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*AWOL for our Nautically Challenged friends. Jerry Leon Blankenship had second thoughts after completing Navy boot in 1977, and deserted. He remained under the radar for some 40 years using a stolen identity, living in Tennessee.<\/p>\n
Then he received the Covid jab at a Walgreens, and his run ended. Poetrooper sends.<\/p>\n
Liz George<\/strong><\/p>\n A Tennessee man who deserted the United States Navy after basic training has been identified and sentenced this week \u2014 more than 40 years since going AWOL.<\/p>\n Jerry Leon Blankenship, 65, has been living under someone else\u2019s identity since deserting the Navy in 1977, and remained in secret until he received his COVID-19 vaccine in 2021, the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office for the Eastern District of Tennessee announced on Tuesday.<\/p>\n Blankenship accepted a plea deal and pleaded guilty to one count of false use of a social security number and one count of aggravated identity theft. He was sentenced to 25 months in prison and three years on supervised release.<\/p>\n Blankenship may also face a military tribunal for deserting the U.S. Navy, the release stated.<\/p>\n Tennessee authorities discovered Blankenship\u2019s true identity thanks to reports from an identity theft victim in North Carolina when a Walgreens contacted him about his COVID-19 vaccine, which he had not received.<\/p>\n Video surveillance reviewed by police showed Blankenship receiving the vaccine under the stolen identity in March 2021, court documents showed.<\/p>\n The identity theft victim claimed \u201che had been plagued with identity theft issues\u201d for decades, The Charlotte Observer reported.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n American Military News<\/a><\/p>\n Then it gets creepy.<\/p>\n In the early 1980s, Blankenship was in a short relationship with a woman. When the woman heard he went AWOL from the Navy, she suggested he used the identity of the father of her child to avoid trouble from the military, court documents show. She shared important information such as his social security number with Blankenship.<\/p>\n After he and the woman separated, he met the \u201cestranged\u201d daughter of his first wife, from a different relationship, and they started dating, authorities said. Documents show the two settled in Newport where they raised three children and built a home repair business together.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Charlotte Observer<\/a><\/p>\n Thanks, Poe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"