Category: Phony soldiers

By: MCPO (SW) Terence B. Hoey, USN (Ret.), Stolen Valor Researcher & Investigator
April 30, 2018, New York City

I have been reporting on Valor Thief Voepel since last March 29th, Vietnam Veterans Day. His tales of military derring-do are so outrageous, insulting and unbelievable, I traveled to San Diego on April 16th and exposed him (at the stern of the USS MIDWAY Museum) for what he is: a liar; a complete fraud; and a total disgrace to the U.S. Navy. PERIOD.

Some media outlets could not or did not want to do their homework or listen to the evidence at hand. So, we found a real journalist.

Ken Stone of the Times of San Diego will be breaking the expected news about Voepel’s continued false claims and disgusting remarks about what it is like to be in combat. The Stolen Valor community has obtained several devastating videos of the now and future former CA Assemblyman Randy Voepel claiming to have served with Task Force (TF) 117 in Vietnam. He claims to have served on boats as a gunner inserting U.S. Navy SEALs. He did not, he was onboard the USS GURKE (DD-783) at the time of his wild and unbelievable claims.

We immediately provided these videos to Ken Stone of the Times of San Diego who is working on a story that will certainly rock CA politics to the core and finally propel the issue of Stolen Valor to national attention.

New insulting and disgusting Voepel videos here at the Times of San Diego:

The Stolen Valor community is calling on Voepel to resign immediately without any further delay. In addition we are calling on federal and state law enforcement agencies with jurisdiction and the CA Assembly to conduct a full and complete investigation into Voepel’s claims, the denials and misinformation provided by his Chief of Staff, Mason Herron and to ensure the U.S. Stolen Valor Act of 2013, 18 USC 498 and CA Assembly Bill 153 (CA Stolen Valor Act of 2017) is applied as appropriate. Voepel supported CA AB 153, a bill that will likely and finally facilitate his removal from office.

The Stolen Valor community, Veterans and like-minded patriots across our great nation are watching this story as it develops and we wait for law enforcement and leadership in the CA Assembly to take action.

I will be reporting on this story as it continues to develop and will not stop exposing confirmed valor thieves like Voepel and the miscreants he now represents.
California’s last Vietnam Veteran serving in the Assembly is nothing more than a CLOWN, problem is … no one is laughing!

Someone sent us their work on this Character, Douglas B. Sherrow who claimed to be the XVIIIth Airborne Corps Commander, a three-star-general. He gave out this business card;

This is his LinkedIn Profile;

Well, according to his records, he retired as an armor branched officer in the New York National Guard. He began his military career in 1970 as an enlisted soldier in the Guard and then he was commissioned in 1972 and he spent his entire career in the National Guard, until he retired in 1994. He wasn’t even parachutist qualified, one would think that a commander of an Airborne Cops could jump from an airplane. He had no deployments in his 24 years of service.

Our partners at Stolen Valor – Canada shared their work on this fellow, Earl Woolery who claims that he served in Desert Storm as a Cavalry Scout. He was a Staff Sergeant serving in an amored cavalry unit but he wasn’t in Desert Storm, unless Lincoln, Nebraska was threatened by Saddam Hussein;

Mr Woolery was assigned to an Army Reserve Unit that didn’t deploy to Desert Storm;

Posers aren’t only in the US. The Nottingham Post reports that David Santini was in court today to answer to charges that he had illicitly collected donations from locals to the tune of £5,000 (about $6875.07). The court ordered that he surrender £725 (£517.95 in his pocket and £207.11 in his bank acccount) or face another month in jail.

He was pretending to collect donations for Help for Heroes;

When Santini was sentenced the court was told that when he was challenged he was unable to produce an Armed Forces identity card.

It was later discovered that he previously served in the Army but received a dishonourable discharge in 1983.

According to the article, Santini is no stranger to incarceration;

The court heard Santini has a string of previous convictions for dishonesty, and in January 2000 was jailed for two-and-a-half years at Bradford Crown Court for five offences of theft and deception where he targeted vulnerable women and pretended to be a serving soldier.

On one occasion Santini claimed he needed money to buy himself out of the Army and flee the country, and on another Santini said he needed cash to give to fellow soldiers.

Santini, 56, of North Drove, Quadring, near Spalding, had pleaded guilty to two charges of fraud between June and October 2014 and a further charge of theft from Mrs Taylor.

Someone sent us their work on this Gregory Issac Tambone fellow. He’s the owner of Bone Tactical which sells edged weapons and does security work and training. The industry thinks that Bone Tactical is a veteran-owned business;

Mr Tambone has a past that would preclude any military service. For example he was arrested in Florida in 2005;

Oquine Joseph, 20, was a passenger in the car that authorities say was driven by Gregory Tambone, who is accused of shooting Brent Sielaff, 24, at the Shell station in the 5300 block of U.S. 41. The home-invasion robbery happened in the 2800 block of 51st Avenue Terrace West.

A person who saw the shooting recognized that a woman in the shooter’s car was wearing a necklace stolen during the robbery, according to sheriff’s reports. Joseph said he was with Sielaff, 18, and his friends during the robbery, authorities said.

Ten years later, he was charged with rape in Salt Lake City;

A bouncer at a Salt Lake City bar charged in 2016 with raping a woman has been arrested in Florida and returned to Utah.

Gregory Tambone, 31, of Bradenton, Florida, was charged with rape, a first-degree felony, in April of 2016. He used to work as a bouncer at The Hotel, 155 W. 200 South.

In August of 2015, a woman said “she and some friends were out celebrating at a local bar” when “she went to The Hotel bar where she met with defendant Gregory I. Tambone where he works as a bouncer,” according to charging documents.

The two had met a month earlier and exchanged numbers, the charges state.

“As she was leaving the bar, Tambone asked (her) if she wanted a private tour of the building before she left,” according to court documents.

When they got to an upper level, Tambone removed the woman’s clothes “and forced her to engage in sexual intercourse with him” despite multiple pleas from the woman of “stop” and “no,” the charges state.

An arrest warrant for Tambone was issued on April 25, 2016. His initial appearance in court in Salt Lake was scheduled for Tuesday.

The National Personnel Records Center says “Who?”

Someone sent us their work on this Ron Etzig fellow who claims to be a paratrooper and a combat veteran in the 82d Airborne Division;

Deciphering a confusing FOIA submission, it looks like he enlisted in the National Guard on December 5, 2008, went to basic training on May 4, 2009 and then went home on May 20th. 16 days of active service;

Thank you for your service, Ron.

Our partners at Military Phonies send us their work on this Robert Allen Owen fellow. He plays a Navy SEAL on social media;

But the Navy tells a different story about his career;

Based on Allen’s summary Sheet shows that he did just under 4 years of active duty in the Navy and not 12 that he claimed. He was discharged as a Seaman Recruit (SR) E-1. There is no record of him attending BUD/S, NO jump school, and NO SEAL Command. Allen was stationed on the USS John F Kennedy.