The Truth about the Stolen
Valor Act
Pamla M. Sterner
In November 2004 to fulfill an
assignment at
Colorado
State
University -
Pueblo, where I was a Political
Science Major, I authored the
policy analysis
paper that subsequently became the "Stolen Valor Act." I
chose my subject after witnessing first-hand, the difficulty
F.B.I. Special Agent Thomas Cottone had in prosecuting
egregious false claims of military heroism. Prior to the
successful passage of my legislation in 2006, it was
unlawful under Title 18 U.S.C. to WEAR any medal you did not
earn.
The term "wear" meant that
such individuals as Illinois District Judge Michael O'Brian,
who displayed TWO Medals of Honor on his courtroom wall
which he told people he had received for heroism in
Vietnam,
violated no law. That loophole became even more clear in
mid-November 2004 when an Arizona newspaper published a
front-page Veterans Day Story about local "war hero" Gilbert
Velasquez, including a photo of him holding up a picture
frame full of medals he falsely claimed to have earned.
(Holding--not WEARING). Again, there was no violation of
law, and my effort sought to close that loophole.
Much has been written and
reported about the Stolen Valor Act recently, especially in
light of the decisions in two courts that found that
Americans have, under the First Amendment, a right to lie.
Many of those reports are filled with inaccuracies I hope to
address herein.
First, some writers have
chalked up the Stolen Valor Act as a politically motivated
knee-jerk reaction by Congress to demonstrate support for
the military. This could not be more in error. The Stolen
Valor Act was introduced by Congressman John Salazar, my
congressman, who at the time was a Freshman in the
minority; either of those are the "kiss of death" for
any legislation. For two years it was a virtual battle to
get successful passage. In the darkest hours of November
2006, with only a lame-duck week-long session remaining, Jim
Fields spoke for Veterans Day activities in
Chillicothe,
Missouri. He spoke of his
Vietnam heroism;
how Oliver North had nominated him for the Marine Corps'
highest honor the Navy Cross, and how it had been presented
to him by Vice President Dick Cheney. That day while
speaking he wore a Navy Cross LAPEL PIN, not the Navy Cross
Medal; another phony war hero slipping through the loophole
in the existing law. It was a poignant example of the
problem, and stirred renewed interest in Congress to finally
pass my legislation.
Noted Constitutional scholar
Dr. Jonathan Turley has subsequently pointed out that the
Stolen Valor Act is unnecessary, an over-reach that would
criminalize bar-room braggarts. If Dr. Turley could see the
myriad of files from cases my husband and Special Agent
Cottone have dealt with, he might learn otherwise.
Falsely claiming medals one
did not earn is an act of impersonation...not of exercising
free speech. Further, in almost every case we have seen
prosecuted to date, there is indeed associated fraud, some
of which might have been addressed by other laws. This is,
however, not always the case.
In Florida Michael Hammer
claimed to be founder of the U.S. Navy SEALs and a Medal of
Honor recipient. His "hero status" made it quite easy for
him to prey on vulnerable women, one of whom worked in a
Veterans home and whose husband, himself a veteran, had
recently passed away. Mr. Hammer conned her out of tens of
thousands of dollars, not through activities which could be
charged as fraud, but by simply taking advantage of a
vulnerable woman who in her grief thought she had found a
real American "hero." At the time of his actions there was
no Stolen Valor Act to deal with Mr. Hammer, and no viable
legal grounds for fraud charges.
Some would say Mr. Hammer's
victim (there may have been others) made stupid mistakes,
and the subsequent price she paid was a result of her own
ignorance. In fact, those who lie about their military
history are often very good at finding vulnerable victims
and then manipulating them for their own selfish ends, thus
such a law is necessary. As a society we do have an
obligation to protect the weak or vulnerable, and the Stolen
Valor Act does suit that purpose.
I sometimes refer to Stolen
Valor activities as "iceberg crimes;" what you SEE is only
an indication of something much larger and more sinister
which lies beneath the surface. It is the investigation of
Stolen Valor Activities that often reveals the more vast
criminal activities that lie below:
§
In the case of Xavier Alvarez,
the case recently overturned in
California, his false claims to
being a Medal of Honor recipient put the spotlight on the
man, subsequently revealing additional Insurance Fraud for
which he is now serving five years.
§
Atlantic City Mayor Bob Levy was
targeted in 2007 for falsely claiming military honors he did
not received. In the subsequent investigation it was found
that he had defrauded the Veterans Administration of more
than $25,000.
§
Texas A & M top-level
Administrator Alexander Kemos was initially targeted by Mary
Schantag of the POW Network for his false claims to being a
Navy SEAL. It was the investigation into those false claims
that subsequently unearthed the fact that he had also lied
about receiving a master's and PhD from Tufts University in
Massachusetts, in landing his $230,000 a year job.
There are many more such
examples, including the 2007 "Operation Stolen Valor" by
V.A. investigators in
Seattle that uncovered fraud
committed by eight men that resulted in losses to the V.A.
of $1.4 million. Or consider the reverse; Stolen Valor to
mask a crime. When
Texas murder Robert Kleason, whose
actions have been called "the real
Texas chainsaw massacre," was
released from death row when his conviction was overturned
on a technicality, he built a new life in
England. To
garner credibility and respect, he promoted himself as a
Korean War hero while wearing the Medal of Honor.
Ultimately however, much of
the current dialog comes back to the question, "Can you
steal valor?" Many have mused that the actions of the few
fakers can not take anything away from the true acts of
valor of bona fide military heroes.
Indeed, the valor and
sacrifice of men and woman who have served honorably, even
heroically, is never diminished by the actions of the
frauds. But the proliferation of these wannabe heroes does,
in fact, undermine the credibility of the real heroes when
we see them; once burned, twice shy.
After
Iraq
"war hero" Rich Strandlof/Duncan was exposed as a fraud in
Colorado, it no doubt raised the
question of how many other frauds were out there. It is not
unreasonable to assume that many in the public, upon meeting
another war veteran, might ask themselves, "Is he/she REALLY
a veteran, or are they another phony like Strandlof." To
compound the matter, only months after the Colorado District
Court ruled that the Stolen Valor Act violated Strandlof's
right to free speech, another high profile "war hero" in
Denver made news. Kevin Grimsinger
was the poster boy for the medical marijuana for PTSD
veterans’ political efforts in
Colorado. It was hard to argue with
the logic of a man in great pain after losing both legs to
an enemy mine in
Afghanistan. And
then, like Strandlof, the truth came out - Grimsinger never
served in
Afghanistan, or
any combat theater; he did serve in the National Guard
briefly in the 1990s.
Some have noted that the
Stolen Valor Act punishes those who lie about their military
heroics, "even when there is no financial gain." The above
cited, and many more I could cite, demonstrate that there is
almost always some type of personal, if not financial, gain
through acts of stolen valor. In the Grimsinger case alone,
it would be grossly naïve to believe that there was not some
personal benefit for a man whose legs were sacrificed in the
service of his country, as opposed to the man whose legs
were amputated after a motorcycle accident in
California...the truth in that particular case.
Finally, there are those who
say that "public shaming" should be punishment enough for
those who commit acts of Stolen Valor. In
Florida, public shame over his
outing two years ago, for which he was on probation, was not
sufficient to deter Raymond Gauthier. Last month he was
found guilty of grand theft after Collier County Circuit
Judge Fred Hardt was convinced that Gauthier had played on
the emotions of his landlord by pretending to be a highly
decorated military veteran. Nor did previous charges of
impersonating an Air Marshal in 2002 deter Michael McManus
from donning an Army Brigadier General uniform with an
almost unprecedented array of the Army's top medals for an
event in Houston.
Shame? Those who commit acts
of stolen valor have no shame, nor do they have many limits.
After being sentenced to community service for Stolen Valor
in May 2008, in what may have been
California's first-ever Stolen Valor
conviction, Michael Fraser who fabricated a history as a
Vietnam Veteran, was in trouble again one year later. His
hometown paper reported that he allegedly submitted "a
forged letter to the United States District Court" showing
he had fulfilled his public service sentence.
Pamla M. Sterner
300 Yoakum Parkway, #504
Alexandria,
VA
22305
(703) 717-9437
pam@homeofheroes.com
NOTE: I do
have images of nearly all of the above cited individuals
which I can make available to publications wishing to use
them.