Man gets prison for faking wheelchair need

LINKOPING, Sweden, March 24 (UPI) -- An Iraqi-born Swedish man was sentenced to four years in prison for receiving disability benefits even though he spent a holiday climbing the pyramids in Egypt.

The man, whose name was not reported, claimed $806,000 in benefits from the Social Insurance Agency between 2006 and 2012, TheLocal.se reported Saturday. He told his doctors he could not walk, eat or get dressed by himself because he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and chronic pain disorder after traumatizing experiences in Iraq.

The wheelchair-bound man received help from a publicly funded personal carer for three years even though police obtained photographs of him riding on camels and climbing the pyramids while on vacation in 2009 in Egypt.

The man, from the Ostergotland region, was sentenced to four years in prison and was ordered to pay damages of approximately $806,000. His ex-wife was sentenced to three years in prison for her involvement, and the couple's two sons received suspended sentences, TheLocal.se reported.