Media Coverage
October /
November 2008
|
The Associated Press
LOUISVILLE — A Veterans Administration employee and 13 other
people have been charged with conspiring to steal nearly $2 million in
disability claims.
Veterans Affairs service representative Jeffrey Allan McGill and
Daniel Ryan Parker, a veteran and officer with the Disabled American
Veterans, were among the 14 charged Wednesday by a federal grand jury
with conspiring to defraud the United States of $1.9 million through
the submission of false veterans disability claims to the Department
of Veterans Affairs.
The indictment outlines an alleged scheme for veterans to falsely
claim to have suffered from bipolar disorder, hearing loss, frostbite,
back injuries and other ailments and disabilities.
The indictment says veterans received lump-sum payments for back
pay and then kick backed as much as two-thirds of it to Parker and
McGill.
“They’re all veterans,” U.S. Attorney David Huber said at a
news conference Thursday. “That’s what’s sad about all of
this.”
Parker, 37, of Crestwood, is free on $25,000 bond. He is also
charged with stealing $47,000 from Disabled American Veterans. His
attorney, Brian Butler of Louisville, said his client plans to plead
not guilty.
“We’ve been aware of the investigation for months and have
cooperated with investigators,” Butler said.
A phone message left for McGill, 37, was not immediately returned
Thursday morning.
Huber said the remaining defendants, who live in Kentucky, Illinois
and West Virginia, would voluntarily surrender at arraignment on Dec.
16 in Louisville.
Huber said Parker and McGill received between $500,000 and $600,000
in kickbacks, with the rest of the stolen money being split among the
participants.
According to the indictment, starting in 2003 and continuing until
this month, Parker and McGill recruited friends, relatives and
acquaintances who were military veterans to file fraudulent claims
with the VA.
Parker and McGill then allegedly either altered the veterans’
medical records, or created counterfeit medical records, to give the
appearance that the veterans had service related disabilities.
That resulted in the veterans receiving 100 percent disability for
problems such as depression or cancer due to Agent Orange exposure
during combat in Vietnam, according to the indictment.
Huber said the case came to light after a tip from a confidential
source. He declined to discuss how the source knew about the alleged
plot.
“But for that confidential source, this case may not have been
known for some time, if at all,” Huber said.
Michael Keen, the resident agent in charge for the Department of
Veterans Affairs in Louisville, said the scheme could hurt veterans
who needed the allegedly purloined funds.
“Obviously, the Department of Veterans Affairs doesn’t have a
bottomless pit of money,” Keen said.
Huber said prosecutors will try to recoup the money taken during
the scheme.
===================================================
At 09:30 AM 11/21/2008, you wrote:
The Louisville Courier-Journal has a new story out on the VA Fraud
cases out there that is pretty revealing. See: http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20081121/NEWS01/811210771
I took quick notice of: "(U.S. Attorney) Huber said it was
easy to understand how VA officials allegedly were taken -- "When
you handle records in an office, you expect them to be
authentic." That is EXACTLY what Mary, I, and others have been
harping on for so long—failure to "trust but verify." The
question begs to be asked, how many millions of dollars are being
spent on OTHER cases where the VA trusted the records to be authentic…I
can show you a ton of bogus DD-214s.
ALSO of interest in that story: "All but one of the defendants
is a veteran." Does this mean that someone who was NOT a veteran…never
served in the military…was receiving VA $$s? If you recall the
similar case from last year in Seattle involving $1.4 million in
fraud, TWO of the EIGHT men who were fraudulently getting VA $$$ based
upon the documents they provided, had actually never even served.
Again the question becomes, how many other non veterans are getting
money from the VA that they don’t deserve?
S incerely,
Doug
C. Douglas Sterner
3111 Thatcher Ave.
Pueblo, CO 81005
(719) 564-1755
homeofheroes.com
|
|
THIS IS A CHICAGO TRIBUNE
ONGOING SERIES
- Top
excuses for unverified medals of valor By
John Crewdson ,Tribune correspondent
-
...captain in Vietnam. He acknowledged he did not
have the Silver Star listed in his Who's Who profile,
but had no idea how...annual update forms to Who's Who but never
noticed the Silver Star. On Sept. 16, Wadlington asked
that it be removed...
October 26, 2008
|story
-
- False
courage By John Crewdson ,Tribune
correspondent
-
...five Air Force Crosses and 96 Silver
Stars. Such numbers infuriate Sanborn...Florida
physician, included a Silver Star in his profile
out of pique at...Another man claimed to have earned a Silver
Star during the 1968 Tet Offensive...
October 25, 2008
|story
-
- Claims
of medals amount to stolen valor By
John Crewdson ,Tribune correspondent
...five Air Force Crosses and 96 Silver
Stars. Such numbers infuriate Sanborn...Florida physician
Who's Who to vet U.S. vets
after Tribune report - How the investigation was conducted
|
|
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/nov/08/guarding-the-valorous/
|
| http://www.wsoctv.com/seenon9/17876609/detail.html
Critics Concerned About How Paramilitary Group
Presents Itself
Monday, November 3, 2008
– updated: 6:38 pm EST November 3, 2008
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The North
Carolina State Guard Association has a name that sounds official,
and its Web site shows pictures of men and women in military uniform
in front of military aircraft.....
|
Hundreds lie about receiving military medals
KOAA - Pueblo,CO,USA
A robbery Sterner says will continue unless more is done to expose imposters.
Sterner says the Roll of Honor Act hasn't gotten as much support from ... |
Traveling Wall Honors Vietnam Vets
Ozarks First -
Springfield,MO,USA
"This is a way to make sure that these men are not
forgotten, a way to pay tribute, a remembrance," Schantag
says. "I saw the main wall and I saw the ... |
|
These
are our sisters stations versions
|
'Fake' vets of Vietnam need dose of reality
By Mike Seate
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, November 13, 2008
You're off to Vietnam/
You shoot to kill/
come back and you're a veteran/
but how many veterans/
are out here peddlin'?
- Rapper KRS One in "Stop The Violence"
Last week, NBC affiliate WPXI ran
a well-executed news piece about several local men who have been
impersonating Vietnam-era veterans.
In classic deer-in-the-headlights TV journalism, the men in question
were goofy enough to answer their doors when confronted by a TV
camera, and stammered through weak explanations for their actions.
The reporter went on to speak with U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchannan,
who said the impersonators might face serious charges and jail time.
Buchannan said legislation is being considered that would increase the
penalties for claiming combat credit you don't deserve.
That seems appropriate.
Then again, maybe not.
We may be a society that imprisons more of its citizens than any other
country on Earth, using jail sentences as a supposed fix for
everything from drug problems to bad parenting. But this crime, as it
were, demands a different resolution.
Instead of throwing the book at these men, why don't we throw a mop, a
bedpan and a scrub brush at them instead?
The kind of sad, desperate people who would claim to have served in
the Armed Forces when they didn't were caught lying because they were
attracted to the accolades and respect afforded real veterans.
These guys joined veterans' groups and turned up at parades and
commemoration exercises, hoping to share in warmth and camaraderie
they found irresistible. One even claimed to have been one of WWII's
Tuskegee Airmen and a veteran of Vietnam, which, except in rare cases,
was a near impossibility to pull off.
What these guys -- and reportedly thousands more who are being
revealed as frauds through Defense Department records checks -- don't
realize is that there's far more to being a vet than marching in
parades wearing medals and unit citations.
They'd know this if the powers-that-be would sentence them to
community service work at a Veterans Administration hospital instead
of jail.
Officials at veterans centers say there's always a manpower shortage
at VA hospitals, places where the public can see the really tough side
of having served one's country.
Spending time working with them would provide a shot of much-needed
reality to people who want a piece of the glory but none of the pain
of being a real combat veteran.
Mike Seate can be reached at mseate@tribweb.com or 724-320-7845.
|
Phony War Heroes Under Investigation
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=6231452&page=1
|
http://www.whiotv.com/news/17957427/detail.html
POW Network Uncovers Fake War Heroes
Tuesday, November 11, 2008 – updated: 5:49 pm EST November 11,
2008
DAYTON, Ohio -- During the Vietman War, hundreds of Americans
serving in the military were taken prisoner. The most famous, Sen.
John McCain, spent five and half years in captivity.
Now, some people believe that McCain’s celebrity has brought out
more fake POWs out of the woodwork.
Personnel Missing -
Southeast AsiaDatabase Report.
The POW Network is trying to honor real war heroes and disclose the
fakes. Founder, Mary Shantag, calls them phonies and wannabe’s.
“When these guys make their claims, when they falsify these
documents to get things they are not entitled to, those are our tax
dollars being used,” said Shantag.
The POW Network said Stephen Barkett of Troy is not a POW even though
he claimed that he was on a war hero website. His military record said
he was in the Marine Corp. for less than three months in 1965 and
discharged from boot camp at Parris Island, S.C.
In a telephone interview, Barkett said that record is true, but he
went to work for the federal government and was a civilian POW. He
said he can’t release anymore because it is classified.
Shantag said, “When we hear you can’t have it, you can’t see it,
it’s classified. Those are the biggest red flags there are out there
for those who are faking their military history.”
The Department of Defense POW database has no record of Barkett. He is
not listed as a civilian or military POW who came home alive.
Maj. Gen. Ed Mechenbier, of Dayton, is a former POW. He said lying is
one thing, but if someone lies about their military service for
monetary gain, they should be prosecuted for violating the Stolen
Valor Act.
Mechenbier said, “I’d like to see people who do this exposed only,
No. 1, if they need help or No. 2, if they are doing it for their own
gain and profit in an illegal manner.”
The Stolen Valor Act became law in 2006. |
http://www.wsoctv.com/video/index.html
PREVIEW: Investigating False Claims Of Service & Honor
======
http://www.wsoctv.com/news/17957870/detail.html
Lenoir Veteran Accused Of Lying About His
Service Record
A veteran in a blue shirt, Daniel Laws of Lenoir, is
pictured carrying a flag during a ceremony in Florida where he was
honored for his service in the war.
But some veterans have a problem with the picture
because they say he’s lying.
On the Web site pownetwork.org, there's a section
called "Phonies and Wannabees." Daniel Laws is on the
list.
The site says: Laws claims he has a Congressional
Medal of Honor, that he was a Navy Seal, earned a Purple Heart and
was a Prisoner of War...... CLICK LINK FOR FULL STORY AND
VIDEO
|
 Attention reveals lie
about WWII record
Post office legislation
exposes veteran's fabrication
Nov. 09,
2008
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
By KEITH ROGERS and STEVE
TETREAULT
© 2008 REVIEW-JOURNAL
Irving Joseph Schwartz had a glorious Army career in
World War II based on the achievements he listed with the
Military Order of the Purple Heart.
His impressive résumé, along with his advocacy for
veterans in Las Vegas, prompted the House on Sept. 27 to
pass a bill naming a post office on Russell Road after
him. Under the legislation, authored by Rep. Jon Porter
and co-sponsored by Rep. Shelley Berkley, the building's
new name would be "Private First Class Irving Joseph
Schwartz Post Office."
But after a Review-Journal inquiry cast doubts on his
record, Schwartz, 83, of Las Vegas, admitted to Porter's
staff last week that he had fabricated most of his role in
World War II. The valor medals he claimed, including the
Bronze and Silver stars, had stood without question for
most of his life.
"He was very sorry and remorseful, and didn't give
an explanation why he's been doing it for 63 years,"
said Phil Speight, Porter's chief of staff.
Schwartz's story, as he told it, was one of heroism,
participating in historic battles and becoming a leader
among wounded combat veterans.
He gave only a brief comment for this story, saying the
lies were "all an accident."
His best friend, Ron Krever, described him as man who
has led a life of devotion to his fellow veterans.
Krever, a veteran himself, said Schwartz made a mistake
when he fell in love as a young man, a mistake that
"unfortunately lasted longer than the marriage."
He said Schwartz had lied about his age to the woman
who became his first wife because she was seven years
older. And, "like most men he wanted to impress her
and so he embellished his military record," Krever
wrote in a letter Tuesday.
Speight said Schwartz was the man Porter, R-Nev., and
Berkley, D-Nev., went to when they were "looking for
someone who could be recognized for working with the
veterans in Southern Nevada." Some veterans suggested
he would be a good candidate because of his work assisting
Jewish war veterans and the homeless.
Schwartz, who was a national service officer last year
for the Military Order of the Purple Heart, is also a
former commander of the organization's Chapter 711 in Las
Vegas. In 2004, he led a small group of Purple Heart
recipients from Las Vegas to the dedication of the World
War II Memorial in Washington.
Shortly after the initial post office bill was
introduced on March 12, Schwartz sat for an interview that
Porter conducted for the Library of Congress Veterans
History Project.
"And then the Silver Star. Tell us about
that," Porter says to Schwartz in the taped
interview.
"Ah. They gave me that. I was surprised to get it.
... You try to save your guys and ... whatever it takes to
do it you do it, you understand," Schwartz replied,
describing how he saved his comrades by throwing grenades
in enemy bunkers.
The basis for Porter's interview was a biography
Schwartz had submitted to the Military Order of the Purple
Heart. Schwartz claimed he had jumped into Normandy,
France, six days before the D-Day invasion with a select
group of paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division's
504th Parachute Infantry Regiment.
And according to that self-prepared biography and from
what he told others, he was wounded three times in
different combat engagements. Along with the Silver Star,
he said he received three Purple Hearts. He also said he
served in the Pacific campaign in addition to the European
theater.
Finally, he wrote on a data sheet for the history
project interview that he served in Company A of the 504th
Parachute Infantry Regiment and received a Combat
Infantryman Badge.
But as public attention about him grew in recent
months, he also drew notice from independent researchers
who began checking into his record.
The biography he submitted to the Military Order of the
Purple Heart quickly became suspect.
One military historian says it would have been
impossible for Schwartz to have jumped into France six
days before D-Day.
The historian, Brian Siddall, of Airborne in Normandy
Research, said in e-mails to the Review-Journal that a
photograph of pathfinders that accompanied Schwartz's
biography on the Purple Heart organization's Web site
doesn't contain anyone named Irving Joseph Schwartz. And
the photo isn't of Schwartz's claimed unit, the 504th
Parachute Infantry Regiment.
Instead, Siddall said, the photograph is that of
pathfinders from the 2nd Battalion of the 505th Parachute
Infantry Regiment. The man with the arrow above him,
denoted as, "Joe," is not Schwartz but one of
five soldiers in the photograph who couldn't be positively
identified.
"We just don't know which name goes to which
face," Siddall said.
During his research and in what appears to be a
coincidence, Siddall found there is another World War II
veteran named Irving Schwartz in the Las Vegas Valley who
received a Silver Star medal for gallantry in action near
Bliesbrucken, Germany, in February 1945.
That man, Irving I. Schwartz, 83, of Henderson, told
the Review-Journal last month that the types of honors
that require congressional action "are for people who
have really done something big for their country."
There were other discrepancies with Irving Joseph
Schwartz's story.
After contacting military history experts and
researchers on World War II airborne soldiers and
examining lists of paratroopers in the 504th Parachute
Infantry Regiment, no record of Schwartz could be found in
connection with the 82nd Airborne Division, the 504th
regiment, or the 13,000 paratroopers in the Normandy
invasion or any other World War II combat jumps.
Rather, an honorable discharge form containing
Schwartz's serial number on record with the Department of
Veterans Affairs shows he was a rifleman with the 357th
Infantry Regiment. The regiment sailed to the Normandy
coast, anchored off of Utah beach and waded ashore from
landing crafts on June 8, 1944.
But Schwartz's discharge record shows he didn't arrive
in the European Theater of Operations until December 1944,
six months after the Normandy invasion began.
Regarding his Purple Hearts, Schwartz told Porter he
was wounded in the knee in Sicily and grazed by a bullet
in Normandy. He said he was wounded in Holland, but he
gave no details of that incident because of what he called
the bad memories it stirred.
But his discharge papers list only one Purple Heart,
for being wounded in Belgium in January 1945, and a Good
Conduct ribbon. No mention is made of a Silver Star or the
Combat Infantryman Badge he claimed to have. Nor did he
serve in the Pacific Campaign, according to the document.
And there was no mention of a Bronze Star.
Schwartz applied for membership in the Military Order
of the Purple Heart in 1979, listing that he earned a
Purple Heart in December 1944 during the Battle of the
Bulge, regarded as one of the bloodiest battles of World
War II. But Schwartz wasn't wounded until a month later,
according to his discharge papers.
Cyril Kammeier, acting public relations director of the
Military Order of the Purple Heart, said biographies
appearing on the group's Web site are submitted by the
veterans themselves and are not confirmed by the group.
Upon learning of Schwartz's disclosures last week,
Kammeier said the embellished biography will be taken down
from the site.
Under the Stolen Valor Act signed into law by President
Bush in 2006, people who are caught lying about receiving
military valor medals they never earned can be charged
with a federal misdemeanor even if they have never been
seen wearing such combat medals but have made false claims
about having them.
Impersonators can be fined up to $5,000 and imprisoned
up to six months for falsely claiming to have received an
armed services decoration.
Penalties increase for those who claim to have received
the Distinguished Service Cross, the Air Force Cross, the
Navy Cross, the Silver Star, the Purple Heart and the
Medal of Honor.
However, sentences for violating the Stolen Valor Act
typically range from community service to probation.
Mary Schantag of the POW Network, a nonprofit veterans
watchdog group that researches military records of
servicemen suspected of claiming awards they did not earn,
faults members of Congress for not doing their homework on
Schwartz's service record before agreeing to name a post
office after him.
"They didn't do due diligence to vet this man's
military records whatsoever," Schantag said. "If
you can't verify, why are you going ahead based on
somebody's fairy tale?"
Speight confirmed that Porter, who has since lost his
bid for re-election, did not check Schwartz's claimed
military honors before sponsoring the legislation. The
staff, Speight said, relied on information from the
Military Order of the Purple Heart.
As for the post office bill, Speight said Porter will
clarify the congressional record and rescind the
legislation by requesting that the Senate not move it
forward.
Doug Sterner, a military historian in Colorado who
specializes in documenting awards of valor, said problems
caused by fake military heroes who seek unwarranted
recognition and financial benefits can be avoided if
Congress passes a bill next year by Rep. John Salazar, D-Colo.
The bill, he said, will call for a database accessible
by members of Congress, the Department of Veterans Affairs
and journalists to verify claims about medals of valor.
"You've got phonies getting post offices named
after them, and the real heroes get lost in the
shuffle," Sterner said.
Contact Review-Journal reporter Keith Rogers at krogers@reviewjournal.com
or 702-383-0308. Contact Stephens Washington Bureau Chief
Steve Tetreault at stetreault@stephensmedia.com or
202-783-1760.
|
|
|
I
wanted to share with you the POSITIVE side of what the national
database will do.
You
simply MUST read the story that was the front page feature in
Sunday’s Kansas City newspaper. See: http://www.kansascity.com/105/story/881662.html
Jan
Girando contacted me for help getting her father, a Navy Cross
recipient memorialized at Arlington. Despite the fact that fewer than
7000 people in history have earned the Navy Cross, the Navy had no
record he had even served on active duty. .... she sent to Congressman
Ike Skelton earlier this year that notes her frustrated efforts.
You’ll see by the chronology that after four months of fruitless
effort, thanks to my own database, I confirmed her father’s award
and Arlington accepted my findings and got this done in FIVE DAYS.
(Take time to watch the video the Star also included with the story.
After the story ran on Sunday, I got an email from a family that
read the story and wanted help with a similar situation for their
father. After a YEAR of fruitless efforts from St. Louis, in minutes I
emailed them back with info on how to get their father’s Silver Star
citation. See the follow up story in Today’s KC Star at: http://www.kansascity.com/703/story/886351.html
This is the side of the need for a National database largely
overlooked amid the need to out phonies. I’ve got plenty of
additional such examples, including one I think may be coming out in
the San Diego newspaper yet this week.
For more information on the legislation calling for a database
of all military awards see: www.homeofheroes.com/rollofvalor
Sincerely,
Doug
C.
Douglas Sterner
3111
Thatcher Ave.
Pueblo,
CO 81005
(719)
564-1755
|
'We never forget them'
Veterans saluted during Oak Grove tradition
November 11, 2008
GREEN OAKS -- Nearly 100 veterans were given a special Veterans Day
tribute Monday by the students of Oak Grove Elementary School with
music, posters, speeches, poems and a flag-raising ceremony.
"This is one of the nicest events ever. They do a wonderful
job here," said Jim Fillinger, a Navy veteran from McHenry who
has been coming to the school event for years. His wife, Karla, works
at the school.
Fillinger also presented a plaque to eighth-grade teacher Kathy
Mahoney, who first organized the event in 1991 with the help of art
teacher Carol Anderson and now retired teacher Joyce McGrath. He also
urged students to become informed citizens and involved in the
political process.
"And hopefully make the right decisions to run this
country," he said.
Principal Janice Matthews came here two years ago from Michigan and
she was impressed with the school tradition. "It's highly
unusual. I've never seen a school district do something like
this," she said.
"It teaches children about serving our country and the
sacrifice the veteran's make," she said.
Kevin Chong, 13, of Green Oaks is the student body president, and
he thanked the veterans for their sacrifices. His grandfather, Zhang
Ruqi, served in the Air Force, and his grandmother, Guan Xia, was also
a veteran.
"I really started appreciating veterans a lot more than I have
before," he said. "It was a learning experience," Chong
said.
The students made posters and biographies of servicemen from the
various wars, and teacher Mahoney shared some of her possessions --
old uniforms and other war memorabilia.
"People just give me things," she said, taking a short
break during the reception after the flag raising that included the
school band and choir. She said it started out small with just a few
veterans. "The next year we got some neighbors come over, and
then kids started bringing their grandparents," she said.
One of the first things visitors saw walking into the reception was
a big poster of Libertyville's Army Spc. Wesley Wells, who attended
Oak Grove and was killed Sept. 18, 2004, in Afghanistan near the
Pakistani border.
There is also a big picture of Army Pfc. Sean Michael Conlon,
another graduate of the school who is at Fort Benning now and could be
heading to the Middle East in the near future.
"We never forget them," Mahoney said.
The students also organized a photography group that took pictures
of veterans at the event. They will send DVDs to all the veterans.
Invitations were prepared and sent to veterans, and there were pins
and a poem about veterans that were handed out.
Ron Naden is a Vietnam War veteran who used to work for the school
district and enjoys coming to talk to the students. He was a POW in
Laos after the plane he was riding in was shot down. He was with the
101st Army Airborne and about to make a parachute jump when the plane
was hit.
"Every year this gets bigger and better," he said. He has
talked to the kids about his service and how he was a prisoner of war
for 14 months and three days, but he doesn't go into detail.
But he does tell them how he was sitting on the bench after being
drafted by the Yankees.
"I could hit a curve ball," he said.
Yankees legend Yogi Berra walked up and handed him his draft
papers, which Naden thinks were given to Berra by his father.
"I never played again because I had been shot up pretty
bad," he said. Instead he is well known in the area as a baseball
umpire, and he also was a basketball referee. "The kids always
have good questions," he said.
Jessica Yin, 13, of Libertyville, read a poem she wrote for them.
"They have not been shown as much honor as they really deserve so
I decided to write a poem for everyone."
It reads:
"Dear veteran/ to you our nation whispers/ no only on Veterans
Day/ but for every rising and setting of the sun/ each breath that I
breathe/ all my rights and all my words/ to you and only you must we
say/ thank you... thank you... thank you..."
|
'Viet vet' fakes POW story
Waukegan man never served in military
November 12, 2008
A Waukegan man who has been telling school children in Green Oaks
that he was a Vietnam War veteran and POW admitted on Veterans Day
that he lied about his Army exploits.
Ron Naden was featured in a News-Sun story on a large veterans'
observance held at Oak Grove School in Green Oaks on Monday where he
was once a custodian. A former custodian at the school, he had been
talking to the school's students each spring and was at the
celebration each year it was held since 1991.
Naden said told a News-Sun reporter and photographer, along with
the students and school staff, he was with the 101st Airborne and was
going to make a parachute jump into Laos when the plane he was in was
shot down. He also said he was handed his draft notice by Yogi Berra
when he was called up to the Yankees just before going to Vietnam.
Reached by a reporter on Veterans Day after being alerted that he
was not listed in the official POW list kept by the Department of
Defense, Naden said: "Why don't you retract the entire
story?"
Asked if he had ever served in the military he said: "I did
not."
"I was wrong for what I did," he added. Asked how he
would respond to Oak Grove teacher Kathy Mahoney, who had a POW/MIA
flag framed for him and placed inside the school, he said: "I
will do that at a later time. It's something I have to discuss with
all the people there." He then ended the conversation.
Retired Navy Capt. John McGrath of Monument, Colo., who was held by
the North Vietnamese for nearly six years, e-mailed The News-Sun with
his suspicions Tuesday morning after he checked the Department of
Defense list online. McGrath is part of the Nam-POWS organization (
nampows.org ) that checks people who claim POW status.
He also works with POWnetwork.org , which is dedicated to
information distribution on prisoners of war and missing in action
servicemen. It also lists "phonies and wannabe's" for
everything from POWs to Navy Seals, Army Rangers and Special Forces.
"These guys are epidemic. I had a dozen reports today
alone," said Mary Schantag, whose husband was a Marine wounded in
Vietnam. "We had 22 reports in 1998 (when they started tracking
veterans) the entire year. I had a dozen this morning, We're being
flooded with them," she said.
"There are seven different states where television stations
are doing expos today on fake veterans," she said. "They
rarely will crack. Many keep it up for years.
"It's a prosecutable offense," she added, referring to
the federal Stolen Valor Act adopted two years ago.
"We understand why prosecutors cannot spend time on cases like
this with everything else going on. Humiliation is all we got
left," she said, referring to their postings of military fakes
and helping reporters ferret them out.
"This is not an isolated incident," Schantag said,
"We've been chasing phonies for 10 years."
"People say it is a victimless crime, but it isn't," said
Schantag. "We've meet the real heroes and we know what they gave
up."
McGrath said the first question out of reporters when informed that
someone they wrote about isn't who they say they are, is:
"Why?"
"I think there's a hundred different reasons, but it all boils
down to a lack of self- esteem. They have low self-esteem and they
need a little boost," he said.
"That's really disgusting that he was telling this to school
kids," he said. "They are stealing the honor of
others."
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http://www.newsnet5.com/news/17974575/detail.html
Local Vets Pose As Former POWs
POSTED: 4:19 pm EST November 13, 2008
UPDATED: 7:56 pm EST November 13, 2008
CLEVELAND -- America is the "home of
the brave." But not all who claim to be our nation's heroes
are.
In our NewsChannel5 investigation we introduce you to three local
veterans and unravel their real war stories.
Timothy "Doc" Anderson is a veteran and an active
member of the Parma post of the Disabled American Veterans.
Anderson's been pictured with some impressive medals, including
one given only to members of the Elite Team of Navy SEALs.
"I operated with SEAL Team 2," Anderson said.
At his home on the west side, Anderson told Chief Investigator
Duane Pohlman all about his Navy SEAL experience.
But according to the POW Network -- a group dedicated to hunting
down false claims -- Anderson's story simply isn't true......
CLICK LINK FOR THE REST OF THE STORY AND
VIDEO
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http://www.wkyc.com/news/regional/akron_article.aspx?storyid=100314&catid=6
Former Akron teacher seeks to keep Channel 3 News story out of trial
Nov 6, 2008
AKRON -- Benjamin Terril is asking a judge to keep findings
from a Channel 3 News investigation away from potential jurors who
will decide his fate.
Terril faces felony drug and weapons charges after being
arrested at his Iona Avenue home on Labor Day. Police say
Terril pointed a loaded gun at another man's head during an
argument.
A subsequent search of his home uncovered what police called a
"personal arsenal" of weapons and explosives. Illegal
drugs were also seized.
Terril was hired in 1996 and taught science at Buchtel High
School.
Terril claimed on his resume with the Akron Schools to have
spent 15 years in the Army's elite 82nd Airborne Division to
include being wounded in combat during Desert Storm. However,
Channel 3's Eric Mansfield contacted the military, which confirmed
that Terril was a fake veteran having never served a day in
uniform.
When confronted about forging his resume, Terril would only say
"no comment."
As Terril's December trial date approaches, defense attorneys
have filed a motion asking that the prosecutors be prevented from
discussing any aspect of Eric Mansfield's story at trial.
Attorney Pete Cahoon wrote in his brief, "Concerning
defendant's military history (or lack of military history),
Defendant submits that this issue is factually irrelevant."
Cahoon also submits that "... the probative value
(Defendant submits there is none) relating to military issues of
Defendant is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair
prejudice, of confusion of the issues, or of being misleading to
the trier of fact."
Police said that on the night Terril was arrested, he volunteered
that he had military experience as an explanation for his
collection of weapons and ammunition.
Judge Elnore Marsh Stormer has not yet ruled on the
motion.
Akron school leaders suspended Terril following the arrest, and
recently fired him based on the phony military service that Eric
Mansfield exposed on Channel 3 News.
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November 14, 2008
- Seattle, Washington
Kent man pleads guilty for false military service
Story Updated: Nov 13, 2008 at
10:10 PM PST
By Associated Press
SEATTLE (AP) - A Kent man has pleaded guilty in U.S.
District Court of falsifying military records,
service and medals to obtain benefits for veterans.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, 21-year-old
Brandon Perkins did serve in the Army at Fort Lewis,
Wash., until about 2006, but that he never left the
base or served the required two years to be eligible
for benefits.
Prosecutors say that Perkins
presented fake military documents to the Veterans
Affairs Medical Center in Seattle in which he
claimed he was awarded the Purple Heart medal for
being injured while deployed in Iraq. Perkins also
said he had killed 13 people in Iraq and had served
two years abroad. He received more than $2,500 in
medical benefits he was not entitled to.
Perkins faces a year in prison and a $100,000 fine.
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CBS NEWS
How A Phony Fed Fooled A
Small Town
GERALD, Missouri, Nov. 2, 2008
(CBS) Like many small towns across the
country, Gerald, Mo. was struggling with a tiny police force and a
big drug problem. Then a man, known as "Sgt. Bill," showed
up.
Bill Jakob flashed a badge and announced his credentials: an
undercover federal agent sent to clean up the town in a county with
one of the highest number of methamphetamine labs in the country.
He quickly helped police round up dozens of suspects and was
welcomed like a conquering hero. As Katie Couric reports, it
all seemed just a little too good to be true.
"I didn't just wake up one morning and decide I was Batman or
Superman. I found myself in Gerald," Jakob says.
Jakob, driving his own undercover police car, arrived earlier this
year in Gerald, a rural town so small there's only one traffic light
for its 1,200 residents.
"I woke up everyday with the intention of, 'Hey, I'm really
doin' some great things here.' And I fed off of it and I enjoyed it.
And you know, I slept good at night. I really did. I thought, man,
'I'm putting drug dealers out of business,'" he tells Couric.
Jakob says making these arrests gave him an adrenaline rush.
"But that isn't really the thing that I focused on, the most,
was just every bust it was, it was a good bust."
No one shared that sentiment more than Ryan McCrary, the new police
chief who was struggling to control a growing drug problem with only
four cops. Now he had a big time agent with the
"Multi-Jurisdictional Narcotics Task Force" doing
surveillance around the town and rounding up suspects.
"Once everything started unfolding, he was the drug expert,
pretty much, from the task force," McCrary recalls.
The police chief says it felt "pretty good" to actually
have some back up from what appeared to be the federal government.
In two months, Jakob and Gerald police arrested about 20 people and,
more often than not, Jakob says he got them to confess.
Mayor Otis Schulte told 60 Minutes the town was
grateful. "A lot o' people in town were. They thought that
things are getting done. We got some help. I mean, a small town, we
have one police officer on at a shift," the mayor explains.
"So, in a way, for a period of time, Bill Jakob was like a guy
on a white horse comin' in to save the day a bit?" Couric asks.
"To help out, yes," Schulte says.
"I was very effective," Jakob says. "I think part of
it was the fact that they were out of their comfort zone. If you're
used to dealing with a three-man or four-man police department out
in the middle of nowhere in Gerald, Missouri, and all of a sudden
you find yourself across the desk from a federal officer, that's
intimidating."
But Jakob wasn't a fed, had never been a fed, and wasn't even a
certified cop.
Bankrupt and unemployed, the closest he'd ever come to the feds was
when he had worked as a security guard in the parking lot of the
Federal Reserve Bank in St. Louis. But he was creative, and he
concocted an elaborate scheme to con the entire town of Gerald into
believing he was an agent working with a federal task force.
Jakob says he told the police chief he worked for the
"Multi-Jurisdictional Narcotics Task Force."
Asked how he came up with that, Jakob told Couric, "You know,
actually it sounded good. I've heard that it was used in a
movie."
That movie was "Beverly Hills Cop 2."
"I've seen that movie. Maybe I had it subconsciously in the
back of my head," Jakob says.
He also got an official looking six-point star badge with the task
force name on it from the Internet, as well as business cards with
the Justice Department logo on them.
Jakob says it isn't hard to make a business card. "I had to
have these things. I mean, I was becoming this person."
And soon he'd convinced the police chief to formally request his
help from the Department of Justice: Jakob gave him a phony fax
number and arranged for a female friend to answer the phone.
Why did he do it, considering he wasn't getting paid?
"I wanted to fit what they wanted me to be. They wanted my help
and I wanted to help them. And so I thought, you know, 'Hey, if I
can become this other person, and I can help these people, who am I
hurting?'" Jakob asks.
"Even if it was against the law?" Couric asks.
"I was more concerned with the fact that it's against the law
to be a drug dealer than it was to be against the law to pretend to
be a cop," Jakob says.
"Everything just fell together perfectly for his little scheme
to work," says Police Chief Ryan McCrary, who says he trusted
Jakob.
McCrary doesn't buy Jakob's explanation that he was just trying to
help. He thinks he wanted to feel important and powerful. Soon,
witnesses say, "Sgt. Bill" was kicking in doors,
brandishing a shotgun and making arrests.
"He had information on things and people that we didn't
have," McCrary says.
Asked how he thinks Jakob got this information McCrary tells Couric,
"To this day, I have no idea. I mean, he was on the phone
constantly. We don't know who he was talking to."
McCrary now believes Jakob actually made up evidence, like wiretaps
and federal informants, something Jakob now denies. But police say
those claims bolstered their case against one suspect: Tyson
Williams.
"Threw me down on the ground. They had their assault rifles,
and their pistols to my head. They told me that if I moved, they'd
blow my brains out. That they had a lot of evidence against
me," Williams remembers.
Williams was taken to the tiny police station. With no jail cell, it
was soon overrun with suspects, some handcuffed to a bench. Jakob,
who told 60 Minutes he did everything by the book,
conducted his interrogations in the mayor's office.
Williams says neither Jakob, nor anyone else read him his rights.
He also says he asked "numerous times" to call his lawyer,
but that they wouldn't let him; he also says they refused his
request to call his father.
"What if the suspect said, 'I'd like to have a lawyer
present?'" Couric asks Jakob.
"Fine. I'm done talking to you," Jakob says.
He says he didn't allow a lawyer to be called. Asked why, Jakob
says, "You have the right to an attorney present while I’m
questioning you. I’m done questioning you."
Jakob also admits he didn't always have a search warrant when he
went into somebody's home. Why not?
"One was, we walked up to a guy's house, pulled it the
driveway, he runs out the front door carrying a bucket full of
marijuana and pipes, yells, 'Cops,' turns around and runs back into
the house. I don't think you have to have a warrant to go back in
the house after him," Jakob says.
"I think you do," Couric remarks.
"Well, maybe you do. I'm not a cop," Jakob replies.
Asked if he ever saw Jakob do something that was against police
procedure, McCrary tells Couric, "Well, I can't say that for
sure. Because their procedure and our procedure would be two
different things."
"But some of this stuff, it seems to me, is pretty basic. I
mean, you're saying he got search warrants, read people their
rights, did everything by the book?" Couric points out.
"The search warrants he said he got. You know, he was doing all
that over the phone," McCrary says.
"In retrospect, do you feel as if you might have abdicated a
little too much responsibility and power to him?" Couric asks.
"Probably so," McCrary admits.
Eventually, Jakob, perhaps fearing that he'd be found out, decided
to take matters into his own hands. He told police he was taking
Tyson Williams to a federal holding cell for further questioning.
Williams says Jakob put him in his car and told him, "That he's
gonna take me to a federal holdover. And, as the conversation went
on, he turned around and took me to my girlfriend's house. Told me
to call him twice a week. And not to go outside, not even to check
the mail."
A few weeks later, the story of Bill Jakob, federal agent, began to
unravel. An enterprising reporter with the local paper, the Gasconade
County Republican, named Linda Trest did something no one else
had done: a background check.
Two months after he joined forces with the Gerald Police, the real
FBI arrested Jakob and his cover was blown. It turns out he had a
long history of being a conman.
"This isn't the first time that you've lied about something.
You've pretended to be an Army veteran injured in Iraq. Do you have
a problem with telling the truth?" Couric asks.
Jakob says he is an Army veteran, but that he lied when he told
people he had been in Iraq. "I lied on a resume," he says.
Asked why, Jakob says, "Same reason anybody lies on a resume. I
wanted a job."
"So this isn't the first time you've pretended to be or do
something you aren't or haven't done?" Couric asks,
"It's not like I can't tell the truth. It's not like I've lied
to everybody I've met. I told a few lies in my life. And I told one
big one," Jakob says.
Now, the town of Gerald is paying the price. The police chief and
two other officers were fired. And because of Jakob's involvement,
no one he arrested has been charged. Instead, many of them are suing
the town for tens of millions of dollars for violating their civil
rights.
One of them is Michael Holland, who Jakob told us he got to confess.
According to the police report, a pound of marijuana was seized from
his car, but Holland says, "There was nothing in my car,
nothing."
"But this is a pretty lengthy confession," Couric remarks.
"I don't know. I mean, that's crazy. I don't know how that came
about," Holland says.
But he acknowledges it was in his handwriting.
"Some people watching this will see you as someone who was
caught dealing drugs, and who is not only getting away with it, but
who's trying to benefit from that very crime by suing the city for a
lot of money. What would you say to that?" Couric asks.
"I have no idea. I mean, it's not about the money, really. I
just want him to get what he deserves," Holland says.
Jakob pled guilty to 23 counts against him, including impersonating
a federal officer. He'll be sentenced in December and faces five to
six years in prison. And while it may be tempting to believe his
version of the story - that he was only trying to do some good in
the town of Gerald - remember Jakob is a master of deception.
"For me it wasn't about trying to pull something over on
somebody. I'm not stupid, I knew what I was doing, I knew I wasn't a
cop. I knew I wasn't a fed. I knew what I was doing wasn’t legal.
But, you know, it isn't like I was out robbin' people. It wasn't
like I was out beatin' people. It isn't like I was arresting drug
dealers," he says. "Yeah I didn't say it was smart."
"People can't just walk off the street…have a fake federal
badge, have fake business cards," Couric points out.
"No, they can't. And I hope anybody out there that's ever
thought about doin' this looks at me now. Don't do it. Don't do it.
It's not worth it. I'm not ashamed of the fact that I cleaned up a
town. I'm goin' to prison. I am going to prison for arresting drug
dealers that aren't goin' to prison," he says.
"That's not why you're going to prison," Couric says.
Jakob's reply? "But that's all I did."
Produced by Kyra Darnton
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http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/northcounty/20081117-9999-1m17records.html
Scattered records tell long-lost stories of valor
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By Steve Liewer
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
November 17, 2008
ESCONDIDO – Kathy Herbert of Escondido knows that her
father shed his blood defending his country and returned
from World War II a hero.
What bothers her is how the U.S.
government seems to have forgotten.
“I'd like to have acknowledgment from
the government of what he did,” said Herbert, whose father
died almost a quarter-century ago. “It's disheartening,
with all their technology, they can't keep track of the men
and women who have earned these awards.”
Herbert knew the bare facts from a
yellowing newspaper clipping and a few sentences in a
regimental history book she found among her father's
personal effects.
Staff Sgt. Robert J. Hutson, who grew up
in Julian and was then 22, earned the Distinguished Service
Cross – the Army's second-highest award for combat valor.
Hutson received it for actions in Italy on July 5, 1944.
Hutson and another soldier charged a pair
of German machine-gun nests from which gunners were firing
on wounded troops. They killed 11 German soldiers with their
rifles and a grenade.
Herbert hit a brick wall in her sporadic
efforts to obtain government records that would verify her
father's bravery in battle. The Department of Defense could
barely document that he had ever served.
None of the military branches keeps
centralized records of the men and women it rewards for
valor. Although the nonprofit Congressional Medal of Honor
Society tracks recipients of the highest combat award, the
Medal of Honor, no one maintains a complete list of the
other medals.
Pentagon officials frequently blame their
lack of documentation for pre-1973 awards on a fire that
year at a government warehouse in St. Louis. The blaze
destroyed millions of personnel records.
Each year, hundreds of veterans or their
families run into this barrier. Some of them write to
their congressional representatives for help. Others give
up in frustration.
The lucky ones find Doug Sterner, a
Vietnam War veteran from Pueblo, Colo., who has spent
thousands of hours retrieving stories of valor from
forgotten government files.
Sterner discovered that the National
Archives keeps all “general orders” the armed forces
issue when they approve medals. Few people in the Pentagon
or congressional offices – the places where most requests
are directed – know about this back-channel way of
obtaining award citations.
Using the Freedom of Information Act,
Sterner has compiled a database with records for at least
120,000 of the estimated 750,000 valor awards the Pentagon
has issued over the years.
Many of them are posted on his Web site,
homeofheroes.com. Sterner has helped to verify the valor of
hundreds of veterans and debunk the false claims of others.
Sterner was the driving force behind the
Stolen Valor Act of 2006, which criminalizes false claims of
valor. Now he is pushing for legislation that would require
the Defense Department to create a searchable, public
database for valor awards. Although the bill has been
introduced in both houses of Congress, it appears unlikely
to move out of subcommittees before the end of the current
legislative session.
Last month, Herbert found Sterner's site
and wrote to him. He confirmed that her father had earned
the Distinguished Service Cross and told her how to get the
citation. Working through the office of Rep. Darrell Issa,
R-Vista, Herbert received a copy of the general order
documenting the award just before Veterans Day.
Herbert had known about her father's life
after the war. He became a purchasing agent, scuba diver and
private pilot. He taught school and later worked for General
Atomics before starting R.J. Supply Co., an
industrial-supply business in San Diego.
Hutson was friendly and outgoing, but he
rarely told his war stories. They died with him when he
succumbed to cancer in 1984.
Now Herbert is glad she can reassemble the
missing parts of his life for her daughter, Sarah.
Sarah is a college student studying in
Italy, not far from the scene of her grandfather's heroics,
and is absorbing World War II history.
“We wanted to bring some little pieces
of information together,” Herbert said. “It's kind of a
legacy we can leave with her.”
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http://www.wpxi.com/target11/18033879/detail.html
Target 11 Exclusive: West Mifflin Murder Victim's Family Speaks Out
Killer Is Fake Navy SEAL
Jobeth Olson of West Mifflin was a freshman at Pitt
when she was swept off her feet by James Nalls, who convinced her he
was a Navy SEAL. The couple had a child together. Jobeth's mother,
Amy, said Nalls pretended to be a war hero and Jobeth respected that
because the Olsons have a relative who was a Navy SEAL and lost his
leg in combat. Jobeth's sister, Mary Therese, said Nalls claimed to
have been shot, but they found out later that a scar on his shoulder
was actually from a football injury. Jobeth found out Nalls was
never a Navy SEAL. He was a Navy cook.
Amy Olson said, "She was angry and I think
that was the straw that broke the camel's back that then turned this
into a tumultuous relationship."
Court documents show Jobeth took out a Protection
from Abuse order against Nalls when he was arrested for striking her
and pushing her off a porch when she was pregnant.
Her sister thinks Jobeth was going to leave Nalls
once and for all when she met him at a local restaurant in April of
2007. It was in the parking lot that Nalls shot Jobeth in the back
of the head. She died and Nalls was convicted of third-degree
murder.
He is serving 20 to 40 years in a state prison,
but Jobeth's family would also like to see him prosecuted by the
federal government for impersonating a Navy SEAL.
Earlier this month, Target 11 showed how federal
prosecutors are cracking down on military impostors.
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Phony From United Kingdom!
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/3479508/War-hero-who-attended-Remembrance-parades-exposed-as-a-fake.html
'War hero' who attended Remembrance parades
exposed as a fake
A man who posed as a war hero at Remembrance Day parades across the
UK has been exposed as a fake and could be banned from the British
Legion.
By Chris Irvine
Last Updated: 7:10PM GMT 18 Nov 2008
Retired chef Tom Cattell took part in parades across the country for
nearly a decade dressed in the uniform and medals of the Parachute
Regiment and SAS.
The 74-year-old from St Blazey, Cornwall, bragged that he was one of
the youngest servicemen to have fought in the 1950s Korean War and
one of the oldest to fight in the Falklands. .....
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N.J. official accused of faking combat record
The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Nov 26, 2008 18:45:54 EST
TRENTON, N.J. — An official in the state
Department of Military and Veterans Affairs has been accused of
falsifying his veteran and government records in order to receive a
tax exemption and medical benefits.
William Devereaux, the department’s director of
veterans programs, was arrested Monday, issued a summons and released.
A court hearing has not yet been scheduled.
In announcing the arrest on Wednesday, the Camden
County Prosecutor’s Office said the 63-year-old Laurel Springs
resident invented a false history of combat heroism in the Vietnam
War. The prosecutor’s office said its investigation was prompted by
information provided by the county Office of Veterans Affairs.
Prosecutors said Devereaux falsely claimed on
military benefits forms for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
that he served as a paratrooper and artilleryman during the war and
was injured multiple times. He also claimed to have received medals
including the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star with “V” device.
Authorities said Devereaux served as a payroll
distribution specialist in Vietnam for about 4½ months in 1968 and
never served as a paratrooper or artilleryman. They also said he never
received the medals he claimed to have and that there was no record of
his being injured in combat.
Devereaux received $34,000 in compensation from
Veterans Affairs based on the falsified records, authorities said.
He is also accused of wrongly claiming exemption
from property taxes in Laurel Springs by claiming he was 100 percent
disabled due to military service.
He was charged with falsifying or tampering with
records and theft by failure to make required disposition.
Devereaux, who was appointed to the state post in
2004 by former Gov. James McGreevey, did not return a telephone
message left at his home on Wednesday. It was not clear if he had
retained a lawyer.
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