Category: Phony soldiers

Yesterday, we talked about Jack Junior Otterwalder when he was arrested for possessing an incorrect DD 214 record of his discharge. Today, he’s saying that he’s being framed.

A fake certificate of release or discharge from active duty, commonly known as a DD Form 214, was found with Ottenwalder’s personal information on it in January, the Lee County Sheriff’s Office said. The certificate exaggerated dates, duty stations, training and awards, according to the sheriff’s office.

But Otterwalder says he has a copy of the form that shows otherwise.

Ottenwalder has a veteran designation on his driver’s license. He claims he submitted a DD Form 214 to the Department of Motor Vehicles for that designation because he was told he could do so.

“They said I could do it, so I gave it to them,” Ottenwalder said. “I figured if anything was wrong, they’d look at it and say, ‘No, this ain’t going to fly’ and no, it’s turned into something bigger and bigger and bigger.”

I’m sure there aren’t enough criminals in Lee County that the sheriff’s office has the time to make up stuff to arrest folks.

Micheal Vincent Baker (AKA Vincent Baker), a 22-year-old from San Antonio, Texas was reported to Military Phonies with the claims of being a US Navy SEAL that graduated from BUD/S Class 234.

It seems little Vincent Baker has/had a girlfriend that was really excited about his new tattoo.

When he was contacted by some real deal Navy SEALs he wouldn’t respond.  Of course his girlfriend jumped in and tried to defend him because, well, everyone knows veterans leave their defense up to their girlfriend.

Well, the people at militaryphony.com did not want to see a legit Navy SEAL left to having his girlfriend defend him, so they ordered his official military records through a FOIA request.

Micheal or Vincent Baker as he likes to go by, served 2 months and 9 days.  Of course there is no possibility that he could have ever been or even had an opportunity to become a Navy SEAL.  Looks like an entry level separation of some kind.  They checked the Navy SEAL database and found that he was only a half baked  6 year old when BUD/S Class 234 graduated. His girlfriend might think he is cute but from the looks of him…he ain’t Navy SEAL material and the Navy in general didn’t think he was much either.

We will all be eagerly awaiting  news of his re-enlistment.  I doubt the girlfriend should wait around for it though and he might want to seek some help getting that tattoo removed before he gives someone the wrong idea.   You can read the rest of their case on this clown at the link below.

Source: Micheal Vincent Baker – Fake US Navy SEAL

We talked a bit on Tuesday about Brandon Blankenship, the fellow in Wisconsin who pretended to be a Marine Corps officer and rented 20 apartments for his imaginary platoon. Someone sent us the criminal complaint against him. Apparently, he’s not a good person;

It was also found that Blankenship had two outstanding felony warrants. One from York County, Virginia for the theft of automobile from Casey Toyota, as well as one through the Board of Probation and Parole of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania where he was on supervision in the State of Pennsylvania and had violated his rules of supervision.

BrandonBlankenship_CrimComplaint by JonnLilyea on Scribd

It looks to me that he went to more trouble to commit his crimes than he would have if he looked for a real job and earned the money instead.

In Lehigh Acres, Florida, a sheriff’s deputy responded to a call at Jack Junior Ottenwalders home and for some reason Jack showed the deputy, a veteran, his DD214 discharge record. According to the Press-Record, the deputy noticed something was off about the DD214;

A deputy, who has military experience, responded to Ottenwalder’s home back in January and noticed the details in the form were exaggerated.

The fake form stated Ottenwalder’s honors included: Silver Star, Purple Heart, National Defense Medal, Global War on Terrorism Medal and the Operation Enduring Freedom Medal.

Ottenwalder also claimed he left the U.S. Army at the rank of E6.

The details made the deputy question the document’s authenticity, according to an arrest report.

Further investigation showed he never received any decorations, medals, or campaign ribbons and was released from duty with “an entry level separation code.”

So Ottenwalder has been arrested for forgery and uttering a forged instrument – he’s out on $10,000 bond.

See how easy that was, all of you prosecutors out there?

We wrote about Derek Alldred last year when women started lining up to get him arrested for his frauds that he committed against them. Well, he’s still on the run according to KARE11;

Woodbury City Attorney recently filed charges against Alldred for “impersonating an officer” with intent to mislead another. In Minnesota, posing as a military officer is only a misdemeanor, with a penalty that includes a potential fine and up to 90 days in jail.

Linda is frustrated the charges aren’t under the more serious federal Stolen Valor Act.

“It still makes me sick to my stomach that someone would pretend, that someone would take someone else’s uniform and put it on as if it was his own,” she told KARE 11.

If Alldred is to be held accountable, authorities will have to find him first.

He has been on the run since December, when he failed to show up for his sentencing hearing in an Arizona theft case.

Alldred was convicted of theft for taking and pawning the jewelry of another woman he met online. According to court documents, the Arizona victim also told police Alldred claimed to be a Navy Seal.

Yeah, well, Linda, Stolen Valor isn’t sexy enough for most prosecutors to pursue.

Thanks to Chip for the tip.

Chip sends us a link to the story of Brandon Blankenship in Waukesha, Wisconsin. He pretended to be a Marine Corps officer and convinced an apartment complex manager to rent 20apartments to him to house his platoon of Marines. He also wrote $80,000 in bad checks to purchase two new cars.

Of course, he wasn’t a Marine.

Legal counsel for the Junction apartment complex is says Blankenship only got as far as he did because he was posing as a military officer, and they’re outraged this man took advantage of the veteran community.

The complaint explains Blankenship showed a military ID and a letter of intent, but there was a problem with the letter head. It should have said: “United States Department of Defense-Department of the Navy.”

But Blankenship made a typo — misspelling United as “Unitede.”

[…]

When police arrested Blankenship, he admitted writing bad checks and posing as a military officer to get free housing, saying, “he did not have any money when he got out of prison, so he had to write bad checks to get back on his feet.”

He needed two cars to get back on his feet and 20 apartments. Makes perfect sense.

Someone sent us their work on this fellow, Harry Alan Mercer who claims that he was a Gunnery Sergeant (E-7) in the Marine Corps. Here is the DD214 that he hands out to folks;

If I’m not mistaken, the Marines don’t call their Naval Parachutist Badge “Gold Jump Wings” nor do they call the Diver Insignia a “Scuba Bubble” on their DD214s. They probably spell “Expert” correctly, too. I see on the DD214, he also claims to be Recon and that he attended “Seal” training.

I see in the picture above that he’s wearing a Combat Action Ribbon, the Vietnam Service Medal and Vietnam Cross of Gallantry. The Marine Corps doesn’t remember awarding those to Mercer;

Yeah, he was too young to participate in the Vietnam War. It looks like he made Sergeant in about three years of service, so he was a good Marine and then he did this.