i DEAF NEWS received an e mail from Bryce Chapman and he has authorized i DEAF NEWS to release this video and document message. ________________________ My name is Bryce Chapman and I am one of the recently indicted for the ongoing VRS fraud cases. My charge is: conspiracy to commit wire fraud, which basically means I participated in the planning to commit illegal activity. The statement is true and I have accepted the responsibility of my actions by pleading guilty. I accepted the responsibility of committing to make at least $400 monthly payments for restitution in the amount of close to 19 million dollars—I will have to make those payments for the rest of my life. What I did was awful and this situation is the worst experience of my life. I know I can’t go back in the past and undo things, but I what I can do going forward is accept responsibility, apologize to everyone that was harmed by my actions, and work as hard as I can to contribute positively to the community that we belong to. One of the biggest things that I will have to deal for rest of my life is that I will have to deal for rest of my life is that I will always have a certain perception by you all in our community. As a father, I have to be prepared for that day when my children start to ask me about what happened. I made a very poor judgment call on being part of this illegal activity several years ago, and I accept full responsibility. It has been a long journey from when everything started up to this charge. I started working with Hawk Relay in 2006 as web developer (technology guy) for the company. It was small organization and I had several different roles. The experience in the beginning was very positive and I did not witness any illegal activities until the summer of 2007. I had my suspicions that our business was not completely ethical in the way that we did things, and I communicated those concerns with the other people with Hawk Relay, but I was always be smothered with answers that I couldn’t debate back. I was assured by Sam Hawk, who I trusted and viewed as a friend, that the activities were temporary and that we would eventually become financially independent an did not have to resort to overbilling the Federal government. The illegal activities were basically this: Hawk Relay would pay deaf people to generate VRS calls and bill the FCC for those VRS calls. These were legitimate calls made by a deaf individual to a hearing person, but the difference was Hawk Relay paid those deaf people to make the calls, which from a FCC viewpoint, is illegal and fraudulent. We were receiving payment for the calls, and by using the payments, we planned to expand the business by hiring more deaf people. I felt with the money that was coming in we were creating job opportunities for other deaf individuals who had never had a job before. I saw several deaf people being given a chance to lead a team, and I was overjoyed that Hawk Relay was making a difference in their lives. For me, it was never about becoming rich by stealing money from the federal government. I would never do that because it is not in my nature. I worked with Hawk Relay for 4 years and I made roughly $45,000 per year and nothing more than that. That is a very low income for a web developer but my heart was in making a difference in our community and the future of Hawk Relay as a good employer of deaf people. I wish I knew how blind and wrong I was about that. The amount that I have to pay back the government in restitution is what Hawk Relay billed to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Hawk Relay only made around $1.00 per minute while other organizations that were processing call centers took the majority of the funds, but the government held Hawk Relay responsible for the total amount because Hawk Relay processed those calls and it cost the government that much money. I am not going to make any excuses: I knew what was happening and I did not do anything to stop it completely during my last three years with Hawk Relay. That goes the same for everybody who was involved with VRS fraud. In December of 2008, the FCC stopped sending payments to Hawk Relay. Many deaf employees did not get their paychecks and it really tore my heart to see what they went through. Some of them had to move out of their homes, their cars were being taken away, and in one particular situation a person lost his child custody rights. I cried for several nights with guilt on how Hawk Relay was destroying other people’s lives. I never wanted this to happen and the entire time I thought Hawk Relay was doing a good thing by providing deaf people with jobs. This is something that will be scarred in me for rest of my life. After the Federal government withheld payment from Hawk Relay, I immediately started to work with the government (FBI). I gave them full cooperation and opened up about everything. It was one of most difficult times in my life because I had to remain in touch with some people with Hawk Relay to not compromise the investigation. I felt dirty, but I knew that I was doing the right thing. I worked with the government from 2009 to 2014 and it was a very long 5 years of my life. I had multiple trips to Washington, DC and opened up about everything. The FBI and I went through e-mails, IM conversations, and documents…everything. I was questioned often. It was a very stressful experience and I couldn’t share that with anyone due to the confidential nature of the investigation. I became severely depressed and gained 65 pounds. To make this even worse, in 2009, when he was two years old, my son had a brain tumor/cancer. We had to do treatment. He got it again in 2011 and recently in late 2014. Between 2009 and 2011, Hawk Relay was somewhat still in operation but not receiving payments from FCC. I continued to be part of the organization for sake of the investigation. By the summer of 2011 I cut all ties with Hawk Relay when they started a new call center and had an investor. I couldn’t allow this to happen again and hurt more people in that process. I did not want the investor to waste one more cent on Hawk Relay. With the government’s blessing, I finally cut my ties with Hawk Relay and Sam Hawk. I shut down everything else to prevent from them continuing their operation. I shut down the servers, web, e-mail, and everything else. I hated myself for doing this to Sam Hawk because I knew this would hurt him badly, but in my mind and heart, it was right thing to do. Like I said, it has been a very long journey. Not just that, it has been extremely confining for me. I couldn’t wait to get out of the entire thing and as soon as I learned that Sam Hawk had been sentenced, I was free at last from the investigation. However, there was a lot of damage done. I hurt my reputation, my family and friends, and our community during that process. I feel like I am finally a part of the community because I don’t have to hide any longer but I am suddenly being kicked out from our community because of my charges. I completely understand and I do not blame anyone who feels angry, disappointed, or shocked with me. It is what I deserve. I will continue to work hard, be a better person, and serve our community as long as I can be welcomed back to our community. I truly love our small community, it is only one of kind and the only one I can really be a part of. Im sorry for so many things. Im sorry for letting everybody involved down-- my family, deaf and hard of hearing community, CODAs, and interpreters. I am so sorry that I betrayed and used our service in a wrong way. I screwed up and none of you deserve any of this. My ultimate goal is to let you all know that I am sorry (although I could never fully show you), by the way I live from now and on. That is by being a better person, use my better judgment, listen to my guts, and serve our community as much as I can, as long as I can. I also want to apologize to the Federal Communications Commission for misusing the wonderful program that they have provided to our community. I also am sorry for not reflecting our community in a positive light to the government. Now, for people who were part of the VRS fraud, I strongly encourage you all to come out and apologize. It is what our community deserves. I would like to believe that most of us are not asking for details like I have provided but a simple apology letter or video – it would mean a lot to many people. It may not grant you the forgiveness you seek but it will help all of us to move forward from this. Thank you for your time to read and listen to this. Again, I am truly sorry. Sincerely, Bryce Chapman
Posted on: Sun, 18 Jan 2015 23:42:23 +0000
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