By Jamie Satterfield
Knoxville News-Sentinel
MONROE COUNTY, Tenn. — Faced with the public airing of their alleged acts of trickery and deceit, a man accused of lying about being a war hero and his wife opted Wednesday to stay in jail rather than fight for their freedom.
Charles C. Kaczmarczyk, 59, and his wife, Martha Ann Kaczmarczyk, 62, had been set Wednesday in U.S. District Court to try to convince an already skeptical U.S. Magistrate Judge Clifford Shirley they were worthy candidates for release pending trial on charges they plotted to rip off the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Social Security Administration of more than $100,000 in fraudulent benefits over a six-year period.
Shirley had planned to free the pair Tuesday when the eight-count indictment against them was unsealed but grew suspicious of their answers to his questions, including whether they had guns in their home. The duo owns a gun shop in the Coker Creek community of Monroe County but proved coy about whether they own any weaponry. Defendants in pending federal cases are not allowed to own, or otherwise have at their disposal, firearms.
So, Shirley ordered them jailed and scheduled a detention hearing for Wednesday. Assistant U.S. Attorney Zachary Bolitho walked into that hearing armed with a box of evidence believed to contain, among other things, videos to show a pattern of deceit, including a faked back injury by Martha Ann Kaczmarczyk for which she was receiving Social Security benefits.
After conferring with their respective attorneys, however, the couple agreed to stay in jail, a move that spared a public airing of whatever evidence Bolitho was packing.
According to the indictment, Charles Kaczmarczyk, a veteran of the Air Force, claimed benefits for post-traumatic stress disorder he said he suffered in a series of wellknown military conflicts, including the Vietnam War and the Iran hostage crisis. Military records show, however, that he spent most of his military career stateside and never saw combat. He has touted his heroism in speeches, including one delivered in 2008 at the University of Tennessee.
So far, federal authorities have seized more than $78,000 from the couple’s bank account. A trial date of Sept. 26 has been set.
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