those who were truly injured defending our nation.”