Former Missouri Legislator Is Indicted

A former Kansas City area Missouri  state legislator has been indicted by a federal grand jury, accused of cheating on disability benefits.

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Credit U.S. Department of justice

$60,000 in Social Security payments are in question.

65-year-old Raymond Salva from Sugar Creek served in the Missouri House from 2003 through 2010.

U.S. Attorney David Ketchmark called the charges a “deceit and double dipping from the public coffers that is nothing less than theft.”

The indictment purports that Salva drew a $30,000 annual state salary while getting disability and claiming he was unable to work because of a neck injury and had not worked.

By 2008 Social Security Administration billed Salva for $59,000, and Salva appealed.

He is accused of giving false statements during hearings on the claims, after which he filed new claims for disability in 2011, withdrawing them six weeks later.

Salva has not  yet appeared in court.