Veteran seeking benefits charged

Two months ago, Vietnam veteran and Huntington Beach resident Jack Cameron Frost, 60, went into the district office of Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, angry about what he saw as a lack of progress on his application for disability benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Soon after he came out, he began filing a complaint against the office at a nearby police substation but was soon arrested there on suspicion of strong-arm robbery — a felony.

That much, everyone agrees on.

But Frost’s account of what happened in-between differs sharply from authorities and those who worked in the office.

The Orange County District Attorney is prosecuting Frost on charges of strong-arm robbery, and Frost says he refuses to plea-bargain because he doesn’t believe he’s guilty of a felony and never intended to rob or threaten anyone.

Frost says he still is waiting on help from the VA and pointed out a construction trailer he lives in as a favor from a friend. He said he suffers from chronic pain, post-traumatic stress disorder, difficulty walking, and other ailments, and can only do the occasional odd job. He says no one offering services has understood what he goes through.

“They don’t factor in what circumstances someone could be in,” he said.

According to police reports, District Director Kathleen Hollingsworth, who was handling Frost’s case, told police she felt intimidated by the 250-pound Frost over a few months as he demanded more actions from the office.

In Frost’s eyes, workers at the office never tried to help him.

“They were arrogant, uncooperative, showed little respect, and were not really concerned about my issues,” he said. “What was so hard about these requests? That’s what blows me away.”

The tension came to a head May 15, witnesses told police. That day, Frost came into the office and argued with Hollingsworth until they and another staffer met privately in Rohrabacher’s office. Once there, Frost asked for all his files back and grabbed a thick manila folder off the desk.

Witnesses said Hollingsworth tried to take the folder back, but Frost wrested it away, striking her with his elbow and hitting her with the door while running out.

Frost says he’s not sorry and is still angry at the employees of the office, calling their testimony untrue. He said he never hit anyone; he just tried to extricate himself from Hollingsworth. He added that he meant only to copy the files next door and return them, but that workers tried to tackle him as soon as he touched the folder.

“It was escape and evasion,” he said of his actions. “That’s a [Navy] Seals term for just getting out of there.”

Calls for comment to Rohrabacher’s office were forwarded to Hollingsworth.

Hollingsworth said she is barred from talking about individual constituent service cases by federal privacy law, as well as from talking about the alleged robbery because she may be called to testify in the case. But she said the incident shook her; she repeatedly sounded on the verge of tears during a phone interview.

Regarding constituent services in general, she said Veterans Affairs issues often take years to resolve, and that because of the separation of powers, members of Congress can’t command federal agencies to take any particular action, they can just ask for a status report.

News reports have stated that the VA has a 600,000-case backlog, and a class-action lawsuit was filed by disabled veterans against the agency in July, accusing it of obstructing access to care.

Frost is scheduled for a pre-trial conference on Aug. 22.