Valley Trucking School Owner Pleads Guilty to $4.2 Million Fraud

The owner of a Chatsworth trucking school pleaded guilty Monday to federal fraud charges for bilking the Department of Veterans Affairs out of more than $4 million. Emmit Marshall of Woodland Hills ran Chatsworth-based Alliance School of Trucking. His plea agreement states that between July 2011 and April 2015, he and co-defendant Robert Waggoner of Canyon Country, a director at AST, defrauded the VA by creating and submitting fraudulent enrollment paperwork for veterans who never attended the school. Under the Post 9/11 GI Bill, the VA provided AST with housing and tuition funds that would pay for veterans to complete 160-hour tractor-trailer and 600-hour driver development classes. Instead of using the money for educational programs, Marshall and Waggoner pocketed the cash. As a result of the scheme, the VA paid around $2.3 million in tuition fees to AST as well as $1.9 million in book and supply benefits directly to veterans. The VA’s total loss is estimated at $4.2 million. Marshall pleaded guilty to five felony counts of wire fraud and faces a maximum sentence of 100 years in federal prison. His sentence hearing is scheduled for November 18. Waggoner is scheduled to go to trial on February 25, 2020.