Category: Phony soldiers

We wrote about Guy Biggs a few years ago. He planned to kill his wife’s lover by having her lure him to their home, where Biggs would shoot him and then wound himself, afterwards his wife would testify that the lover was killed in self-defense. The plot fell apart when Biggs missed his intended target, but scored a hit when he shot himself. The police sorted out the actual story and charged Biggs with Attempted First Degree Murder – in Tennessee, that’s 15-25 years in prison.

For a while, while pending trial, Biggs was released on bond, (probably for medical treatment without forcing Henry County to foot the bill). He stayed at home for a while, but later was returned to jail to await trial when he violated conditions of the bond – specifically that he had contacted his then-wife.

At trial, Biggs took the stand, admitted firing the shot, but claimed to have missed on purpose. In support of that theory, he actually left the courtroom, went home with a police escort, recovered “his DD 214” and brought it back to the courtroom. He read and explained to the jury that as a highly decorated veteran (Silver Star), combat wounded, and expert of every weapon known to man, he missed shooting the lover on purpose.

The prosecutor was caught flat-footed and didn’t have time to check the veracity of the DD214, so the case went to the jury which found Biggs guilty of the lesser charge, Attempted Second Degree Murder, which carried an 8-12 years term behind bars. By the time sentencing came around, the prosecutor proved that the DD214 that Biggs had presented during trial had been forged. The judge was pretty upset, so Biggs got the max – 12 years.

It turns out that when he was out of jail on bond awaiting trial, he spent that time forging the DD214 to reflect his phony heroism.

After sentencing, the District Attorney indicted him for the perjury and forgery. And Guy Biggs, caught square to rights, entered a plea of Guilty. The judge sentenced Guy Biggs to a consecutive five years to serve in the penitentiary for the perjury and the fabrication of evidence.

Well, we’re talking about this now because Biggs appealed the perjury and forgery convictions and the Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee (.pdf link) affirmed the sentence this week.

The upshot is that Mr Biggs is doing 17 years in the can because he introduced a forged DD214 into the court proceedings. We commend the prosecutor for doing his due diligence and for prosecuting Biggs, many prosecutors don’t. And thanks to Charles for the tip on this story.

Our partners at Military Phonies send us their research on this Robert Martin fellow who founded a couple of Facebook groups to pay homage to his fellow Vietnam veterans, claiming to be an officer in SEALs, of course.

Folks started questioning his creds, so he introduced a sockpuppet, John Burch;

The picture was actually Lieutenant Melvin Spence Dry, the last SEAL killed in Vietnam when he was on a POW rescue mission in 1972.

Soon after this, Bobby committed cyber suicide and was reincarnated as another sock puppet, Roger Stone;

So when MP sent for Bobby Martin’s records, the NPRC couldn’t find anything for him, John Burch or Roger Stone;

Links to Bobby Martin and his draft dodging sockpuppets;

Bobby Martin

John Burch

Roger Stone

Someone sent us their work on the records of this fellow, the late Robert Maxey. He was featured on the old POW Network because he claimed two Distinguished Service Crosses that he hadn’t earned. Those non-existent DSCs made it into his obit when he passed last month;

His Silver Star and Purple Heart counts have been harder to keep track of, even for Maxey;

According to his records, he served as a Philippine Scout during World War II, there’s no evidence that he was ever captured by the Japanese, but he was a prisoner of the Chinese for six months (not eight months) when he enlisted in the US Army during the Korean War, but he’s not listed by DPAA – Korean War records of POW/MIA are spotty.

Maxey’s records say that he has three Silver Stars, but folks who’ve seen the orders claim that the orders have no GO numbers, casting doubt on their authenticity. His records also attest to two Bronze Stars for merit, not the nine for valor that he claims. His records say that he has two Purple Hearts, not twelve.

Even though his records state that he earned the 3rd Award of the Combat Infantry Badge, the Infantry Museum at Fort Benning doesn’t list him as an awardee, probably because service in the Philippine Scouts doesn’t count. More evidence that he tampered with his records before he retired;

He did do at least two trips to Vietnam, though;

Someone sent us their work on this fellow, Jorge Taitano who claims to be a former Prisoner of War. In fact, he joined the American Ex-Prisoners of War Chapter 1 in San Diego, which got his name inscribed with other real POWs at PETCO Field where he was feted by the San Diego Padres;

He was a Marine from 1954 – 1958, but he wasn’t in combat. He did spend some time in the brig June-July 1956, but that doesn’t count. Neither does the time he spent hiding in a cave as a child on Guam while the Japanese soldiers were looking for him – that’s the story he tells folks. He claims that his parents were killed by the Japanese – that may be true, but his father died in 1990 and his mother in 2003 in San Diego, well after the Japanese occupation of Guam. Hiding in a cave isn’t being a prisoner, of war or otherwise.

Someone sent us their work on this Christopher Garcia person who claims in social media that he’s a Navy SEAL;

The picture that he claims is his BUD/S class picture is easily found on Wikipedia and it’s actually BUD/S class 236, Medal of Honor recipient Michael Murphy’s class;

Needless to say, the Navy has never heard of Mr Garcia;

Last month we wrote about Michael Christopher Estes who attempted to bomb the Asheville, North Carolina airport in order to start a race war in the United States. Luckily, he was arrested before he trigger his homemade device. According to Heavy, Estes claimed on his Facebook page to be retired from the military.

We got his Marine Corps records last month. It appeared that he had about two years of “bad time” for being a deserter;

Today, we get his Navy discharge and discover that he had 3 years and nine months in that service as a submarine repairman. It looks like he spent 3 years and 4 months at sea aboard the USS Dixon, a submarine tender, including a stint in the Persian Gulf earning a Southwest Asia Service Medal with one service star – probably for service during Operation Provide Comfort.

He claimed to have been retired from the military in 2014, in reality, he had less than five years of service and two years of being a deserter and left the service in 2002 after he was punished for being a criminal.

Someone sent us their work on this fellow, Robert Slinger who claims that he’s a retired Master Sergeant of the US Army. He thinks if he can promise government cheese to the ladies from his cleavage-filled Facebook page, that’s the best way to find himself a wife;

“”This is my official United States Army federal government picture of myself at a younger time in my thirty five year military career,,, Sergeant Robert Carl Slinger of the 19th Special Forces Group of Camp Williams, Utah.””

“”Originally joined the United States Army during the Jimmy Carter presidential administration in late August of 1977, first trained as a military Combat Engineer Demolition Expert, stationed in Aschaffenburg, West Germany in mid April of 1978, joined the United States Army 19th Special Forces Group in Salt Lake County in June of 1983, stationed at Fort Huachuca, Arizona in April of 1987, stationed at the Quantico, Virginia Intelligence agency training school in June of 1988,,, appointment to the John Fitzgerald Kennedy S-Q-9 intelligence operations command center in January of 1993, appointment to the National Security Agency S-Q-9 intelligence operations command center in April of 1997, appointment to the American International S-Q-9 intelligence operations command center, appointment to the local field office of the S-Q-9 intelligence operations center located at the historic Fort Douglas 96th A.R.C.O.M. Army Reserve Command in Salt Lake City, Utah in August of 2007,,, and the remainder of my career in the United States Army is now a sealed military record at the John Fitzgerald Kennedy S-Q-9 intelligence operations command center.””

“”Retired from the United States Army on the day of Friday, 09 November of 2012, and now I am just “”another”” on call retired military consultant, retired American military veteran, retired American military intelligence analysis for the brand new American President Donald Trump administration, but only as a military consultant for counter terrorism operations.””

“”This is my official United States Army federal government picture of myself at a younger time in my thirty five year military career,,, Sergeant Robert Carl Slinger of the 19th Special Forces Group of Camp Williams, Utah.””

Yeah, he’s a real secret squirrel. He was with 19th SF Group, briefly, He was active duty for three years 1977-1980, and once again for training for 3-and-a-half months as an intel guy at 19th SF, but that’s not an official photo – I don’t know of any official photos in which the subject holds a Colt Woodsman .22 pistol. I didn’t get a leather wingback chair, either. I always had to stand.

I doubt that Donald Trump will call on him for some advice on counter-terrorism operations.

According to the NPRC, that’s the extent of his active duty – 3 years and 3-and-a-half months. His NGB-22 says that he left the National Guard in 1999 (not 2012) and that he was a combat engineer Sergeant E-5 (not a Master Sergeant E-8) assigned to 1457th Engineer Battalion in 1993 – that he had 22 years of service in the active Army and National Guard;

Our partners at Military Phonies share with us their work on this Thomas Norman fellow. Apparently, he tried to join some stolen valor communities, hiding in plain sight, as it were, pretending to be a SEAL that served in Vietnam and suffers in silence. That backfired;

The problem with pretending to be a Vietnam Veteran is you have to have been on active duty during the Vietnam War – he joined the reserves in 1974, but he didn’t go on active duty or attend boot camp until a month after the communists marched into Saigon, effectively ending US participation in the Vietnam War.

He was an Aviation electronics technician (E-1) when he completed his service after a few enlistments on active and reserve duty lasting about 15 years. None of it as a SEAL.