Category: Phony soldiers

20-year-old Jesus Garcia pretended to be a wounded soldier and bilked some citizens out of thousands of dollars. In fact right before the police discovered that he knew nothing about the military, which made sense since he’d never served, they were prepared for him to speak at a Memorial Day event according to an NBC affilate;

During the conversation, Cpt. Heavey realized that something was not right, Greenwich police said. Heavey suspected that Garcia’s claims were not true and then learned that he had given a fake name and date of birth.

Police charged Garcia with interfering with an officer later that date. As police continued to investigate, they found two victims Garcia had taken thousands of dollars from, police said. Greenwich police would like to here from any other potential victims.

There were other instances when Garcia posed publicly in a uniform and pretended to be a soldier, police said.

Garcia was charged with false representation of armed force uniform, fraudulent use of military insignia and fifth and sixth-degree larceny.

But it was only Garcia taking advantage of his right to speak freely. From Associated Press;

He said he obtained the uniform online and wore it on the train to New York several times, getting free rides as a result. He said he posed in the uniform on his Facebook page, admitted he received about $900 from two people and told one person he was hit three times in the back.

“I did it just to actually feel like I was somebody in life,” Garcia said.

Well, you could have been someone by finishing school and actually joining the military, Jesus. This is from his Facebook profile;

You don’t become someone by stealing your personae from someone else. Numbnuts.

Just A Grunt sends us to a local Georgia TV station link to a story about a phony who played up PTSD-symptoms to hoodwink the Roswell, GA VFW post out of some of their cash;

“[He] showed a lot of the signs, common signs that you would expect from PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) and some different traumas,” he said.

Mitiu said he gave [Michael Bradshaw, 32 years old] about $345, and other members kicked in several hundred more dollars in “good faith.” Several weeks later, he said Bradshaw’s military record became available and it showed a different story.

“Once we saw his discharge papers, that he’d been kicked out in 2001 before 9/11, then we started asking the police for advice,” Mitiu said.

Mitiu said Bradshaw’s story also raised flags when he told other veterans he’d gone to Ranger School at a military base that didn’t have a Ranger school.

So he wasn’t just a liar, he was an idiot about it, too.

“Every penny we raise that doesn’t keep the lights on is going to help these guys out,” he said. “So, when someone is taking those funds, they’re taking it from another soldier and a family that needs that assistance.”

Roswell police said Bradshaw’s alleged scheme should be a wake-up call for other charities and nonprofits eager to lend a helping hand.

A real veteran won’t mind proving his creds, folks. I busted one in my house a few weeks ago. One of my wife’s friends brought her boyfriend over and he was wearing a Ranger T-shirt and a cell phone on a Ranger strap around his neck. He introduced himself by mentioning he’d been in the 1st Ranger Battalion.

I asked him when and he told me during the same period I’d been there. I thought it was pretty silly that he was introducing himself as a Ranger and wearing all of that silly shit so many decades after he was there, so I asked him which company while I reached for the yearbook and asked him which one in the photos was him. He told me that he was sick the day we took the pictures not realizing that people who were absent were still listed without a photo.

So I threw his ass out. I guess his girlfriend broke up with him, too. Life is hard when you’re a dumbass.