(11-12) 15:41 PST MARTINEZ -- Steven Douglas Burton
was a member of the marching band at Alhambra High School in Martinez,
where he struggled to fit in and wasn't known for being athletic. So
when he showed up at his 20-year reunion with a buzz cut and dressed in
a crisp Marine Corps uniform, fellow members of the Class of 1988 were
more than a bit surprised.
So were military officials, who said Burton had never served in the
military - nor had he spent a day fighting in Iraq or Afghanistan, as he
claimed. He actually works at a bank in Palm Springs.
On Thursday, Burton appeared in a federal courtroom in Riverside and
pleaded not guilty to charges that he masqueraded as a decorated
military veteran. He was dressed in street clothes, not the Marine
uniform he liked to wear with a bevy of what prosecutors said were fake
medals, including the Navy Cross and the Purple Heart.
Burton is to go to trial in January on a misdemeanor count of
unauthorized wearing of military medals or decorations. If convicted, he
could be sentenced to as much as a year in prison.
Burton was released on $10,000 bond and declined to comment afterward
by phone.
Reunion suspicions
Burton was arrested with the help of Colleen Salonga, a former high
school classmate who is an actual Navy commander, authorities said.
Salonga saw Burton at their 20th high school reunion in October 2008
at the Concord Hilton. He wore the uniform of a lieutenant colonel in
the Marine Corps, displaying the Navy Cross, the Bronze Star, the Purple
Heart and other medals, federal prosecutors said.
Suspicious, Salonga asked Burton to have his picture taken with her.
She turned over the photo to the FBI, authorities said.
Federal and military investigators confirmed that Burton had never
been in the armed forces, court papers said.
Kristine McNary, 40, of Fallon, Nev. also attended the reunion and
remembered Burton "dressed to kill."
"Many people at functions such as reunions try to exaggerate
their personal accomplishments, which sometimes can be an embellishment
of the truth," McNary said. "I'm a bit appalled that he would
do such a thing, but I'm also not overly surprised."
Waste of tax dollars?
John Villarreal, 39, of San Ramon, another reunion attendee, said
Burton was never the athletic type in school.
"I never would have put him together as a highly decorated
Marine, but I didn't care," Villarreal said. "It was silly for
him to wear the whole regalia at the reunion."
At the same time, he added, "I don't think they should prosecute
him. It's a waste of taxpayer dollars. I think maybe he should write a
formal apology to Marines everywhere."
As recently as August, Burton was "blogging on a Web site and
claiming to have done multiple tours of duty in the Middle East, both in
Afghanistan and Iraq," Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Akrotirianakis
said. "He also claimed to have fought in Fallujah."
Burton posted a picture of himself standing on a beach at Coronado
Island in San Diego County, not far from a Navy training base, wearing
the dress uniform of a Marine master gunnery sergeant, authorities said.
Doug Sterner, an expert on fake medal recipients, said Burton's beach
picture had been circulating for months among the military community,
with former Marines "trying to figure out who this guy is."
The Navy Cross is the highest medal that can be awarded by the Navy,
second only to the Medal of Honor. Fewer than 7,000 people have received
it, Sterner said.
"A large number of men and women who have received it have never
lived to wear them," said Sterner, 59, of Pueblo, Colo. "And
so when I see somebody like Burton sporting a Navy Cross and obviously
has never served, it really bothers me."
Bush-era law
Burton is one of 50 to 60 people who have been charged under the
Stolen Valor Act since President George W. Bush signed the law in 2006,
Sterner said. The act, which expanded a law that had applied only to the
unauthorized wearing of the Medal of Honor, makes it illegal to wear,
make, sell or falsely claim to have earned military decorations.
A former neighbor of Burton's in Palm Springs, Casey Soffel, 37,
described him as a "very tall and timid, quiet guy." He is
also "very patriotic," she said, and frequently flies the
American flag from a pole in the middle of his front lawn.
"There are true war heroes out there," Soffel said.
"If he's truly faking that he was a war hero, that's not
right."
But Beth Allan, 42, who lives across the street from Burton, said,
"They're blowing this out of proportion. If he did it, under what
circumstances? I mean, you dress up for Halloween. My opinion is that
he's a mild-mannered, nice guy who has been thrown to the wolves."
