{"id":146671,"date":"2023-08-31T13:46:04","date_gmt":"2023-08-31T17:46:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/?p=146671"},"modified":"2023-08-31T13:50:38","modified_gmt":"2023-08-31T17:50:38","slug":"williams-sentenced-in-fraud-stolen-valor-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/?p=146671","title":{"rendered":"Williams Sentenced in Fraud\/Stolen Valor Case"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Christopher Williams<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

You may recall Mr. Christopher Williams – we wrote about him here<\/a>, and here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Well, it seems he has been sentenced after a guilty plea.<\/p>\n

Henry County man sentenced after lying about military service and collecting thousands from fundraiser benefit<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

by Brad Vidmar<\/em><\/p>\n

HENRY COUNTY \u2014 A Henry County man has been sentenced to probation and ordered to pay back money he collected after authorities say he portrayed himself as a veteran and received thousands of dollars from a benefit motorcycle ride in 2020.<\/p>\n

In July 2022, Christopher Williams, 46, of Oxford Junction, was charged with second-degree fraudulent practice (a class D felony).<\/p>\n

In May 2022, the Henry County Sheriff\u2019s Office was contacted by a concerned citizen who reported a potential stolen valor situation involving a motorcycle ride that was held for Williams in Mount Pleasant in September 2020.<\/p>\n

On Sept. 26, 2020, a charitable motorcycle ride was held to assist Williams with accruing medical bills. The ride was put on by a non-profit organization called Help to Our Vets, which offers assistance to veterans.<\/p>\n

Williams alleged himself to be a veteran and was given approximately $4750 after the motorcycle ride, according to a criminal complaint.<\/p>\n

The flyers on social media for the ride also indicated Williams was a veteran, the complaint states.<\/p>\n

On May , 2022, the director of Thanks is Not Enough, another organization that offers services and assistance to veterans, contacted the Henry County Sheriff\u2019s Office about possible fraud, according to the complaint.<\/p>\n

Investigators say Williams was asking the organization for services, but when asked for verification of his military service, Williams could not provide it, which brought his veteran status into question, and initiated an investigation, the complaint states.<\/p>\n

Police said several attempts were made to verify Williams\u2019 veteran status, but no records of Williams being a member of the armed forces were found.<\/p>\n

The Henry County Sheriff\u2019s Office also spoke with members of Williams\u2019 family, who stated he either was not in the military or that they were unsure, court records show.<\/p>\n

Williams also attempted to email investigators with proof of past military service, but the paperwork was \u201cunreadable,\u201d according to the complaint.<\/p>\n

Investigators also spoke with the director of Henry County Veterans Affairs, who was unable to locate any records of Williams\u2019 service, and with a local military recruiter who was also unable to verify Williams\u2019 military service, the complaint states.<\/p>\n

In August 2022, Willaims pleaded not guilty in the case.<\/p>\n

But on May 23, Williams pled guilty to the charge.<\/p>\n

On Monday, Eighth Judicial Court Judge John Wright sentenced Williams to five years of probation, a $1,145 fine (plus surcharges), credit for time serves, and ordered Williams to pay $4,750 in restitution to the Help Our Vets organization, which will be paid in minimum monthly installments of $750 starting in September until the amount is paid in full, according to court records.<\/p>\n

Williams was represented by attorney DJ Arbabha.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

“The Henry County Sheriff\u2019s Office also spoke with members of Williams\u2019 family, who stated he either was not in the military or that they were unsure, court records show.”<\/em><\/p>\n

That’s gotta be bad when your own family doesn’t have your back.<\/p>\n

“Williams also attempted to email investigators with proof of past military service, but the paperwork was \u201cunreadable,\u201d according to the complaint.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Sounds like he borrowed a page out of Alaska Bob’s playbook.<\/p>\n

Williams may get some points for wearing a pink strip club t-shirt for his mugshot, but that would only be style points.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You may recall Mr. Christopher Williams – we wrote about him here, and here. Well, it … Williams Sentenced in Fraud\/Stolen Valor Case<\/span>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":663,"featured_media":146672,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[659,408],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-146671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fraud","category-stolen-valor"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/663"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=146671"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146671\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":146675,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146671\/revisions\/146675"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/146672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=146671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=146671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=146671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}