PURPLE HEARTBREAK: Fake war hero scammed state \u2014 and many others along the way<\/strong><\/a>
\nBy Elias Weiss, Managing Editor – Dec 4, 2023<\/p>\nWineberg fronted as a Sergeant First Class in the Army with 15 years of service, a Green Beret in the Elite Special Forces with Top Secret Security Clearance. He earned his Purple Heart, telling anyone who would listen, when he suffered shrapnel wounds, saving his comrade \u201cEddie\u201d in Somalia.<\/p>\n
Indeed, Wineberg is an Army veteran who was honorably discharged, earning 18 medals and badges along the way. And yet no detail in his story \u2014 not a single one \u2014 is true.<\/p>\n
He served fewer than seven years, according to military service records obtained from the National Personnel Records Center through a Freedom of Information Act request.<\/p>\n
Wineberg\u2019s highest rank was E5, two notches below what he claims. The records don\u2019t mention Somalia. Although his awards suggest he saw combat, he was also a driver and mechanic.<\/p>\n
He never received a Purple Heart, the National Archives confirmed. He\u2019s not credited with saving anyone\u2019s life. He had standard security clearance, and he was never in the Special Forces.<\/p>\n
Yet his Purple Heart vanity plates read \u201cSF RNGR\u201d \u2014 Special Forces Ranger.<\/p>\n
Gone fishing
\n<\/strong>
\nEarl Fisher isn\u2019t just a detective at the Office of Inspector General in Phoenix. He\u2019s also a proud veteran who served in the Vietnam War as a medical combat corpsman.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nFor him, investigating stolen valor is personal. So, when the state opened its investigation into Wineberg, Fisher was the man for the job.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\nIt seems that Wineberg took advantage in a loophole in the system in Arizona, but stopped short of forging a DD-214.<\/p>\n
According to Fisher, Wineberg abused a loophole in the system. Had he gone into a Motor Vehicle Division office to request his plates, he would have been denied. But he used the MVD Now website to order them, which at the time would send the tags by mail and allow the driver to supply his DD Form 214 \u2014 military discharge paperwork \u2014 after the fact.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nUnder Arizona law, he needed to prove he received a Purple Heart to obtain those plates.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cBecause of the glitch in the system, I couldn\u2019t prosecute him,\u201d Fisher said. \u201cI brought it to MVD\u2019s attention, so they\u2019re fixing that flaw.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nInstead, Fisher sent the letter demanding Wineberg turn in the plates or face criminal charges. The detective didn\u2019t confirm whether he surrendered the plates and neighbors reported seeing them months later.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nWhen he received the letter, Wineberg called the inspector general\u2019s office.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cHe was very distraught when he called me, probably because he thought I was going to arrest him,\u201d Fisher recalled. \u201cHe said, \u2018I made a mistake, I was in a bad place.\u2019\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nFor Fisher, Wineberg\u2019s Somalia story reeked of falsehood. \u201cI don\u2019t know how that story can be true,\u201d he said. As soon as a soldier is wounded, his unit would recommend the Purple Heart and it would be awarded immediately upon treatment.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nWineberg never supplied a DD Form 214.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cIf he provided any of those documents, they would have been forged,\u201d Fisher said. \u201cThat\u2019s where we\u2019d get him. On forgery charges, and maybe tampering with public records.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\nWineberg has moved on, but it was a challenge to see if he was held accountable other than public shaming. Often, that seems like the only tool.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Stan Wineberg lived quite the life. Claims of Green Beret, Purple Heart, Vanity Plates, etc. Over … Purple Heartbreak: Living the Lie<\/span>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":663,"featured_media":150459,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[630,461,408],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-150458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-green-beret","category-purple-heart","category-stolen-valor"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150458","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=150458"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150458\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/150459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=150458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=150458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=150458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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