Category: Stolen Valor Act

ABC27 reports that our buddy, Matthew Ott, a teenager who was victimized by valor thief Nate Fornwalt last year, was in the halls of his legislature yesterday as the Pennsylvania Senate passed their new Stolen Valor Act out of that body;

Not many teenagers are concerned about what’s happening at the Capitol, but 15-year-old Matthew Ott is. Matthew and his father have been fighting for Senate Bill 43 to become a law.

The stolen valor bill will toughen the penalties against those who pretend to be veterans or veterans who embellish their record for personal gain.

Unfortunately, it is something Matthew experienced first hand. He has been raising money for veterans for years and says one of them took advantage by embellishing his record to get a donation. Upset and disappointed, Matthew wanted to make a change in the law.

“I more or less talked to my dad about it to see what we could do and then that is how Senate Bill 43 came along,” said Matthew.

Senator Anthony Williams sponsored the bill and invited the family to be present for the vote Wednesday. The bill passed the senate unanimously.

So, the bill is headed to the House for a vote, and young Matt will be there for that one, too.

Matt’s dad, John, called us this morning as told us that the Stolen Valor Act will impose a penalty of two years in jail and a $5000 fine on those convicted in Pennsylvania. Of course, it comes too late to whack Nate Fornwalt, or any of the others, but it hangs over the head of those who haven’t been caught yet.

Mary sends us a link to the news that the Alabama State Senate has voted to increase the penalties for wearing medals and badges for tangible benefit.

The bill imposes a minimum fine of $5,000 and makes it a Class A misdemeanor for a person to falsely represent themselves as a recipient of a military decoration or medal — including, but not limited to the Purple Heart and Silver Star — in order to obtain money, property, or a tangible benefit. A similar offense with the Congressional Medal of Honor would be a Class C felony.

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The Stolen Valor Act passed the Senate unanimously and is headed back to the House for consideration of the Senate’s revisions.

Meanwhile, in Delaware, they’re hard at work passing their own Stolen Valor Act to stiffen penalties, too;

Stolen valor could soon be considered a form of “criminal impersonation” in the state of Delaware. Republican State Representative Rich Collins introduced a bill that hopes to expand the current law.

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This bill, identified as House Bill 80 would consider stolen valor a class A misdemeanor and would carry a minimum fine of $1,000.

We’re told the bill has “modest” bipartisan support and is currently pending action in the House Judiciary Committee.

The Wisconsin State Assembly demonstrates how seriously they’re taking the issue;

The Stolen Valor bill is one step closer to becoming law in Wisconsin. The state assembly passed the bill making it illegal to lie about military service. Anyone convicted faces up to six years in prison and $10,000 in fines.

I’m guessing we won’t see many valor thieves in Wisconsin with that much at stake. But then, they all think they’re smarter than the rest of us, anyway.

My search engine alerts are firing on all cylinders as State legislatures begin the season with easy-to-pass stolen valor bills, but this one from Texas caught my eye because it is so different from the others. The new bill passed the Texas Senate unanimously. It empowers business owners to fire employes and terminate contracts with folks who lie about their service.

“When I heard news stories of individuals claiming fictitious military records, I was dismayed to learn that Texas law did not give express legal authority for employers to terminate a contract for such actions,” Taylor said in a press release. “After talking with fellow veterans in our community, I immediately got to work drafting legislation to fix this problem.

“The sacrifices made by our men and women in uniform are beyond measure, and by unanimously passing the Stolen Valor Act, the Texas Senate has sent a unified message of support to all those who have bravely served our nation.”

Of course, we’ve seen countless fellows who use their fictitious military service to benefit their businesses, and when it comes out, folks that they’ve hoodwinked need an escape, because if they lie about their military service, it’s more than likely true that they’ll lie in other business dealings.

The Anniston Star reports that the Alabama state legislature approved their own Stolen Valor bill unanimously;

With little debate, the Alabama House of Representatives voted 70-0 to make it a crime to falsely claim to hold certain military medals with “intent to defraud.”

The bill would make it a misdemeanor to falsely claim to have received various combat action badges, or to falsely claim several highly respected types of combat decoration, including the Silver Star, the Purple Heart or the Medal of Honor.

Under the bill, a false claim of a medal wouldn’t be criminal unless the person claiming the medal does so with the intent to receive money or some other tangible benefit.

As I’ve said before it is good to see state legislatures take this movement seriously, but i only wish prosecutors would take it just as seriously. Passing stolen valor bills make the legislators feel good about themselves and it gives them something positive to show voters, but prosecutors never seem to have the resources to pursue the valor thieves.

JP Lawrence, a National Guard Sergeant, Iraq veteran and a grad student at Columbia University, has been emailing with us for few months. The result is this article in Westword about Stolen Valor, some of our triumphs and one of our failures. He quotes from some of our posts as well as the questions he asked us. Not only did he interview us, but he talked to Doug Sterner and Mary Schantag about the roots of the stolen valor investigators and our battle against valor thieves. I could quote from the article, but that would only take away from JP’s hard work, so you should click over and read the long article for yourself

One aspect of Pennsylvania’s attempts to close the stolen valor gap was passed by the state senate. Apparently, a few years ago, PA decided to put an identifier on drivers’ licenses for veterans, but, there were no restrictions on it – you self-identified on application by checking a block on your application. The result is that there are people in PA who aren’t veterans walking around with veteran driver license. So the legislature is working to fix that this year.

Another Stolen Valor Act is making it’s way to a vote;

Pike County District Attorney Ray Tonkin said a case involving Timothy Flaherty proved legislation like this is needed. Tonkin said Flaherty exaggerated his war experience to get special treatment from the court system. He claimed he was injured in combat but records show that wasn’t true.

“I don’t think he is the only person abusing entitlement programs,” said Vietnam Era Veteran Daniel Gagnon. He and other veterans at the American Legion in East Stroudsburg were frustrated to hear people lie about service. Vietnam Era Veteran Arlington Wolbert said, “What’s the sense in faking something like that. It’s just not right.”

In the past, courts have deemed calling yourself a veteran, even if you’re not, “free speech.” Wolbert reacted, “Those people put their lives and their country first and I think that to fake something like that it is just unconscionable.”

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If the bill passes, the penalty would be a fine of up to $2,500 plus up to a year in jail.

Yeah, I like how prosecutors are calling for a law they’ll probably never prosecute. It will end up being something that they trade away in a plea bargain.

According to ABC27, Pennsylvania’s Stolen Valor Act is headed to a vote by the legislature soon;

The Senate Transportation Committee has approved legislation to penalize Pennsylvanians who falsely claim they’re a veteran on a driver’s license application.

Under Senate Bill 42, drivers could be charged with a summary offense if they apply for a veteran designation on their license and have not earned it.

The crime would carry a $300 fine and possible imprisonment of between 30 and 90 days if the fine is not paid.

So, you phonies in PA need to change your ways.