Category: Phony soldiers

Someone sends us their work on this fellow, James Marvin Moten, who claims that he was Marine Corps veteran.

Actually, the Marine Corps doesn’t remember him, but the Air Forces does;

He was discharged after eight years of honorable service in the Air Force as a staff sergeant, but he did not serve in in the Marine Corps.

He says that he was forced to leave the Air Force because he didn’t pay his bills. He sued Sears for contacting his commander about the debt with them and won a $2 lawsuit against them;

Our partners at Military Phonies share their work on this dingus Steve Edgell who claims all kinds of crazy stuff. He’s a Ranger, served in Mogadishu, he was a part of the “extraction team” there.

He’s on stand by because he still has 3 years of inactive duty to do. Cops have to ferry him around to get ready for his missions to Korea, he’s not sure if he’ll come back, though;

Even his own brother is tired of his BS;

The Army has never heard of him – his whole schtick is stuff he gleaned from Hollywood.

He’s just a pathetic little twirp in Clarksburg, WV who is trying to be someone and stands in the blood and guts of his betters. He’s so brave that he wiped down his Facebook page. Maybe the Department of Defense can arrange a trip to Korea for him.

Someone sent us their work on this fellow, Randy Duck, who wore this uniform with rank of a Senior Chief Gunners Mate and a whole slew of medals to a church “veterans’ appreciation day” event. Among the awards he’s wearing are the Enlisted Surface Warfare Specialist badge, the First Class Diver badge and a Navy Achievement Medal with ‘V’ device for valor.

According to the Navy, he left after four honorable years of service as an E-3 Gunners Mate. His only award was the Sea Service Ribbon;

He didn’t earn that National Defense Service Medal he’s wearing either.

Chief Tango sends us a link to the Washington Post which reports that John Thomas Burch, the CEO of the now-defunct National Vietnam Veterans Foundation, has been sentenced to five months in prison for misappropriating tens of thousands of dollars that he raised for Vietnam veterans.

John Thomas Burch, 75, of Alexandria, who pleaded guilty in June to wire fraud, was the president of the National Vietnam Veterans Foundation until last year. U.S. District Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson also ordered Burch to pay a $75,000 forfeiture judgment, U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu and FBI Washington Field Office chief Andrew Vale said in a statement.

Burch admitted misappropriating $149,317 of donations marked for veterans’ family members with young children in poverty between 2012 and 2016. He gave the money to acquaintances with whom he had relationships, and claimed reimbursements for visits to clubs, meals and hotel stays that were not related to the charity.

May of last year, we looked into his claims that he was a Special Forces officer in Vietnam – he had actually been a JAG officer who served with 5th Group, but he had no special forces training.

While CEO of the organization, in 2013 they collected more than $7 million but spent only $568,000 for veterans. National Vietnam Veterans Foundation was the lowest rated organization in Charity Navigator.

Our partners at Military Phonies send us their work on this guy, Martin Roy “Bill” Williamson, another Floridaman claiming to be a Vietnam veteran, but, unlike the others, his records are secret;

Well, when confronted with his secret records, he recants;

Yeah, you should have done that first, Billie boy.

Mr. Williamson started his Military enlistment as a Ready Reserve Trainee with Company B, 317 Military Police Battalion stationed in Ocala Florida. He was transferred to Active duty on 19 January 1967 where he received Basic Combat training and Military Police Training. He was transferred back to Co,B, 317 MP Bn. on 21 May 1967. Where he spent the remainder of his enlistment and was discharged from the military on 20 March 1972.

If you wanted to go to Vietnam, I’m sure Mr Johnson would have accommodated you, but, you know, hiding out in the Reserves was a bad way to get his attention. Too late, now.

We first talked about Nicholas Marshall in 2011 when he stole a car and promised a judge he’d show up in court in Massachusetts because, he claimed, he was on active duty. When he didn’t show up, the Army said he was AWOL and there were warrants out for him in Rhode Island and Pennsylvania.

Then last year, he murdered his wife and shot himself to cover it up. Hopefully, he’s still in jail for that one, but someone warned the Guardians of the Green Beret about Marshall;

I am a retired Green Beret who was renting my house to who I thought was a young E-6 (Military ID card looked legit). After a few months police were called multiple times for domestic abuse. His wife asked me for help because she felt she did not know who he was because he lied so much. I met her and her parents at her parents house. They told me that Nick had said that he was a Green Beret war buddy of mine. I knew this to be a lie. Then they showed me multiple pictures of him in uniform with a Green Beret and awards on (attached). His wife stated that she even dropped him off for work at 3rd SFG HQ multiple times. I reported this activity to the USASOC Force Protection Division (G34) who in turn contacted CID. CID then informed us that Nick Marshall had just been release from prison in Massachusetts where he served 2 years and was brought back to Fort Bragg for outprocessing. They stated that his E-6 Military ID card must be fake because he had been demoted to E-1 and his ID card was taken away. Highest rank that he ever held was an E-4. Once we had all of this information, we had Sxxxxxx Mxxxxxxx stay with her parents and I initiated eviction proceedings as he had not paid rent for the month. After Nick was evicted, a few months later we saw a news report that Nick Marshall had killed his wife and shot himself in an effort to cover it up. This is the biggest xxxxx xx xxxx I have ever seen aside from xxxx xxxxx in Iraq and Afghanistan. Everyone needs to know this fraud and murderer’s story.

So the Guardians got his records;

He was a 92S Shower/Laundry and Clothing Specialist and he was discharged as an E-1 after 3 years, 11 months – a real over-achiever.

The Westford Patch fills in some information on the story we found on Kyle Barwan, the most arrested valor thief in history;

“The resident thought that the person’s story wasn’t ‘adding up’ and did an online check,” Ayer police said in a statement. The individual then learned Barwan had been charged impersonating a military officer, police said. Officers arrested Barwan and he was held without bail as authorities arrange his transfer back to Florida.

“Luckily he was taken into custody before he began working his scam in Ayer,” police said in a statement.

So, we add yet another mugshot to Barwan’s gallery, and the Patch reminds us that he’s been arrested in Kentucky, Illinois and Florida for the same crime, and now in Massachusetts before he was able to commit the crime of impersonating a military officer.

From Ayer, MA, PD FB page;

An interesting case from last weeks logs:
On Friday 9/29/17, Officer’s Lucier and Lansing of the Ayer Police Department were contacted by an Ayer resident, telling them that they had become suspicious of an individual recently residing with them. The resident thought that the person’s story wasn’t “adding up” and did an online check, which revealed that the person may be wanted in Florida for impersonating military / uniformed personnel. Officer’s Lucier and Lansing did a more detailed search using the NCIC database and began working with the Polk County Sheriff’s Office (Florida). It was determined that there was indeed a nationwide warrant for the individual’s arrest, and the PCSO would bring him back to Florida once arrested by the #AyerPD. He was arrested, brought to the station and held for court on Monday 10/2/17. On Monday, the Ayer District Court held the individual without bail, to be picked up by PCSO by mid-October.

This was an example of the great citizen’s of Ayer, working hand in hand with the Ayer Police Department (and by extension the Polk County Sheriff’s Office in Florida), to bring a fugitive to justice. Luckily he was taken into custody before he began working his scam in Ayer!

Our partners at Military Phonies send us their work on yet another person who told his family that he was a Navy SEAL. They found that wasn’t true after Jeffrey Lawrence Smith had a tragic accident that has caused him to be hospitalized since late August. The family set up a GoFundMe tin cup to help them with the hospital bills and, without knowing better, they added the stories they’d heard all of their lives about their father’s military career;

The truth is that there was no BUD/S training, no parachute accident;

Jeff’s summary sheet shows that he served HONORABLY in the Navy and was discharged as an E-4. There does not appear to be any reason Jeffrey Lawrence Smith and his family should not be proud of what he actually did do in the Navy. He served during a time when most others wouldn’t, a total of 4 years and 1 day of active duty. There is no record of Jeff attending BUD/S, being stationed at a SEAL Team, or ever attending jump school. We have no idea how he could have been involved in a parachute accident.

He did exactly four years of service as a machinist mate, nothing to be ashamed of, until the SEAL stories began. His family was surprised by the truth, which they discovered themselves when they went looking for his DD214 while he was hospitalized. I can’t imagine discovering that their injured father had lied to them his whole life.

Yeah, there are victims of stolen valor.