PHOENIX — A person accused of faking a navy file and making the most of navy households is simply the most recent declare of an Arizona resident pretending to have served within the armed forces for private acquire.
Quite a few high-profile “stolen valor” instances have occurred in Arizona through the years, together with a person in Willcox, Arizona, whose tall tales about being a embellished struggle hero spurred Congress to move a regulation in 2006 in opposition to navy impersonations.
An Arizona Republic investigation confirmed Matt Augee, who runs the Phoenix nonprofit RecFX Basis, repeatedly claimed he served as a soldier and sheriff’s deputy. Army and regulation enforcement haven’t any file of it.
Augee is also accused of duping veterans out of tens of hundreds of {dollars} and taking donations for himself, former supporters mentioned.
A number of folks, together with Augee’s dad and mom and a member of the Arizona Veterans Corridor of Fame, reported him to state and federal authorities, however investigators filed no costs. Augee maintains he did nothing mistaken.
Stolen valor is an insult to ‘actual heroes’
Doug Sterner, a Vietnam veteran and navy historian, researches instances like Augee’s and maintains the Corridor of Valor, the biggest database of verified U.S. navy award citations.
He mentioned veterans who barely embellish “struggle tales” about actual service are sometimes innocent. As a substitute, stolen valor typically refers to individuals who declare time within the navy, navy medals or acts of bravery on the battlefield that they by no means participated in or earned in any respect.
“It devalues the sense of who our actual heroes are,” Sterner, of Colorado, mentioned.
Stolen valor instances are necessary to research as a result of they could be a signal of extra fraud, he mentioned.
“These are those that lie to realize the boldness of others after which reap the benefits of them, typically with nice monetary repercussions,” Sterner mentioned.
Fibbing about navy service could also be extra frequent than folks notice.
A 2008 investigation by the Chicago Tribune discovered that one-third of the profiles that talked about navy medals within the on-line version of Who’s Who, a well known compendium of biographies, weren’t supported by navy data. The newspaper additionally found greater than 80% of obituaries that claimed decorations for bravery had been suspect.
And navy cemeteries throughout the nation featured headstones engraved with bogus awards.
Arizona man conjures up Stolen Valor Act
Sterner and his spouse, Pam Sterner, wrote the ebook “Restoring Valor” about their profitable effort to move a federal regulation to crack down on phony veterans.
Their inspiration got here from Gilbert Velasquez, a bogus struggle hero from Willcox, about 90 miles east of Tucson.
Velasquez was featured on the entrance web page of the Arizona Vary Information weekly for his supposed exploits as an Military Ranger.
He claimed to have captured Saddam Hussein, discovered two of Hussein’s lifeless sons, chased Taliban fighters in Afghanistan, saved his males by destroying a tank in Iraq and fought in Somalia in the course of the tragic “Black Hawk Down” battle, in line with a duplicate of the article and the Sterners’ ebook.
Velasquez confirmed reporters images of him in Iraq, a bit of marble ostensibly from Hussein’s palace and an official-looking navy service doc generally known as a DD-214.
Velasquez additionally carried a case of medals purportedly acquired because of his braveness, together with two Silver Stars, two Bronze Stars and a Purple Coronary heart. He buried his Distinguished Service Cross alongside a fallen commander, he informed the newspaper.
Sterner was skeptical when he learn the article.
He knew from his analysis nobody at the moment had been awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for many years. Different particulars of the story did not take a look at. And Sterner deemed it unlikely {that a} 33-year-old soldier would have participated in so many notable operations with out attracting consideration outdoors his small city.
After Sterner raised doubts with the newspaper, the story was retracted, in line with “Restoring Valor.” Official navy data requested by the reporter revealed Velasquez had by no means served within the locations he claimed, the Sterners wrote.
Motivated by the case, Pam Sterner satisfied her husband to assist her foyer members of Congress to make it unlawful for folks to falsely declare they acquired a U.S. navy ornament or medal.
Unlawful to assert prestigious medals for revenue
The Stolen Valor Act was signed into regulation in 2006 by President George W. Bush and was revised in 2013 underneath President Barack Obama after a Supreme Courtroom problem.
The regulation makes it a federal misdemeanor for somebody to falsely declare to have acquired a number of of the next prestigious awards for private profit:
- Congressional Medal of Honor.
- Distinguished Service Cross.
- Navy cross.
- Air Drive cross.
- Silver star.
- Purple Coronary heart.
- Fight Infantryman’s Badge.
- Fight Motion Badge.
- Fight Medical Badge.
- Fight Motion Ribbon.
- Fight Motion Medal.
A conviction could be punishable by fines and as much as a 12 months in jail.
The intent to financially profit is essential. Merely claiming to have served within the navy or to have received a medal, even when unfaithful, will not be against the law.
At the very least 18 states have enacted laws criminalizing numerous types of navy impersonation, in line with a evaluate by Mary E. Johnston within the William & Mary Invoice of Rights Journal.