TOMBALL, Texas — A Tomball veteran is now getting benefits he was missing after Veterans Affairs took a second look at his file when they saw reporter Grace White's coverage of his story.
Veteran Joe Whitten sat down with us for the first time since Grace's first story on him aired in March. Investigators with the Harris County Sheriff's Crimes Against Elderly Unit told us Whitten was a victim of a scam that cost him nearly everything. A lot has changed since that first report.
When we first spoke to him, Joe said he had been robbed, beaten and eventually forced out of his Tomball home.
"Do you think they took advantage of you because of your age?" Grace asked.
"Yes ma'am. I do. I sure do," he replied.
After our report, the Harris County Sheriff's Office arrested three people on various charges ranging from kidnapping to robbery and theft.
But then came another problem. His caretaker told us at the time that he could be forced out of the state VA home he had moved into. Grace White was there when her phone rang with a stunning revelation. There was a rating error dating all the way back to 1993.
Veterans Affairs stepped in to award Joe $44,000 for that error.
At the Houston Regional Office, the executive director said KHOU 11's reporting prompted them to take a second look at Joe's benefits.
"We were asked to look into his case by our colleagues over at DeBakey Medical Center, just as part of the reporting that you have been doing," Houston VA Regional Office Executive Director Robert M. Worley II said in an interview earlier this month.
Grace asked Joe what he thought about the error in his file.
"I said, well I thought they were paying me right from jump street," he said. "See, the Army don't let you check their records. You take what they tell you So, I did. I thought they was right."
Joe spent nearly three decades in the Army after he signed up just before his 17th birthday.
Tomball veteran Joe Whitten
He now stays at the Richard A. Anderson Texas State Veterans Home.
"How does it make you feel to be surrounded by all those people who served with you?" Grace asked.
"Ma'am that's some of the best feeling you will ever have," he replied. "I'm being honest, have you ever been around a lot of people who have done the same thing you have done, don't they like you and know you are here? That's some of the best feelings you get."
Whitten's file is also being re-evaluated for more benefits from the PACT Act. Those benefits are available for veterans who've been exposed to burn pits, Agent Orange and other toxic substances.
If veterans apply for PACT Act benefits by August 10, they're eligible to receive retroactive benefits back to when the law was signed. Click here for more information on the act and on how to apply.
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