You may remember Michael Hamilton when I wrote about him in May while he was facing charges for claiming he went from recruit to Colonel in just eight wonderful years and was awarded eight Purple Hearts. Hamilton told this story at veterans functions and in schools.
Well, it turns out that the human rocket also pedaled this story to the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, since he was so successful among his peers, to the tune of $30,000 in benefits.
Hamilton, 67, of Richlands, fraudulently said during a Veterans Affairs compensation medical exam last year that he saw repeated combat in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia that resulted in him being “shot, stabbed, and blown up, and witnessed atrocities such as the dismemberment and decapitation of his best friend,” the indictment alleges.
Hamilton’s claim for service-connected compensation also included the false statements that he was extensively honored for his performance in battle by receiving two Navy Crosses, the second highest award for valor, according to the indictment. He also claimed to have earned three Silver Stars, five Bronze Stars, and eight Purple Hearts.
This is after he’d already been found guilty of altering his ID card to represent himself as a two-star general. He got off with a $100 fine and six months probation. Apparently, the light sentence only encouraged him to up the ante and go for the gold.
So the taxpayers get stuck with a $30,000 bill that we’ll never get back. The only cure is to up these sentences and mandatory jail time…and executing any judge in the public square that wants to erase valid laws with their “no compelling interest” blather.
ADDED: I forgot to thank someone for the link who only left me with his real name and I doubt that he wants you know it.
No, no, no. This was just expressive conduct intended to make a statement about the haphazard awarding of benefits by the VA. I mean, no one could take him seriously with such a far-fetched story, right?
Dang dude, I also think he must be lying about his age?
ON topic: Fraud is fraud. If he skates another floodgate will open.
Scott, you’re right. After they put this chump in jail, they should investigate the nitwit at the VA who awarded him $30,000.
Sad, another ex-Marine.
Yes Ponsdorf;
His age,,,, 67? Hell, I am 70 and he looks all of 15 years older than I look.
100% phony.
What a POS. I would call him a shit bird but the shit birds of the world have warned me about badmouthing them.
How did Don Knotts get that uniform, and why is he wearing it? Meanwhile, how about a year for every dollar he stole? And, as AP said, send the nitwit who gave him the go-ahead for the gold the same amount of time.