Xavier Alvarez

Claims 29 year Veteran of the USMC, 25 years with Recon, 2 purple hearts, a silver star and a Medal of Honor for pulling the flag from the embassy in Iran during the hostage situation.

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Alvarez again denies claim

Politician's vivid tales in question

By Fred Ortega, Staff Writer

Xavier Alvarez's tales of his military exploits in Vietnam earned him the nickname "Rambo" among his acquaintances in Pomona's social and political circles.
But there's one big problem with Alvarez's stories: He never served in the military.
Alvarez, a member of the Three Valleys Municipal Water District board of directors, was charged by federal authorities Wednesday with falsely claiming he won the Medal of Honor. The charge, a misdemeanor, carries a maximum penalty of a year in prison.

Alvarez has yet to be summoned to appear in court, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig Missakian. He said his first court appearance will likely be either Oct. 22 or 29.

On Thursday the 49-year-old Alvarez again denied making the claim, which federal agents say occurred during a July 23 meeting of the Walnut Valley Water District board.

Federal authorities claim they have a tape of the board member making the boast.

"When you show up at these meetings, they introduce you. Sometimes they want you to say what you have done for the community," said Alvarez, who won his water board seat last November by a half-percentage point margin.

"I must have been taken out of context."

He also insisted that he is a member of the American Legion, a claim he makes in his biography posted on the water district's Web site. Officials with the Legion's state headquarters said Wednesday they had no record that Alvarez is a member at any of the Legion's California posts.

"I've got letters from Post 1000 (in San Francisco)," said Alvarez, adding that he was granted an honorary membership in the group for his volunteer work as a youth at disabled veterans' hospitals in Napa County. "So either I am getting these letters from the post or I have been dealing with a bogus group."

Alvarez reiterated statements made Wednesday that he never served in the military, and he denied ever telling anyone that he was in the service or that he won any military medals.

"Somebody is just inventing this stuff," said Alvarez, who ran unsuccessfully for the Pomona City Council in 2002 and has served as a member of that city's Specific Plan Citizens Advisory Committee. "If I were to say that I would have (proved) it. I was too young to be in

Vietnam anyway, and I couldn't have served because I have a handicap." But at least three people - including one of his fellow water board members - recalled hearing detailed descriptions from Alvarez about what he said were his military exploits.

"The first time I met him he told me he was retired from the service for 25 years," said Bob Kuhn, who represents Glendora on the Three Valleys board. "He said he had Purple Hearts, that he was shot four or five times and that he won a Medal of Honor. He didn't do it in a boastful way, a braggadocio way, just very matter-of-factly."

Juan Mata, a 74-year-old non-combat veteran of the Korean War, said he also heard Alvarez make similar claims at a Pomona social club the two men belong to. "I was wearing my veteran's cap, and that is when he came up to me," said Mata, who served in the Army's 4th Armored Division from 1953 to 1955. "He introduced himself as a Medal of Honor winner and told me he went behind enemy lines in Vietnam and rescued some prisoners, including some who had been held captive since World War II."

Mata said the conversation occurred in 2006 in the run-up to the water district election Alvarez would ultimately win.

"I was very impressed with him going behind enemy lines - if he was wearing his medal at the time, I would have saluted him," said Mata.

Alvarez's claims always sounded a bit suspect to Sid Sierra, another Pomona resident who said he met Alvarez through the Mexican American Political Association in the mid-1990s.

"He used to brag he was in Vietnam as a helicopter pilot, that he was shot down and that he and his buddies got the chopper fixed and got it back up (in the air)," said Sierra, who now lives in Rancho Cucamonga. "We started calling him Rambo because of all his stories."

A veteran who served in the military at the tail end of the Korean War, Sierra said Alvarez's combat tales were "a bit too heavy."
"Usually people who have been in combat don't talk about it much," said Sierra. "They are usually quiet about it."

Kuhn said it was too early to comment on what action the water board might take in light of the charges against Alvarez. He noted that regulations allow for the dismissal of a board member if he or she misses meetings over a period of 90 days or more, or if the board

member is convicted of a felony. But the rule doesn't apply to misdemeanors. The board could also censure Alvarez, as it did former board member Paul Stiglich. Stiglich was censured in 1998 after allegations he became intoxicated and exposed himself to water officials during a tour of facilities on the California-Arizona border.

The censure barred Stiglich from receiving district compensation for any trips or duties outside of regular meetings for six months.

The Three Valleys Municipal Water District serves Glendora, La Verne, Claremont, San Dimas and Pomona, as well as portions of Covina and West Covina.

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Official to face new counts

Attorney: More lies uncovered

By Will Bigham, Staff Writer

Article Created: 01/11/2008

Jan 4:
Elected official claims a right to lie
Nov 3:
In hindsight, Alvarez an unlikely victor
Oct 27:
Xavier Alvarez must resign now
Alvarez now in hot water
Board votes to censure Alvarez
Board votes to censure Alvarez
Oct 25:
Records claim more Alvarez misdeeds
Oct 6:
Phony war hero shoots himself in foot
Sep 27:
Alvarez again denies claim

Federal prosecutors intend to file additional charges against a local water-board member after discovering a second recording of Xavier Alvarez publicly claiming he won the Medal of Honor.

Audio: Alvarez sound clip from October 2007

Alvarez made the newly discovered medal claim while he was a candidate for mayor in Pomona's January 2006 special election, said Craig H. Missakian, assistant U.S. attorney.

Alvarez's claim was recorded during a meeting with the Pomona Police Officers Association when he was seeking its endorsement, Missakian said.

The additional medal charge would double Alvarez's maximum sentence to two years in prison and $200,000 in fines, Missakian said.

Alvarez, south Pomona's elected representative to the Three Valleys Municipal Water District board, was originally charged in September with violating the Stolen Valor Act of 2005.

He was recorded making the original Medal of Honor claim in July after he was introduced as a guest at a Walnut Valley Water District board meeting.

"I'm a retired Marine of 25 years," Alvarez said. "I just retired in 2001. Back in 1987, I was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. I got wounded many times,at the same time. I'm still around."

Alvarez later admitted he never served in the military.

He has pleaded not guilty to the medal charge, and his attorney has filed a motion to dismiss the case on the grounds that the federal statute violates the First Amendment and is unconstitutional.

The motion to dismiss was originally scheduled to be heard Monday but has been postponed to Jan. 22, Missakian said. Alvarez's trial date, scheduled for the same day, has been postponed as well.

CLAREMONT - When Xavier Alvarez claimed in July to have received the Medal of Honor, he set in motion a chain of events that appears likely to derail his political career in its infancy.

Alvarez, elected in November as a board member at the Three Valleys Municipal Water District, was charged by federal authorities in September with falsely claiming to have received the award.

Since then he has been the subject of intense scrutiny. Several other claims he has made about his life and past have been exposed as falsehoods.

At a special meeting this morning, the Three Valleys board will consider censuring Alvarez for illegally funneling spousal health benefits to a woman he divorced in 2002.

"Is it frustrating as an elected official to have somebody create this kind of an aura around you? Hell yes," said Bob Kuhn, Three Valleys board president.

Kuhn said the controversy surrounding Alvarez has been "an embarrassment to the district," adding that if he were in Alvarez's position, he would resign.

In a meeting Tuesday between Alvarez, Kuhn and Steve Kennedy, attorney for the district, Alvarez said there was "absolutely no way" he would resign from the board, Kuhn said.

Medal liars face new sanctions
Sacramento Bee - CA, USA
By Peter Hecht - phecht@sacbee.com Tom Gentile, a retired Army sergeant major who investigates allegations of military impostors and reports his results to ...

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