This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: Phony soldiers

  • Chasing phony soldiers in Oz

    Doug Sterner sent us this link from the Australian Broadcasting Company highlighting the problem of bring stolen valor cases to justice in Australia where laws aren’t jacked around by judges trying to sound smarter than they really are. This is about the gentleman pictured above, Gordon Tisdel;

    Tisdell is also on the ANZMI site sporting an impressive array of Vietnam campaign medals on his left breast pocket. On his right, what appears to be the gongs of half the campaigns since the Anzacs went ashore at Gallipoli.

    But Tisdell’s photographic career has come to an abrupt end after being outed by the Sydney Morning Herald under the headline “Decade of deception ends as veteran claims exposed”.

    The Australian and New Zealand Military Imposters (ANZMI) is similar to the scads of websites here that specializing in outing phonies, like our friends at POW Network and SOCNET. Their complaints about phonies are similar to ours;

    A trawl through the ANZMI site reveals another pattern: the fakes predominately claim to be Vietnam veterans and former members of elite units.

    “Most wannabes come undone because they choose to be SAS troopers or tunnel rats or clearance divers or snipers. If they choose to be cooks or drivers or storemen they may never be caught,” Bill said.

    Also;

    He says ANZMI “no longer approach the authorities because they aren’t interested”.

    Only a handful of impostors in so-called Stolen Valour cases have been prosecuted in recent times.

    “Stolen Valour is not a victimless crime,” said Bill, adding impostors can often cause distress to the families of real veterans who did not come home from war.

    In case you missed it the other day, here’s a preview of the TV show ABC is running tomorrow night. I’ll post more if it becomes available.
    (more…)

  • Phony sergeant gets six months

    I wrote about Jesse Bernard Johnston last Spring.. Johnston fooled the Army into believing he'd been a Marine and entered the Army as a sergeant. Hismilitary experience was limited to six weeks of a 12-week Marine commissioning course. Well, he's been convicted now and sentenced to a mere 6 months in jail;

    He pleaded guilty to one count of making a false official statement, two counts of larceny, two counts of wrongfully wearing a skill badge and two counts of wrongfully wearing a combat patch.

    6 months for putting the lives of soldiers in danger with his inexperience.

    While at Fort Rucker, Johnston received advanced training for use with the Army's Corps Support Airplane Company. That unit, based in Fort Worth, has supplied pilots and intelligence and support personnel for missions aimed at destroying improvised explosive devices in Iraq.

    Army Secretary John M. McHugh, in a July 19 letter to U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman, said military authorities acted "swiftly and appropriately" once they suspected that Johnston had never been a Marine. McHugh described himself as "deeply troubled" by the incident but said he did not consider it a sign of a more serious problem in the recruiting process.

    "We believe that this is an isolated incident and not a larger systematic failure," he wrote.

    The boy deserves years in prison to contemplate how he was lucky that he didn't get anyone killed.

  • How harmless is Stolen Valor?

    Doug Sterner sent us message today about David Michael Melamed who is a doctor practicing Mohs skin cancer surgery in New Mexico. He claims that he was a Navy doctor serving in both Afghanistan and Iraq. He also claimed that he was wounded and awarded the “Purple Heart Medal”. As is often the case on TAH, that’s not exactly true…more accurately, he wasn’t ever in the Navy, let alone a doctor in OEF/OIF and it’s “Order of the Purple Heart”.

    Doug says he tried to warn authorities about Melamed years ago, Now it seems that the New Mexico Medical Board has caught on to his inflated resume` which besides his fake military career included a fake stint teaching at Oxford.

    Now we hear a mother in Texas has filed a malpractice suit against him for applying a sulfur powder to her son’s skin when the boy was allergic to sulfur. Melamed also had a license denied in Rhode Island because of an investigation of his conduct as a resident in California.

    Doug is fond of saying that Stolen Valor crooks are always guilty of something else, too. Melamed is the poster child of that maxim.

    There’s more about Melamed at POW Net.

  • A federal judge who gets Stolen Valor

    36-year-old Douglas Lee Weaver of Arab, Alabama, was convicted of wearing the Silver Star, Combat Infantry Badge, and the Distinguished Service Cross to impress his future wife, according to his attorney. Weaver got an 18-month sentence in the Federal Pound-you-in-the-ass-prison. The prosecutor in the case said;

    “Members of the U.S. military who earn recognition on the battlefield do so through sacrifice and dedication to their country,” U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance said in a statement after Weaver’s sentencing. “Anyone who cheapens that service by claiming military honor and decoration that he or she did not earn, is committing a criminal act and deserves time in prison.”

    27-year-old Skyler Tarquin Smith of Huntsville, AL was sentenced to two years in prison in another Alabama case earlier this month. Smith lied about two Purple Hearts he wore.

  • ABC takes an interest in Stolen Valor

    Folks have been wondering why none of the network TV reporters have taken an interest in the multitude of Stolen Valor phony soldiers who have popped up in the last few years. Well, our wait has ended – ABC has produced a show due for release soon. Oh, not the ABC we know here in the US, but the Australian Broadcasting Corporation;

    A five minute teaser of the REAL JOURNALISTIC INVESTIGATION has been released on YouTube which stars our old friend Richard Strandlof – but you’ll see pictures of some of our other friends included in the video;

    Although we’ve seen media like the Kansas City Star do reports on the Stolen Valor epidemic, no other American broadcaster has bothered to expose the public to this issue. Now that our allies in Oz have, maybe the half-wits in our own media will catch on.

    Thanks to Doug Sterner for the link.

  • Need Navy help with a possible Poser.

    I was cursingcruising POW network and ran into a new one that caught my eye.

    He was wearing the rank of a Petty Officer second class in aviation mechanic but I most of his medals were Army and the ones on there raised some questions. Not to mention the order.

    The Claim according to POW network.

    Claims he is in the Navy and he is originally from the Virginia Beach/ Norfolk area but currently resides in Madison, Virginia. Claimed that he would be stationed in Norfolk then he said he was going to move to Spain then he said he had a choice between going to California, Florida, and Hawaii. All of the sudden he could not go to Hawaii because his commanding officer, a lieutenant, was arrested and he was promoted to lieutenant. Then he could remain living in Madison because he got a job at the Pentagon working for the CIA. Now, he does not have to go to active duty because he is using his GI bill to get his college degree.

    According to his myspace page he is 33 years old and he could have possibly earned the Southwest Asian Service Medal. But were the Campaign Star, every medal should have at least one. Also how can one who is suppose to be a former NCO in the Army and Navy mess up in putting a decoration after the service medals and the NCO Professional Development Ribbon. Just about everything is in the wrong order. Also the lack of a GWOT medal and Star on the National Defense Medal also stands out.

    Also this is were I wondering from those who are in the Navy/Marine side. What medals/ribbons would someone have after coming over from other Branches. Also is there any medals/ribbons that the Navy does not allow to transfer over to the Navy Uniform? Also I have a question about keeping rank coming from other Branches.

    Non-Navy Veterans

    If the Veteran holds a skill that is directly covertable to a Navy Rating, they are usually enlisted at one paygrade lower than they held at time of discharge, but not lower than E-3. If the veteran does not have a skill directly covertable to a Navy rating, they enlist at the grade of E-3, regardless of previously held rank, in most cases (there are a few exceptions).

    For those who hold a skill that is directly convertable to a Navy Rating, the following criteria must be met:

    * E-1 through E-3 –Must have 6 or less years of prior service, and no more than 5 Years Broken Service.

    * E-4 –Must have 6 or less years of prior service, and no more than 3 Years Broken Service.

    * E-5 -Must have 8 or less years of prior service, and no more than 3 Years Broken Service.

    * E-6 – Must have 12 or less years of prior service, and no more than 3 Years Broken Service.

    In addition to the above criteria, all prior service must be able to complete 20 years of service by age 55. No waivers are authorized.

    The Device on the Good Conduct Medal suggest 6 years + and with the regs it again could be possible. But I am not so sure. Also I found a list of Petty Officers second class with the name of the person showing up under a section called Ati2 I have not been able to find anything on what that means. I was hoping to see one someone might know.

    I suspect a fake but I am not 100% sure yet, that is the reason why I have not put up his name or photo. I emailed his wife and asked similar questions about the medals and ribbons so I hope to get a reply soon.

    ADDED:
    I have some new info that says that he joined the Navy in 2003 and left the Navy in about 2009. So that brings into question were are the Navy Good Conduct medals, Marksmanship ribbons and GWOT service medal.

    He goes from giving good conduct in the Army to not getting a single Good Conduct medal in the Navy? Or not going to a rifle range in six years? Plus no one telling him about the GOWT medal?

    Now his wife is claiming that the medals that he is wearing are from a late family member that served 20 years in the military. He was just wearing them to “honor” her.

  • Feds drop Stolen Valor case because of judges’ rulings

    Prosecutors dropped a Stolen Valor case against a Stamford Connecticut man supposedly because of the rulings by 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in California and U.S. District Court in Colorado that the Act is unconstitutional;

    Pace, who was discharged from Army medic training in 2007 for “motivational reasons,” was arrested in April and released on $10,000 bond. He is accused of wearing a U.S. Army uniform while attending paramedic training courses and during other occasions. Several badges and tabs for tactical and medical expertise and service in a war zone were affixed to the uniforms, documents allege.

    The investigation that led to Pace’s arrest began in April 2009 when an Army sergeant at Fort Benning, Ga., found a photo of Pace on the Internet depicting him wearing combat fatigues and Army Ranger markings. The sergeant forwarded the photo to U.S. Department of Defense investigators in New Haven, and they began looking into Pace’s military record and interviewed classmates at a medic training class in Bridgeport.

    Another Stolen Valor Act criminal who pleaded guilty to SVA violations, was fired from his community service sentence at a VA hospital in California thanks to a veterans group who filed a complaint about him with the VA;

    Weber in January pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor violation of the federal Stolen Valor Act. He had worn a dress uniform with the rank of a two-star general and several unearned ribbons to a military gathering in November. He had apparently begun telling tall tales about his military service over several years.

    Weber had served in the Marine Corps as a staff sergeant.

    He was working as a volunteer at the hospital as part of his court-ordered 240 hours of community service. He had worked about 100 hours at the hospital, doing errands for patients and staff.

    The decision to terminate his services was based on a concern that his continued presence could be upsetting to veterans….

    It’s disturbing that the VA had to be told that Weber’s presence was not conducive to good relations with veterans. Seems to me that would be the first thing they would consider after his conviction.

  • Imposter in Portland

    Lafayette Keaton has been wandering around Portland, Oregon telling students and adults alike about his imaginary career in the Army. In his mind, he served in three wars, he was a Ranger and SF operator, Silver Star awardee…oh the list goes on. In truth, his military careerspanned four years and included no wars and Fort Benning can’t find a record of him attending Ranger School.

    Keaton has just been indicted on voter and Social Security fraud, accused of stealing the identity of his dead son and dead brother.

    But that’s not all.

    In 1960 he was convicted of endangering a child. In 1972 he was convicted of kidnapping a toddler he fathered, but he got that conviction expunged.

    In the 1980s, he was sent to prison for taking thousands of dollars from the state for creating a fictitious foster home. Up until that time he worked as a juvenile parole officer

    The phonies are always guilty of something else.

    Thanks to ROS for the link.