LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – An Arkansas military veteran’s wife was sentenced Tuesday for using more than $143,000 of her husband’s military disability income to buy drugs.

The United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas announced yesterday that 49-year-old Brandi Goldman of Jonesboro was sentenced to 20 months in prison for misusing the money. She was also assigned three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $143,000 in restitution after her 2020 indictment and 2022 guilty plea, according to the attorney’s office.

Prosecutors claim that in 2015 Goldman married an Army reservist who had a severe traumatic brain injury after a service-connected incident. She was appointed as the man’s guardian, which included her signing an agreement with the Department of Veterans Affairs on how her husband’s finances must be managed.

She then took over the veteran’s finances in April 2015, the attorney’s office stated. By November 2017, when her activity was reported, her husband had received $258,613.54 in VA disability payments and $36,000 in Social Security payments. During that same time, prosecutors stated Goldman had withdrawn $199,649.30 from her husband’s accounts and accrued $900 in overdraft fees, all in violation of the agreement she signed.

Goldman admitted the withdrawn money was spent on $150 methamphetamine purchases two or three times a week. She also admitted to federal prosecutors that five other people had moved into her and her husband’s home at no cost and with no shared expenses.

She would sometimes give cash to her housemates, she told the prosecutor.

The attorney’s office stated Goldman also bought a second home for $68,000 and furnished it using the money she took from her husband. She also purchased a vehicle, a motorhome, and vehicles for other people. She also gave cash to her daughter and husband’s parents.

The case was investigated by the Veterans Affairs – Office of the Inspector General and the Social Security Administration – Office of the Inspector General. Assistant United States Attorney Liza Brown prosecuted the case for the United States.