Another Georgia Dive Instructor Guilty

Who knew there was so much money to be found in dive training? In the continuing saga of Georgia dive shop owners and personnel bilking the Veterans Administration (see Undercurrent October 2022), a sixth defendant in a scuba fraud investigation has admitted filing false claims with the Department of Veterans affairs.

John Spyker, 39, Director of Training at Diver's Den in St. Marys, GA, admitted that from about January 2021 through January 2022, he and others, submitted false and fraudulent information to the Department of Veterans Affairs for tuition payments under the Post-9/11 GI Bill totaling more than $722,000. He awaits sentencing after pleading guilty, subjecting him to a possible statutory penalty of up to five years in prison, along with substantial fines and restitution. There is no parole in the federal system.

Meanwhile, Kenneth Meers, 54, of Altamonte Springs, FL, said to be the architect of the scheme to defraud the government of more than $6 million, has been sentenced to 54 months in federal prison without parole.