Category: Phony soldiers

Early last month we wrote about Randy Scott who claimed in his local town newsletter to be a Special Forces soldier and a former POW of the Vietnam War.

Randy Scott has been a resident of Des Plaines for over 32 years. Having served in the Army Special Forces (Green Beret) from 1967-1969 and spending 4 months as a POW, Randy admits that he “went through hell and lived through it.”

Well the Journal Online says the town supervisor, Mike Sweeney has issued an apology for “factual inaccuracies” in the news letter (emphasis is mine);

“I was extremely troubled when the township received multiple calls from individuals that questioned the validity of Randy Scott’s statements,” said Sweeney. “These claims were taken very seriously and when confronted, Mr. Scott admitted that the account of his military service was patently false.”

Sweeney said he attempted to access military databases to confirm Scott’s account when questions arose. But without detailed identifying information, he was unable to so and confronted Scott directly.

Sweeney said members of Scott’s family told him Scott was in the military, but left after being injured in basic training. Sweeney said he had no way of confirming or denying the validity of those statements.

The DPAA doesn’t list anyone with the last name of Scott from the Army on their list of “accounted for” POWs of the Vietnam years.

Elk Grove Township Supervisor Mike Sweeney told the Journal Online that he was having trouble getting Scott’s records.

So we ordered his FOIA and the Army doesn’t remember any of his blathering bullshit either;

Two months in the Army, he didn’t even finish basic training, and it wasn’t during the Vietnam War years. He was born in 1954, so he wasn’t even old enough to serve the years that he claimed that he was in Vietnam.

Greg sends us a link to the Scranton, Pennsylvania Times-Tribune in which they explain to their readers how Matthew Gajdys, a local veteran told them tall tales about his war-time experiences;

An Army veteran profiled in The Sunday Times lied to the newspaper about his military service.

After the story published Sunday, the newspaper received messages from soldiers who served in Iraq and Afghanistan with Matthew Gajdys and said he lied about being in combat.

When a reporter confronted Gajdys about the accusations on Monday, he admitted he never fought in combat and lied when he told a reporter he was shot in the chest but his bulletproof vest saved his life. He also said he embellished his role in killing people in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Gajdys, 35, of Dickson City, served in the Army from 2006 to 2012, including tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, repairing attack helicopters, said Valerie Mongello, an Army spokeswoman.

The original story is posted here with some redacted phrases. Here are the redacted phrases rescued from the cache copy of the article.

You don’t know that it’s a bad guy until he starts shooting at you.”

Gajdys shot and killed people. He took a bullet to the chest, but his body armor saved him.

“It’s not fun to get shot at,” he said. “After you do it long enough, you kind of get immune to it.”

[…]

“It was the first time I ever accidentally killed someone,” he said.

The comments for the original article are still posted. It seems that his mates busted him out. For example;

I was in his squad for both Iraq and Afghanistan. Though we worked our butts off (on post mind you), We saw ZERO combat. If we had, he’d be wearing a combat action badge in the above photo. He did indeed do ONE dart mission but it was uneventful. They actually extended his enlistment so they could punish him for failing a drug test. That should say enough.

The folks at Military Phonies send us their work on William Lawrence Jeffries who claims to be a former Navy SEAL and a CIA operative when he’s not in broadcasting in Arizona.

Ironically, he tells someone who questioned his claims to “Google” SEAL TEAM 3 and their participation in the Vietnam War when clearly, he hasn’t “Googled” it himself, because SEAL Team 3 didn’t come into existence for another two decades after he served in the Navy.

He claims to be a proud socialist and a “combat veteran for Hillary”;

The truth, according to the Navy, is somewhat different from the way “Wild Bill” remembers it;

He was an aircraft maintenance guy with the Navy’s Attack Squadron 46 (VA-46 or ATKRON 46), nicknamed “the Clansmen”, which was off-shore of Vietnam. According to Wiki;

On 25 July 1967 the Clansmen took part in their first combat operations during the Vietnam War flying from the USS Forrestal in Yankee Station.

But, Wild Bill had no SEAL training, no UDT training, no Combat Action Ribbon and it doesn’t look like he ever set foot in Vietnam.

But I do believe that he’s a socialist.

There’s a new military surplus vendor on the internet called War Store (dot) US. I’m not going to link to it in order to avoid charges that I’m stalking someone. That someone being Luciano Benandanti aka Carmine Annunziata with whom we’ve had problems in the recent past. Several years ago when this fellow went by the name Carmine Annunziata he owned a clothing sales store (the Armed Forces MCSS) near Fort Dix, New Jersey. He had real piss-poor customer service and he ripped folks off – he also photocopied a lot of military ID cards. That’s why he changed his name to Luciano Benandanti.

Anyway, the War Store is owned by Benandanti, according to WHOIS;

Domain Name: WARSTORE.US
Domain ID: D58252294-US
Sponsoring Registrar: GODADDY.COM, INC.
Sponsoring Registrar IANA ID: 146
Registrar URL (registration services): whois.godaddy.com
Domain Status: clientDeleteProhibited
Domain Status: clientRenewProhibited
Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited
Domain Status: clientUpdateProhibited
Registrant ID: CR263277687
Registrant Name: Luciano Benandanti
Registrant Organization: Wiccan Church of Benandanti
Registrant Address1: 1940 Brooklyn Avenue
Registrant City: Whiting
Registrant State/Province: New Jersey
Registrant Postal Code: 08759
Registrant Country: United States
Registrant Country Code: US
Registrant Phone Number: +64.67676599
Registrant Email: lucianobenandanti(at)gmail.com
Registrant Application Purpose: P2
Registrant Nexus Category: C11
Administrative Contact ID: CR263277689
Administrative Contact Name: Luciano Benandanti
Administrative Contact Organization: Wiccan Church of Benandanti
Administrative Contact Address1: 1940 Brooklyn Avenue
Administrative Contact City: Whiting
Administrative Contact State/Province: New Jersey
Administrative Contact Postal Code: 08759
Administrative Contact Country: United States
Administrative Contact Country Code: US
Administrative Contact Phone Number: +64.67676599
Administrative Contact Email: lucianobenandanti(at)gmail.com
Administrative Application Purpose: P2
Administrative Nexus Category: C11
Billing Contact ID: CR263277690
Billing Contact Name: Luciano Benandanti
Billing Contact Organization: Wiccan Church of Benandanti
Billing Contact Address1: 1940 Brooklyn Avenue
Billing Contact City: Whiting
Billing Contact State/Province: New Jersey
Billing Contact Postal Code: 08759
Billing Contact Country: United States
Billing Contact Country Code: US
Billing Contact Phone Number: +64.67676599
Billing Contact Email: lucianobenandanti@gmail.com
Billing Application Purpose: P2
Billing Nexus Category: C11
Technical Contact ID: CR263277688
Technical Contact Name: Luciano Benandanti
Technical Contact Organization: Wiccan Church of Benandanti
Technical Contact Address1: 1940 Brooklyn Avenue
Technical Contact City: Whiting
Technical Contact State/Province: New Jersey
Technical Contact Postal Code: 08759
Technical Contact Country: United States
Technical Contact Country Code: US
Technical Contact Phone Number: +64.67676599
Technical Contact Email: lucianobenandanti(at)gmail.com
Technical Application Purpose: P2
Technical Nexus Category: C11
Name Server: NS48.DOMAINCONTROL.COM
Name Server: NS47.DOMAINCONTROL.COM
Created by Registrar: GODADDY.COM, INC.
Last Updated by Registrar: GODADDY.COM, INC.
Domain Registration Date: Thu Feb 02 01:40:50 GMT 2017
Domain Expiration Date: Thu Feb 01 23:59:59 GMT 2018
Domain Last Updated Date: Thu Feb 02 01:40:51 GMT 2017
DNSSEC: false

So, if you like your money, you should stick to Ranger Joe’s or the Cav Store and stay away from this criminal. You can read more about his antics at Fake Warriors.

The Wilkes Journal-Patriot reports that Alexander “Alex” Vanderheide admitted to them that he was a phony without even a minute’s service to the country in uniform.

A member of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1142 in North Wilkesboro for about 12 years who was on the local and state VFW honor guards admitted that he never served in the military.

“No sir, I wasn’t,” said Alexander “Alex” Vanderheide, 53, of Hays, in an interview Friday when asked if he was ever in the armed forces. He said he took sole responsibility for his actions in the matter and didn’t have a good excuse.

“I have to live with the consequences of lying and a lot of people have turned their backs on me…. I’m asking that the VFW not get a bad rap for this. I don’t want anyone to be hurt.”

Vanderheide added, “I never did this to gain anything” materially. “If I knew a way to make up for it I would.” He also said he wanted to apologize to anyone he lied to.

Yeah, he’s real sorry that he was caught. I hope his nuts catch on fire. But you should read the whole piece. Spoiler alert;

Dr. Bill Pepicello, president of [University of] Phoenix, said Vanderheide was “an exemplary community volunteer who demonstrates his love and compassion for others through serving the greater good…. He is the quintessential hometown hero.”

Someone sent us their work on this person, Tiffany Cruz (aka Tiffany Bletsch, aka Tiffany Plew). Her claims are mostly made face-to-face rather than on the internet.

But, yes, there’s a tattoo;

The Air Force says “Who”?

Not that government records on her don’t exist. Some do exist – just not military records;

The folks at Miltary Phonies send us their work on this fellow Carlos Millan, who has a certificate to prove his training as a Navy SEAL;

And pictures;

The problem with that picture is that Millan photoshopped his noggin on a photo of Navy SEAL Chief Aaron Vaughn who was KIA on August 6th 2011;

So, he pretty much pissed off the whole SEAL community when he was discovered, so he decided that he should become and Army paratrooper with 173rd Airborne Brigade;

The National Personnel Records Center says “Who?”

Our friends at Stolen Valour-Canada send us a link to the story of Richard Fancy who was booted from the Order of Military Merit when he was court-martialled for wearing Afghanistan and Somalia medals and parachute wings that he didn’t earn at a Remembrance Day ceremony.

Richard Fancy was a member of the regular forces between 1984 and 2010, when he joined the reserves with the Halifax Rifles.

He became a master warrant officer in the regiment and received the Order of Military Merit in October 2014, a month before the Remembrance Day incident in Halifax.

In May 2016, Fancy pleaded guilty at a court martial to three counts of conduct to the prejudice of good order and discipline and was reduced in rank to warrant officer and fined $300.

The decorations he wore improperly credited him with service in Somalia and Afghanistan and with being a paratrooper.

Here’s a link to the order of Fancy’s termination.

Dick Fancy joins Lieutenant Colonel Deborah Miller in that dishonor. We wrote about her back in 2014 when she was court martialed, too.