Kent woman sentenced for defrauding VA of more than $1 million

Published 3:30 pm Tuesday, March 17, 2026

A 58-year-old Kent woman received a 17-month prison sentence for a long-lasting fraud scheme that stole more than $1 million in benefits from the Veterans Administration (VA) designed to help severely disabled veterans.

Kelly M. Lee-Carroll recruited her sister and her son to the scheme to defraud Veterans Administration health care and disability benefits, according to a March 17 U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) press release. Lee-Carroll claimed she was unable to walk or care for herself and needed round-the-clock care. In fact, Lee-Carrol was able to walk. She traveled on exotic vacations and purchased a second home in Las Vegas, to go with her Kent home worth over $1 million, all while collecting benefits intended for the most disabled veterans.

“Ms. Lee-Carroll broke the trust she had with her fellow veterans,” said U.S. District Court Judge James L. Robart during her sentencing March 17 in Seattle. “It was intentional and it went on for an extended period of time.”

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd described the case’s impact.

“As a veteran, I find this type of fraud against our programs despicable,” Floyd said. “These benefits to pay for care, and for caregivers, need to be carefully utilized so that they serve veterans as intended. They should not go for second homes, cars, exotic trips, or casino gambling as they did in this case. This defendant not only pays the price for her conduct, she roped in her family members who now have felony convictions.”

According to records filed in the case, between July 2012 and October 2024, Lee-Carroll claimed to be disabled to such a degree that she needed full time care for daily living. She claimed to be bedridden with paralysis in one leg and arm. She repeatedly represented that she needed a wheelchair to leave home. The investigation revealed that Lee-Carroll did not require the use of a wheelchair outside her home and that she had use of both hands.

Lee-Carroll designated her sister and son as her caregivers so that the VA would pay them for the hours they claimed they cared for Lee-Carroll, according to the DOJ. Her sister and son claimed to be caring for Lee-Carroll while they were clocked in at other jobs such as driving a truck or working as an administrative assistant. On some of the occasions that they claimed to be caring for Lee-Carroll, she was traveling to Las Vegas, Tennessee, or internationally to Mexico or Jamaica, without any caregivers.

The scheme stole more than $1.1 million in VA funds. Lee-Carroll was ordered to pay $932,142 in restitution. Her son, Robert H. Nelson III, 28, was sentenced in November 2025 to 14 months in federal prison and was ordered to pay $282,698 in restitution. Her sister, Katoya F. Grant, 41, was sentenced earlier in March to a ‘time-served’ sentence with six months of supervised release and was ordered to pay $293,787 in restitution.

Lee-Carroll served in the Army for three months in 1986 and then joined the Army Reserves from 1986-1994, according to the DOJ. Lee-Carroll claimed a service-related disability in 2012 and received caregiver funding in 2013. Prosecutors acknowledged that Lee-Carroll did qualify for some disability payments but not the more than $11,000 per month that she was receiving.

“For years, Lee-Carroll falsely claimed that she was wheelchair-bound and bedridden to secure over $1 million in VA benefits that are earmarked for severely disabled veterans,” prosecutors wrote to the court in asking for an 18-month sentence. “She recruited her sister and son into her scheme to defraud the VA and taxpayers out of funds that should have gone to veterans who are, in fact, bedridden and who require round-the-clock care. The VA benefits that she secured through lies funded a lifestyle that included two homes, one in Kent that is worth over $1 million and one in Las Vegas worth $772,000, multiple vehicles, gambling and frequent international trips.”

All three defendants pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit theft of government property and a count of health care fraud, according to the DOJ.

The case was investigated by the Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General.