Category: Phony soldiers

The other day, I wrote that John Williams Rodriguez was convicted on 12 counts of felony fraud in an Arizona court room despite the fact that he didn’t show up for his court date. Well, apparently he’s been taken into custody in Lake Tahoe, NV.

Deputies arrested 31-year-old John William Rodriguez at a home on Eloise Ave. in South Lake Tahoe on Thursday. They had been tipped off by detectives in Arizona where he was wanted for 12 counts of fraud and forgery.

Rodriguez has been posing as a U.S. Marine, an Iraq war veteran, an FBI agent and a detective with the Department of Veteran’s Affairs, among other things. Deputies say he often wore the uniform of a U.S. Marine, gained access to military installations and attended functions such as the Marine Corps Ball.

El Dorado County Sheriff’s detectives say Rodriguez has been engaging in similar activities in the Tahoe area and may have defrauded several people.

Video of Phony Marine busted in NVPhony Marine busted in NV

He was busted over a year ago. I’m guessing he hasn’t learned from his mistakes.

Thanks to the detectives in the case for keeping us up-to-date.

Apparently, the judge in the Strandlof case has declared the Stolen Valor Act a violation of the first amendment. Our friends Doug Sterner (who helped write the act) and POW Net sent us a copy of the decision.

Now, I’m no lawyer but I’ve been reading the decision and here are the relevant parts of the decision;

.) Clearly, the Act is intended to preserve the symbolic significance of military medals, but the question whether such an interest is compelling is not at all as manifest as the government’s ipse dixit implies.

To conclude that the government may permit designated symbols to be used to communicate only a limited set of messages would be to enter territory having no discernible or defensible boundaries. Could the government, on this theory, prohibit the burning of state flags? Of copies of the Presidential seal? Of the Constitution? In evaluating these choices under the First Amendment, how would we decide which symbols were sufficiently special to warrant this unique status? To do so, we would be forced to consult our own political preferences, and impose them on the citizenry, in the very way that the First Amendment forbids us to do.

I have profound faith – a faith that appears to be questioned by the government here – that the reputation, honor, and dignity military decorations embody are not so tenuous or ephemeral as to be erased by the mere utterance of a false claim of entitlement. The social approbation that attends those who would attempt to bask in the reflected glory of honors they have not earned demonstrates that the people of this nation continue to revere our brave military men and women regardless of – or perhaps even more so. Indeed, the fact that grassroots efforts to unmask imposters such as defendant appear to be thriving attests to the veracity of this proposition.

We are fortified in today’s conclusion by our conviction that forbidding criminal punishment for conduct such as [defendant’s] will not endanger the special role played by our flag or the feelings it inspires. . . . .
We are tempted to say, in fact, that the flag’s deservedly cherished place in our community will be strengthened, not weakened, by our holding today.

Our decision is a reaffirmation of the principles of freedom and inclusiveness that the flag best reflects, and of the conviction that our toleration of criticism . . . is a sign and source of our strength. . . . It is the Nation’s resilience, not its rigidity, that [the government] sees reflected in the flag – and it is that resilience that we reassert today.
. . . . We do not consecrate the flag by punishing its desecration, for in doing so we dilute the freedom that this cherished emblem represents. Johnson, 109 S.Ct. at 2547-48. Imposters such as defendant abase themselves. Fortunately, their disingenuousness is insufficient to undermine the stalwart and unswerving dignity and honor of our true military heroes, and of the military awards that recognize their sacrifices on behalf of a grateful nation.

THEREFORE, IT IS ORDERED as follows:
1. That defendant’s Motion To Dismiss Information [#13] filed December 2, 2009, is GRANTED;

2. That The Stolen Valor Act is DECLARED to be facially unconstitutional as a content-based restriction on speech that does not serve a compelling government interest, and consequently that the Act is invalid as violative of the First Amendment;

3. That the Amended Information [#15] filed December 14, 2009, is DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE; and

4. That the defendant and his bond ARE DISCHARGED.
Dated July 16, 2010, at Denver, Colorado.

So, numbnuts Judge Robert E. Blackburn of the Federal Court District of Colorado, (he was appointed by GW Bush on September 10th 2001 ironically) says that claiming false medal and military service equates to burning the flag – although there is a political message in burning the flag, and none in claiming service and medals. He also claims there are no victims – as I’ve pointed out countless times, there are indeed victims of phonies.

I’ll add more as I read more. Maybe our legal expert will weigh in.

ADDED: From the Denver Post;

Robert Pepin, Strandlof’s attorney, the ACLU of Colorado and the Rutherford Institute, a nonprofit civil liberties group, all filed briefs with Blackburn contesting the Stolen Valor Act.

They argued that simply lying is not illegal.

Seems that Billy Shelton better half responded to the post about her husband’s military history.

Billy is my husband and I just came across this website. I know him very well. He spent endless hours and days training Marcus and Morgan. He loves them like a his own, and they are not the only guys he trained. He did not charge a dime for his time and mental and physical training. How many of you out there give a d…. or would take hours out of your busy week to train young men, half of you don’t spend an hour a day with your own children.

Yes, a few things he did say was wrong. When he was asked to do a book, he told the writer he wanted it to be about the workout, but that wasn’t good enough, they wanted more, more of what would sale a book, so he did say the wrong things, but never to make money, they are just p…. because they paid hime $35,000.00 and didn’t get to publish the book. Now he has been asked to pay it back.

Morgan and Marcus were hurt, yes, but they still care about him, and talk to him, you all don’t know the whole story. Every book you read has been beefed up and every little detail is not the truth. So please before you criticize, have you ever made a mistake and been forgiven. He was never trying to make money off the book, the other people insisted on pushing for more on Marcus so they could sale the book. Even when he wanted to try and put together a ranch for wounded soldiers, they said they had to have Marcus envolved or it would not take off. People thrive on drama, the truth is Billy is a very loving compassionate man who cares very much for his family and the men and women who serve his country. He has spent hours physically and mentally training young men, no money paid, because he had the ability to do so and wanted to. His work out is very different from any other.

You spend one day in Viet Nam back in the 60’s, rather combat or not, tell me how you liked it, and how did it effect you? We have lots of pix from over there and yes men in his group where killed. I could go on and on, but this person is trying to discredit a man who did a lot for those boys and others and they don’t hate him. Ask them yourself.

My reply;

Except that this is not a simple lie or mistake. This is him pretending to be something he is not and lie about being some place that he was not.

While his actions in helping people is commendable and should not be ignored. It should not be ignored that he pretended to be a Special Forces Sergeant and claim extra tours that he did not do. Also regardless what they wanted it is still a lie. A lie that he was about to make 35,000 dollars on the the blood sweat and tears of those who passed and served as real Special Forces. Those who served multiple tours as combat vets. All of gain with none of the suffering. Again this is not just a “simple” mistake.

I spent 14 months in Iraq, while not Vietnam I can tell you that is has not caused me to inflate my military service. Again while he served honorable with one tour, consider this. What about the people that where still in Vietnam when your husband claimed he was there when in reality was home safe in the United States doing a job that he never was qualified to do. If he was such a hard charger then why did he not go to Q school?

Yet despite all of this you want us to view this as a simple white lie like when a kids gets caught eating cookies before supper.

All in all it can be argued that he did good things but just because I agree with his other actions compared to those that i do not for example Jesse Macbeth is not a excuse for not calling on someone lying about their military service. More so to this extent.

I mean I still caught grief trying to add my second Star to my Iraqi Campaign medal even when I brought in proof along with my ERB and deployment orders saying that I could add it.

To the point the good is not enough for us to overlook the mistakes made by this man.

I wrote this about Chicago-area Mayor Joseph DuPar. Some guy named Mark Seavey wrote a lot more about his ignorant, ritarded ass at Big Peace yesterday. You should read it.

John W. Rodriguez, the Arizona phony Marine we’ve been watching for a year has been convicted of 12 counts of felony fraud (Fox 11 AZ link);

A Maricopa County Superior Court found 31-year-old John W. Rodriguez guilty Monday on charges of forgery, fraudulent schemes and presentation of a false instrument for filing.

Arizona Department of Public Safety investigators say they were first alerted to Rodriguez after a former Marine saw him introduced as a decorated veteran at a special military function. The man noticed Rodriguez’s uniform was not complete and thought it was odd for someone his age to be wearing the Navy Cross.

One down and a million more to go.

Here’s a local news report;

I read an article today from the El Paso Times about a phony soldier in their area who was busted for his wild stories six years after he died;

Herring said he received the Navy Cross, a decoration for valor second only to the Medal of Honor; three Purple Hearts, each indicating combat injuries; and a Bronze Star, although not for valor. The biography also stated Herring left the Navy as a lieutenant commander.

The record shows that Herring received no awards for combat valor or for being wounded. It makes no mention of a Bronze Star for service in a war zone. And it shows he left the Navy Reserve as a lieutenant junior grade, two ranks below lieutenant commander, after 10 years of service.

This was another of our friend Doug Sterner’s busts. The heartbreaking part of the story is at the end;

“We will contact the family to let them know that changes have been made and why the changes were made,” Sayers said.

It reminded me of the time I called Captain Larry Bailey one night a few years back and he put me off for a few minutes and then called me back. He explained that he was on the phone with a family member of a recently deceased man. Captain Bailey had to tell this family that their dearly departed couldn’t be buried at Arlington because despite the lifetime of stories of daring-do, the man had been lying to his family. And that’s the family’s last memory of their husband and father – that he had lied to them all of their lives.

It’s been argued recently that Stolen Valor is a victimless crime and should be considered “free speech”. I’d argue that busting these guys while they’re still alive gives them a chance to redeem themselves in the eyes of their families and friends, to pay their debt and become whole again – and not leave a family and friends behind with no recourse but to remember them as fakes and liars. As always, families become the victims bearing forever the burden of the deception with no remedy.

And, oh, by the way, it looks like Captain Bailey is involved in a TV reality show along with B.G. Burkett called “Stolen Valor“. I’d better retract that expert driver badge statement I made before they come down on me.