{"id":8478,"date":"2009-11-20T16:11:06","date_gmt":"2009-11-20T21:11:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/?p=8478"},"modified":"2009-11-20T17:37:00","modified_gmt":"2009-11-20T22:37:00","slug":"service-intended-for-the-deaf-used-for-fraud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2009\/11\/20\/service-intended-for-the-deaf-used-for-fraud\/","title":{"rendered":"Service intended for the deaf used for fraud"},"content":{"rendered":"

Service intended for the deaf used for fraud<\/strong><\/p>\n

An Austin man is arrested and the Round Rock company he worked for charged
\nwith fraud.<\/p>\n

David Simmons is one of 26 people from eight states accused of defrauding
\nthe Federal Communication Commission\u2019s Video Relay Program which helps the
\ndeaf communicate electronically. Simmons was the marketing director for
\nMascom.<\/p>\n

The US Attorney General’s Office says seven companies including Mascom,
\nwhich was located in Round Rock, billed the government almost 400 dollars an
\nhour.<\/p>\n

We’re told the money came from a fund everyone who has a land line pays
\ninto.<\/p>\n

The government says the centers never took calls but turned in bills totally
\nmore than 50 million dollars.<\/p>\n

“They were running up money and taxpayers were paying for services that
\nweren’t occurring,” says Assistant United States Attorney General Lanny
\nBreuer.<\/p>\n

Delia Mott Merritt is an Austin interpreter who has worked with the deaf for
\ntwo decades. Mott Merritt says the deaf depend on interpreters being there
\nwhen they need them.<\/p>\n

“You and I can go and freely speak to the doctor and he can freely speak to
\nus,\u201d says Mott Merritt. \u201cThe interpreter helps the deaf community do the
\nsame thing.”<\/p>\n

The government alleges that instead of helping the deaf some of the call
\ncenters were calling radio stations.<\/p>\n

The Federal Communication Commission says it still supports the video relay
\nservice, but will work to safeguard the program from further fraud and
\nabuse.<\/p>\n

Source: http:\/\/weareaustin.com\/content\/news\/story?cid=38422<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Service intended for the deaf used for fraud An Austin man is arrested and the Round Rock company he worked for charged with fraud. David Simmons is one of 26 people from eight states accused of defrauding the Federal Communication…<\/p>\n

Read more →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[21,2048,2093,1308,40,2094,2092,2095,17,650,61],"class_list":["post-8478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-deaf-news","tag-austin","tag-david-simmons","tag-federal-communication-commission","tag-fraud","tag-interpreter","tag-mascom","tag-mott-merritt","tag-round-rock","tag-texas","tag-video-relay-service","tag-vrs"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p752R-2cK","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8466,"url":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2009\/11\/20\/twenty-six-charged-in-nationwide-scheme-to-defraud-the-fcc%e2%80%99s-video-relay-service-program\/","url_meta":{"origin":8478,"position":0},"title":"Twenty-six Charged in Nationwide Scheme to Defraud the FCC\u2019s Video Relay Service Program","author":"Grant Laird Jr","date":"November 20, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Thursday, November 19, 2009 Twenty-six Charged in Nationwide Scheme to Defraud the FCC\u2019s Video Relay Service Program Arrests Made in Nine States Indictments were unsealed today against 26 people charged with engaging in a scheme to steal millions of dollars\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/category\/deaf-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3545,"url":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2008\/06\/13\/viable-and-mascom-team-up-to-provide-video-relay-services\/","url_meta":{"origin":8478,"position":1},"title":"Viable and Mascom Team Up to Provide Video Relay Services","author":"Grant Laird Jr","date":"June 13, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Glenn Lockhart Viable, Inc. 240.292.0222 x227 contact@viable.net http:\/\/www.viable.net Viable and Mascom Team Up to Provide Video Relay Services ROUND ROCK, TX -- June 12, 2008 \u2013 Viable, Inc., a provider of video relay services (VRS) for deaf and hard of hearing, and Mascom have partnered in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/category\/deaf-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12220,"url":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2010\/11\/02\/owner-and-a-former-executive-of-indicted-video-relay-services-company-plead-guilty-to-defrauding-fcc-program\/","url_meta":{"origin":8478,"position":2},"title":"Owner and a Former Executive of Indicted Video Relay Services Company Plead Guilty to Defrauding FCC Program","author":"Grant Laird Jr","date":"November 2, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Thursday, October 28, 2010 Owner and a Former Executive of Indicted Video Relay Services Company Plead Guilty to Defrauding FCC Program WASHINGTON \u2013 John T.C. Yeh, the owner of Viable Communications Inc., and his brother, Joseph Yeh, the former vice\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/category\/deaf-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9643,"url":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2010\/03\/10\/three-former-owners-and-employees-of-two-video-relay-service-companies-plead-guilty-to-defrauding-fcc-program\/","url_meta":{"origin":8478,"position":3},"title":"Three Former Owners and Employees of Two Video Relay Service Companies Plead Guilty to Defrauding FCC Program","author":"Grant Laird Jr","date":"March 10, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Tuesday, March 9, 2010 Three Former Owners and Employees of Two Video Relay Service Companies Plead Guilty to Defrauding FCC Program Three former owners and employees of two different video relay service companies pleaded guilty today to conspiring to defraud\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/category\/deaf-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16850,"url":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2011\/12\/01\/founder-of-rockville-deaf-services-company-gets-nine-years-for-fraud\/","url_meta":{"origin":8478,"position":4},"title":"Founder of Rockville deaf services company gets nine years for fraud","author":"Grant Laird Jr","date":"December 1, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Founder of Rockville deaf services company gets nine years for fraud Yeh and his brother also ordered to pay $20M each by Kevin James Shay, Staff Writer Note: You can watch John Yeh's video statement at court on YouTube.com here. A federal judge on Wednesday sentenced John T.C. Yeh, former\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/category\/deaf-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28739,"url":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2014\/09\/30\/deaf-hard-of-hearing-students-find-opportunities-to-get-involved\/","url_meta":{"origin":8478,"position":5},"title":"Deaf, hard of hearing students find opportunities to get involved http:\/\/wp.me\/p752R-7tx","author":"Grant Laird Jr","date":"September 30, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Deaf, hard of hearing students find opportunities to get involved September 25, 2014 BY CHRIS MENDEZ American Sign Language professors discussed ways in which deaf and hard of hearing students can get involved on campus at the Julius Glickman Conference Center on Wednesday. The event, which was the second annual\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/category\/deaf-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8478"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8478\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8481,"href":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8478\/revisions\/8481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}