MILWAUKEE - A 45-year-old Bay View man was charged Monday for stealing a 52-inch wide screen TV from the nursing section Zabolcki Veterans Administration Medical Center.

Jeffry Polak was charged in federal court with stealing government property.

Surveillance video broadcast on television, showed the suspect walking out of the VA hospital on April 4 with a huge TV. The man told residents he was a maintenance worker taking the TV to be fixed.

In the criminal complaint, the government makes its strongest case based on information from Polak's own family.

"As a whole family, we felt really bad," Polak's brother Allen said, "because they (the veterans) were hurt the most."

When Allen Polak saw the picture of a guy rolling out a big screen TV from the VA Center he knew it was his brother. He just didn't want to believe it.

TODAY'S TMJ4's Charles Benson: "Did you know what his involvement was with the TV?"

"No. He had just contacted me and said he had a TV he had come across and he was trying to do something with it," Allen Polak said.

Allen said his brother has a history of drug and alcohol problems and run-ins with police. He spent four years in the Marines and had a brief stint with the French Foreign Legion.

He was a familiar face at the VA because he had used its medical services.

According to the complaint, Polak may have dumped the big screen TV in a landfill after hauling it out of the VA last month.

The vets now have a new TV, thanks to a generous donation.

"Of course, we felt worse for the veterans because they were the victims here," Allen Polak explained.

The court system will now determine Jeffry Polak's fate. If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison and a quarter million dollar fine.