Ex-cop may face prison
Renowned hunter accused of bilking workers comp

By Sara Burnett, Rocky Mountain News
June 13, 2007

David Holt poses with a Namibian kudu on a bowhunt in 1999. Holt, a former Denver police officer, has claimed disability since 1986, but was indicted Tuesday on charges of collecting payments fraudulently. His attorney said he does bowhunting only with the help of colleagues.
STORY TOOLS

David F. Holt, a former Denver police officer, built an international reputation as a bowhunter - leading trips to Africa, writing books and starring in instructional videos.
While he was doing all that, he was fraudulently collecting at least $667,000 in workers compensation and disability payments, the state attorney general said Tuesday.

Holt, 60, of Lakewood, was indicted on nine counts of forgery, two counts of theft and one count of making a false statement. If convicted, he faces up to 54 years in prison and a fine of up to $2.5 million.

The indictment charges that Holt lied about his disability for 18 years, convincing doctors he suffered from serious psychological and physical problems.

Holt's attorney, Rick Kornfeld, denied the charges, saying Holt engages in his bowhunting and related activities only with help from friends and colleagues.

"He never intended to defraud anybody or any entity, nor did he do so," Kornfeld said. "We have 20 years of medical records that support the fact he was and still is disabled."

Holt was in Africa on Tuesday on a pre-scheduled trip, Kornfeld said.

Holt started working as a Denver police officer in 1968. According to the indictment returned Friday in Denver District Court, he claimed to have hurt himself in March 1986 while running a Denver Police Department obstacle course.

Though initial tests were negative, tests six days later revealed Holt may have been suffering from a ruptured blood vessel just outside his brain. He also told doctors he was suffering severe psychological problems, including paranoia, short-term memory loss and an inability to control his emotions, the indictment states.

His girlfriend at the time said Holt walked with a shuffling gait, but the injury "resolved a couple of weeks after the accident, except when he went to a doctor," according to the indictment.

Holt was approved for temporary disability in 1986, receiving weekly payments of about $336. The following year, the City and County of Denver granted permanent total disability.

Meanwhile, Holt was working on his first book, Balanced Bowhunting, which he self-published in 1988. He told doctors that friends helped him complete the project, according to the indictment.

In the following years, Holt traveled extensively, promoting the book, taking hunting trips, writing for magazines and appearing in promotional videos.

In 1999, he formed a company called Dave Holt's Africa, to take bowhunters on overseas trips. He published Balanced Bow-hunting II in 2004, and was one of two instructors featured on the cover of the 2005 DVD Africa With Stick and String.

In 2004, suspicious of his many bowhunting activities, Denver hired investigators to conduct surveillance on Holt, the indictment said. A psychologist was later hired to conduct an examination, which Holt was required to attend.

Holt missed the first two appointments, saying he was too upset to attend. When they did meet, Holt sat in a corner. He seemed "childlike and fearful," and said he couldn't read or write without help, according to the indictment.

The psychologist diagnosed Holt as "malingering," or faking or exaggerating his illness, and Denver moved to revoke Holt's disability status. Colorado Attorney General John Suthers took the case to a statewide grand jury last fall.

"Workers compensation is an important tool to protect the health and well-being of employees in Colorado," Suthers said in a statement released Tuesday. "It is imperative we ensure the integrity of the system by catching those who commit fraud and prosecuting them to the full extent of the law."

Holt's bond has been set at $1 million. His attorney said he didn't know when Holt is scheduled to return to Colorado.

Indictment excerpts

• "Holt claimed to have been experiencing ever- more serious physical and psychological symptoms such as being frightened of strangers; extreme short-term memory loss; an inability to control his emotions; paranoia; not being able to care for himself; and presented to at least one doctor as 'a frightened 3-year-old child clinging to his mother's skirt for protection against a hostile world.' "

• "Initially, Holt also displayed a shuffling gait, which according to Christine Ruys, his girlfriend at the time, resolved a couple of weeks after the accident, except when he went to a doctor."

• "Between 1987 and 1990, his treating physician . . . a psychiatrist, continued to diagnose Holt with an organic personality disorder, and while noting that there had been some improvement, he believed it doubtful that Holt would ever be able to return to gainful employment."

• "In 1988, 1989 and 1990, Holt traveled extensively promoting his book and taking hunting trips. He wrote articles for Bowhunter Magazine, did consulting work, made money loaning money, invested in real estate and earned money by giving bow-hunting lessons."

• "In 1999, Holt began to charter hunting trips to take people bowhunting in Africa, called 'Dave Holt's Africa,' and later officially filed it as a trade name on Jan. 19, 2005. According to Jody Hefley, Holt's girlfriend during this period, he was in no way disabled."

• "According to Dr. Klein, Holt presented himself extremely depressed and downtrodden, and spoke in a soft voice. He sat far away in a corner, and presented himself as childlike and fearful. Holt claimed that he could not complete the patient form and that he was unable to read and write without a lot of help. Holt told Dr. Klein in the interview that his days consisted of watching TV, and reading and writing with a lot of assistance. He told Klein that he 'plays' with his bows and arrows and does target shooting outside. All of this seemed improbable to Klein, so she did some further investigation."

Tracking David F. Holt

• 1968: Holt joins the Denver police department

• 1986: Holt says he is injured while running a police obstacle course and begins collecting temporary disability.

• 1987: City and county of Denver approves permanent total disability.

• 1988: Holt self-publishes first book, Balanced Bowhunting. He tells doctors he had help from friends to complete the project.

• 1999: Holt starts Dave Holt's Africa, leading bowhunting trips to Africa.

• 2004: Publishes Balanced Bowhunting II. City and county of Denver hires investigators to conduct surveillance on Holt.

• 2005: An instructional video starring Holt is released. A doctor meets with him and determines he is faking or exaggerating his illness - a claim his attorney denies. Permanent total disability status is withdrawn.

• 2006: A statewide grand jury begins hearing the case

• June 8, 2007: The grand jury hands up a 12-count indictment. Holt's attorney says he has medical records to show that Holt is disabled.Source: Indictment, Attorney General John Suthers

burnetts@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5343

You know, I'm not near as active traveling etc. to hunt, only applying for draws in my state, but am disabled as well on SS.
When I do go, I really have to up the pain meds etc., but the whole time I'm really worried that it may be used against me some how. I imagine some guy filming me and using it as evidence against my disability, but all out of context and proportion. I just love to go so much, that I push myself to go and enjoy it (with help) while I still can, but suffer for days afterward. It really sucks when you are afraid to do "anything" because of what people may say or think, or what it could cost you.
This guy might just be a fake/fraud I don't know, but if not, I sort of know where he is coming from. You can only stay homebound for so long feeling worthless, and if I had to give up trying to hunt....well, you get the picture...

I just read about this, I also am under the impression that Holt is not in the US at the moment.

He's faking. Period.

If you can hunt, I will go out on a limb and say YOU CAN WORK.

Put him in general population if convicted.

I sounds like he's faking. If he can go on that many hunts, travel around the country, and write books with a sane mind, he's screwing the government period.

I have a relative that is on disability. He still hunts with me all of the time but, he has to take it really easy and takes pain pills when it gets too tough. He wishes every day he wasn't hurt and was still working.

I do feel the Government should have caught this well before now.

Reloader

quote:

If you can hunt, I will go out on a limb and say YOU CAN WORK.

SG, You have to look at it from the other prospective as well. What if you had 6 back surgeries, could only stand for 10-15 min at a time, your legs constantly hurt from the damaged nerves? You could still go hunting with a friend, have him drive you right up to a ground blind, and sight in a comfortable chair for a few hours waiting for a deer that you could shoot with your low recoiling rifle and then have your friend load and care for the deer. I do this for my friend that's disabled. The Doctor told him he be in a wheelchair if he tried to work again(He cried). I guess when you see this sort of thing with near and dear friends or family it sort of hits home.

I agree the guy in the post above is a fraud but, their are many disabled people that cannot work but they can hunt with assistance.

Reloader

Reloader,

I am sitting at work waiting for a phone call right now. It is 6:45 am here. I am sure there are people who cannot work any job at all and can still hunt or fish. With 6 billion plus people on earth the statistics are on your side. But I stand by what I said before. I am actually laying on my office floor typing this because I am recovering from my third back surgery. I have a good idea about, and a hell of a lot of experience with pain including leg pain. SG

I just had my right knee rebuilt last Thursday. I spent 2 days watching bow hunting videos from africa to remind me why I was going through all the pain post surgery. I want to be able to hunt and walk again. Nxt safari Aug 08 with my bow. If I was a cop,,, I would be disabled but even now on crutches I am at work seeing patients, with no pain meds, I can not practice while on controlled substance and advil isn't cutting it. My surgeon told me that since I work for myself, I would heal much quicker than those hurt on a job and on disability. There will always be those that use the system to help themselves but it needs to be in place to help those that really need it. I have had 3 dentists become disabled from practice, all still hunt and fish. One was bitten on the hand by a rattlesnake, one had lost the feeling in his hands due to a neck injury, and the last has a form of palsey. Yep, no one wants to be my dentist now! I may not want their hands in my mouth but I like to have them in my jeep or boat. They all receive a disability check and rightfully so. I will let the court and his god be this guys judge, not me. I like to bow hunt for many reasons but one of the great ones is that due to my immobility that I have had due to a really messed up knee, I can blind hunt and do well. Be slow to throw sticks at this guy, there are always two sides to the story.

SG,

I agree if you have an office job you can get right back to work but, when you live in rural areas, office jobs are not very common. You either bust your rearend working on foot or sit at the house. You can't expect a man that's worked in a plant or in some other industry in a rural area for 25 years and all of the sudden get's hurt and absolutley can not return to work to pick up his entire family move hours away to some town where he can be someones secretary(He will have to start at the bottom).

Like I said there are many circumstances where you can be on disability and still hunt with assistance.

Reloader

there is a HUGE difference between hunting with the help of friends and running your own charter company taking people to Africa, giving bow lessons, and making instructional videos, etc. this guy is a fraud( read again what how he behaved when interviewed by the consulting psychiatrist) he is milking a much needed system designed to help people with REAL disabilities.

I had a friend that was a fueler for United Airlines. He went down hard pulling a hose out, I seen him fall. He was really hurting. They took him away on a back board. During recovery he got bored silly so his wife drove him to where his boat was. He was sitting on a chair slowly scraping paint when the spys from United seen him. They fired him for it. He won in court and they had to pay for his re-training for another job. To this day his back bothers him after several operations. Everyone that has been injured at United has lost thier jobs. There are things you can do and things you can't after an injury but they want you flat on your back forever. If you can hobble around, they think you are faking.
There are a lot of cheats and a lot of rightful claims but I am not qualified to judge them. A pencil pusher should not be qualified either. Even if I was in pain, I would not sit around waiting to die. I can't see any of you giving up either. We have to give the guy the benefit of doubt.
Think of our soldiers returning from battle with horrible injuries and the treatment they get. They are treated like second class citizens as if it was their fault they were shot or blown up. I don't think this is an issue we can evaluate unless we were in the medical profession and examined him personally.

"Severe psychological problems, including paranoia, short term memory loss, and inability to control his emotions"

Yet he is able to "Star" in How-to-DVD's on archery, lead others on trips to Africa, and write and self-publish books.

If a psychiatrist put his license on the line by calling the guy a malingerer, and the grand jury issues a 12 count indictment, then he is unlikely to be in the same boat as people with legitimate disabilities.

My grandson is bi-polar and lives with us. He is nice as pie one minute but if I say anything to him he will go off, throw stuff at me and want to fight. The banging, screaming and insane actions drive me from the house before I kill him.
The quacks say he is OK and doing well even though he was constantly thrown out of school for threatening other kids. He does not have one single friend in the world and can't associate with anyone. We put him in college because he is smart but could not last any time at all because he thinks he knows everything but could not do the work. Much money down the drain. Walk in my shoes for a week and tell me if you trust a quack! They say he can get a job and work. He is going on 19 and I am going on 70. He won't even help cut the grass. If we ask for help he goes off. All he does is play video games and eat. How many of you would hire him? I will send him to you.

So you've got a jackass on your hands, and its the doctor's fault?

and what does your grandson's problem have to do with an obvious malingerer? every individual's problem is different and this guy is full of shit! if he was psychologically disabled he would absolutely not be able to do all the things he has done for the last 15 plus years. he is basically a thief, stealing money from a program designed to help people with a legitimate need

I met Dave in the airport in Windhoek ,Namibia in 2002.I did not notice any limp or shuffling gate.He seemed very methodical in the manner in which he evaluated hunting operations that he was there to look at and he insisted that he would only do business with operators that would do things "his way".He did not seem withdrawn, he had no problems asserting himself and dealing with airport paperwork as well as the crowds in the airport.

He hunted free at one of the ranches he had been evaluating and took a record book eland.Never bothered to make arrangements to have it shipped home.

None of this gives me the right to judge the legitamacy of his charges, these are just observations I made when we met.

Some have said that Dave may have been able to hunt but at the same time not be gainfully employed.I agree that is possible.But Dave Holt WAS gainfully employed in the hunting industry as a guide, writer, and booking agent.How do we reconcile both? Is it legal to be receiving disability and have gainful employment at the same time?Does the income need to be reported to the agency handling the disability claim?I do not know the answers to these questions but that I feel is what the jury is going to have to find out.

No, it's not the doctors fault because my grandson can hoodwink him. It's just that the doctor doesn't live with him. Thats why his opinion can't be trusted, even in court.
All I have been saying is that I can't personally judge anyone based on what is said unless I know for a fact what is going on.
I have seen too many people screwed by the company I worked for when they were very badly injured. Yes, some were cheats but I knew them as I knew the ones that were legitimate and I could sort them out. For a stranger, I need proof. Thats why there are juries and judges.
I would not judge any of you based on what someone said about you.
Let's be calm and not spread stuff, let the facts come out as they are. Do not judge first. If he cheated, let him pay the price. I am not sticking up for him. I just say the system can be wrong and many good people pay the price. I reserve all judgement until it is over and done with.

WTF! The guy IS working. He's running a seemingly successful business, he sells, travels, keeps a busy schedule, shoots at least a 55 lb bow. If he can do all that, he's been milking the system. Hell, anybody who can fly coach to Africa can handle a tough job.

"Hell, anybody who can fly coach to Africa can handle a tough job."

Hee Hee. That's a good one.

Not everyone who is on disability and gets out to do some hunting is a fraud, BUT this Guy is.

This jackass is going to jail..he not only was a fraud but rubbed it in every working mans nose, like he is smarter than everyone else while working the system. Once he started making real money he should have declined the disability payments like any honest person would do. He was greedy and got caught. Hey, and lets not forget this piece of crap was a police officer sworn to protect and serve the public, not himself! He is not the victim..we are.

quote:

Originally posted by Woodrow S:
This jackass is going to jail..he not only was a fraud but rubbed it in every working mans nose, like he is smarter than everyone else while working the system. Once he started making real money he should have declined the disability payments like any honest person would do. He was greedy and got caught. Hey, and lets not forget this piece of crap was a police officer sworn to protect and serve the public, not himself! He is not the victim..we are.

I agree.
Most of us work to be able to afford our own fun, not afford his too. System moochers are pretty sorry individuals imo.

Wanna see system Moochers!!

Come to Southern California.... Btw.. They can't/won't speak english either...

quote:

Originally posted by MopaneMike:
Wanna see system Moochers!!

Come to Southern California.... Btw.. They can't/won't speak english either...

no shortage of em, no matter where you are it seems.

He is booked to be giving a two day seminar in Pretoria, South Africa on 14 & 15 July?????

Any further news on what happened to Dave??

I defend insurance carriers in workers comp. cases. I live in a rural area and I commonly ask claimant's whether they are still able to hunt or fish. One guy in particular was a real POS who was claiming that he was unable to work do to a wrist injury. While undergoing physical therapy in an attempt to get him back to work, he repeatedly told the staff that he was still shooting his bow every day. It turned out that he also used to shoot for one of the major bow manufacturers.