Category: Stolen Valor Act

Folks have been sending me this link from The Blaze all weekend, about how we should feel sorry for Joseph Matthew Scott, the fellow at San Joachin Delta College who was busted as a phony last week by two real veterans.

The California civilian who provoked outrage after donning a military uniform on a college campus explained Friday that he did not intend to offend anyone by doing so — in fact, he says his intentions were just the opposite.

“I was just supporting my cousins and my family in the military. And to those who I upset and made mad, I do apologize,” Joseph Scott told KXTV.

I’ve had people tell me in email that he has the mind of a 12-year-old and we shouldn’t be picking on him – that the two veterans who confronted him were bullies. His grandfather says that Scott was dropped on his head at three years old and suffers from PTS – what a crock.

Like I’ve said before, weeks before this incident, someone sent his name to Mary saying that he was claiming four Purple Hearts, that he was an MP and then he’s walking around with Master Sergeant rank and a Ranger tab telling people who confronted him that he left his ID card at home instead of admitting that he was wearing the uniform to “supporting my cousins and my family in the military”, yeah, sorry but all of y’all are just full of sh#t.

Here’s the FOIA request Mary sent about the 3rd of March;

The letter they sent to Mary was dated the 13th of March, the same day as the incident. He was already on our radar when those vets busted him on campus.

He’s a lying piece of shit and he’s no more suffering from PTS than any of the other phonies we busted. Yeah, he failed the ASVAB, but he didn’t finish high school either. There are tons of MFers out there who can’t pass the ASVAB, but they’re not out there trying to pass themselves off as a Ranger MP. This guy was using his uniform to make him into something he’s not.

When he was confronted, Scott says he didn’t know how to react.

“The guys who did confront me, I don’t believe they really did it in a manner that they should have if they were true soldiers and true veterans,” he said. “I just really wish that they would have, you know, talked to me instead of judge me the way they did. But I do apologize for whoever I hurt.”

Nevertheless, he still wishes he could serve his country.

“I’d serve today,” he told KXTV. “One phone call and I’d be gone.”

He was busted cold and he couldn’t talk himself out of it. Period. he was a shithead before he was busted and we’ve all seen those phonies say they were wearing it to honor someone, and that’s bullshit. They’re wearing it honor themselves for things they didn’t do. If I started going around representing myself as a judge or a prosecutor, they’d be up my ass.

And mainly that’s why we can’t get people jailed for stolen valor – how many times have we here seen people make excuses for the phonies? Wives, girlfriends, sons and daughters. They always tell us how they have mental problems, or they were honoring some-damn-body. Screw ’em, screw ’em all.

They’re no different than the morons who defend the Boston Marathon Bombers or any of the other criminals who have cult worshipers.

The Supreme Court even made excuses for Xavier Alvarez when they overturned the first Stolen Valor Act. All of them should come out and say what they mean – they just don’t give a flying f**k about stolen valor. it was just another law that prosecutors and law enforcement backed to make themselves feel good, not that they ever had any intention to enforce it.

It’s all part of that divide between the sheep and the sheepdogs. When the herd feels safe again, screw those who made them safe. I stand fully behind those two veterans, because they put the teeth in our issue and screw civilians if they want to feel sorry for the retard.

Mary sends us a link to the Augusta Chronical which reports that a South Carolina state representative and veteran Stephen Goldfinch has noticed what we’ve known for a few years; stolen valor has exploded with phonies;

Goldfinch, a South Caro­lina attorney and Navy veteran, said at least 10 veterans and advocacy groups in the Charles­ton area have contacted him to report more than 100 incidents statewide of con artists claiming to have served in the military or won a medal.

The South Carolina bill [The South Carolina Mili­tary Service Integrity and Pre­servation Act] would create a misdemeanor offense and cover all “written or oral communication” that is fake, including service résumés, decorations, medals, ribbons or other means of honoring veterans authorized by Congress.

Yeah, well, we’ve had more than 150 just since May when our last tournament started, and they’re piling up.

Mary Schantag, a Marine widow who lives in Missouri and operates the Fake War­riors Project, said “prevent” is the key word.

Since launching the veteran-vetting venture in 1998, she said her nonprofit group and partners at similar sites have identified more than 6,000 hoaxers. The VA does not track such cases and as a result, suspects are rarely prosecuted.

“The problem is not the law,” Schantag said. “It’s enforcement.”

Yep, when I reported phony general Charles Baxter to the Maryland FBI office, I had to tell the agent what the Stolen Valor Act was, and then she told me that I had too much time on my hands. Trying to report phony SEAL Joe Cryer, who is obviously stealing veterans’ benefits for a condition that doesn’t exist, the VA won’t pay attention and won’t make the easiest bust in the history of the VAOIG’s office.

Even if the law gets passed in South Carolina, they’ll have a problem getting prosecutors to do their job because they don’t see the personal benefit of doing their jobs. The problem in this country isn’t that there aren’t enough laws to punish criminals, it’s convincing prosecutors that it’s in their interest to actually prosecute laws. And Stolen Valor is waaaaay down their lists of priorities.

TSO sends a link from Fox News that tells the story of a new novelist, Robert Galbraith, who writes “The Cuckoo’s Calling” a story about a former servicemember who becomes a private investigator. The publisher writes about the author;

The publisher described Galbraith as an ex-military man, married with two sons, who wrote the novel based on experiences from his military life. Revealingly, it also stated that Galbraith was a pseudonym.

But, the pseudonym was cover for JK Rowling who wrote the Harry Potter series;

“I hoped to keep this secret a little longer because being Robert Galbraith has been such a liberating experience,” she said in a statement released by her publicist on Sunday. “It has been wonderful to publish without hype or expectation, and pure pleasure to get feedback from publishers and readers under a different name.”

Like TSO writes, this would probably be a prosecutable offense under the new Stolen Valor Act – pretending to be a veteran for a tangible benefit.

What can I say?

With the Stolen Valor Act in the news again because the President signed it into law once more, we’ve been getting calls from around the country once again. In today’s Florida Today, Norman Moody writes about our friends and includes us in his examination of the issue;

Jonn Lilyea, a combat veteran who tracks false claims, said that the law will make people think twice before trying to profit by lying about their military record. Someone found guilty could be fined, imprisoned up to a year, or both.

Lilyea collaborates with other veterans to write a blog called “This Ain’t Hell,” a forum for veterans that since 2006 has been exposing false claims. He said the group discovered a veteran who falsely claimed to have served with Special Forces. The man was writing a book and had even received an advance when Lilyea’s group exposed him.

“We want to believe each other,” he said. “We don’t want to believe there are a bunch of phonies.”

Lilyea said more veterans are turning in tips that his group investigates. He said that most people being discovered as making false claims about military honors also tend to raise doubt about other aspects of their lives.

“We recognize when things don’t look right,” he said.

President Obama just signed the law. So from here on out you might want to keep your nose clean.

Jonn added: Read more about the law at The Syracuse Post-Standard written by our buddy, Mark Weiner with whom we worked on the James Ferris bust.