![\"Johnson](\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Johnson-in-Baltimore-300x204.jpg\")
<\/a><\/center><\/p>\nJeff sends us a link from the Baltimore Sun<\/a> about Earl L. Johnson who was a board member of 6th Branch<\/a>, a veteran-run organization to clean up Baltimore’s Oliver district. Johnson claimed to be a Ranger with tours in Bosnia and Iraq, but it turns out that Johnson’s military career last about a year and ended in 2002.<\/p>\n Johnson moved to Oliver with his wife in 2010 and first got the attention of veterans working in the neighborhood with the Pat Tillman Foundation. Johnson seemed like a community member who cared. He swept his street and talked with other residents about leaving crime behind and improving the neighborhood, leaders have said.<\/p>\n As the other veterans increased their focus on Oliver through The 6th Branch, they began featuring Johnson’s story and partnering more with Operation Oliver. Johnson joined the board.<\/p>\n But through it all, Johnson was hiding a darker history. He’d arrived in Baltimore after a futile search for work along the East Coast. He was a felon, he said, convicted of violating a restraining order in a former relationship and placed on probation. Public court records were not available in the case.<\/p>\n Over the years, he’s run into other problems, including a robbery charge that he said stemmed from allegations that he stole from a restaurant where he worked. He was found not guilty.<\/p>\n Johnson now says he indeed served in the Army, but the stint only lasted a year. He says he served one tour in Afghanistan as an infantryman in 2002 but was dropped from military rolls after violating orders. Army officials could not immediately verify his account.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n So, a guy with his heart in the right place, really working for his community and to make things right in the world screws it all up by making up needless stories – stories that had nothing to do with the good works he was doing for the neighborhood. What did being a Ranger have to do with fixing up the neighborhood? Well, except to build up Johnson’s ego and the image the media had of him. Now that he’s been found out, his stories demean us all. So, thanks, Earl.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"