PHOENIX — A man accused of faking a military record and taking advantage of military families is just the latest claim of an Arizona resident pretending to have served in the armed forces for personal gain.
A number of high-profile “stolen valor” cases have occurred in Arizona over the years, including a man in Willcox, Arizona, whose tall tales about being a decorated war hero spurred Congress to pass a law in 2006 against military impersonations.
An Arizona Republic investigation showed Matt Augee, who runs the Phoenix nonprofit RecFX Foundation, repeatedly claimed he served as a soldier and sheriff’s deputy. Military and law enforcement have no record of it.
Augee also is accused of duping veterans out of tens of thousands of dollars and taking donations for himself, former supporters said.
Multiple people, including Augee’s parents and a member of the Arizona Veterans Hall of Fame, reported him to state and federal authorities, but investigators filed no charges. Augee maintains he did nothing wrong.
Stolen valor is an insult to ‘real heroes’
Doug Sterner, a Vietnam veteran and military historian, researches cases like Augee’s and maintains the Hall of Valor, the largest database of verified U.S. military award citations.
He said veterans who slightly embellish “war stories” about real service are typically harmless. Instead, stolen valor generally refers to people who claim time in the military, military medals or acts of bravery on the battlefield that they never participated in or earned at all.
“It devalues the sense of who our real heroes are,” Sterner, of Colorado, said.
Stolen valor cases are important to investigate because they can be a sign of additional fraud, he said.
“These are people that lie to gain the confidence of others and then take advantage of them, often with great financial repercussions,” Sterner said.
Fibbing about military service may be more common than people realize.
A 2008 investigation by the Chicago Tribune found that one-third of the profiles that mentioned military medals in the online edition of Who’s Who, a well-known compendium of biographies, were not supported by military records. The newspaper also discovered more than 80% of obituaries that claimed decorations for bravery were suspect.
And military cemeteries across the country featured headstones engraved with bogus awards.
Arizona man inspires Stolen Valor Act
Sterner and his wife, Pam Sterner, wrote the book “Restoring Valor” about their successful effort to pass a federal law to crack down on phony veterans.
Their inspiration came from Gilbert Velasquez, a bogus war hero from Willcox, about 90 miles east of Tucson.
Velasquez was featured on the front page of the Arizona Range News weekly for his supposed exploits as an Army Ranger.
He claimed to have captured Saddam Hussein, found two of Hussein’s dead sons, chased Taliban fighters in Afghanistan, saved his men by destroying a tank in Iraq and fought in Somalia during the tragic “Black Hawk Down” battle, according to a copy of the article and the Sterners’ book.
Velasquez showed reporters photos of him in Iraq, a chunk of marble ostensibly from Hussein’s palace and an official-looking military service document known as a DD-214.
Velasquez also carried a case of medals purportedly acquired as a result of his courage, including two Silver Stars, two Bronze Stars and a Purple Heart. He buried his Distinguished Service Cross alongside a fallen commander, he told the newspaper.
Sterner was skeptical when he read the article.
He knew from his research no one at that time had been awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for decades. Other details of the story didn’t check out. And Sterner deemed it unlikely that a 33-year-old soldier would have participated in so many notable operations without attracting attention outside his small town.
After Sterner raised doubts with the newspaper, the story was retracted, according to “Restoring Valor.” Official military records requested by the reporter revealed Velasquez had never served in the places he claimed, the Sterners wrote.
Motivated by the case, Pam Sterner convinced her husband to help her lobby members of Congress to make it illegal for people to falsely claim they received a U.S. military decoration or medal.
Illegal to claim prestigious medals for profit
The Stolen Valor Act was signed into law in 2006 by President George W. Bush and was revised in 2013 under President Barack Obama after a Supreme Court challenge.
The law makes it a federal misdemeanor for someone to falsely claim to have received one or more of the following prestigious awards for personal benefit:
- Congressional Medal of Honor.
- Distinguished Service Cross.
- Navy cross.
- Air Force cross.
- Silver star.
- Purple Heart.
- Combat Infantryman’s Badge.
- Combat Action Badge.
- Combat Medical Badge.
- Combat Action Ribbon.
- Combat Action Medal.
A conviction can be punishable by fines and up to a year in prison.
The intent to financially benefit is crucial. Simply claiming to have served in the military or to have won a medal, even if untrue, is not a crime.
At least 18 states have enacted legislation criminalizing various forms of military impersonation, according to a review by Mary E. Johnston in the William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal.
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