This is shocking and bizarre and—if true—more than a little enraging:

A 41-year-old Baltimore County military veteran has been charged with pretending to be a paraplegic for 16 years to collect more than $1 million in disability benefits,

William Rich purposely misled the Department of Veteran Affairs about the extent of an injury he suffered while serving in the Army in Baqubah, Iraq on Aug. 23, 2005 and faked being wheelchair-bound to obtain full disability benefits and other compensation, according to a federal criminal complaint. Prosecutors alleged Rich also used money intended to buy specialized vehicles to instead buy a BMW sports car.

....but it's also, you know, baffling. How exactly would he pull that off? How could he have fooled so many people, so many times, for so long?

If he was indeed being assisted by medical profesisonals in this alleged scam, you can probably expect plenty of additional indictments to be handed down.

Crazy.