Phony hero gets to clean bed pans of real ones

Marine sentenced for faking medals
By O’Ryan Johnson
Friday, August 6, 2010

A Marine Corps veteran who faked a chestful of medals, posed with Mayor Thomas M. Menino and accepted an award from Toys for Tots soon may be changing bedpans at a veterans hospital to pay society back for the shameful charade after he was sentenced yesterday in federal court.

“I accept full responsibility for my actions,” Michael Frisoli, 46, told a U.S. District Court judge in Boston during sentencing. “I’d like to put this behind me.”

Prosecutors said Frisoli, of Millbury posed for pictures at events around the state and accepted awards dressed as a 1st sergeant pinned with the Purple Heart, a Bronze Star, Navy Commendation and Army Commendation - all with Vs for valor.


Prosecutor Anthony Fuller recommended that Frisoli “clean bedpans at the VA hospital.”
read more here
Marine sentenced for faking medals

Iraq veteran found fabricating stories about Iraq and Ground Zero

Honored Iraq veteran from Verona is found fabricating stories
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Mark Mueller/The Star-Ledger


VERONA — On Memorial Day, as Americans honored the nation’s war dead, Angelo Otchy bowed his head to accept a medal from officials in Verona for his sacrifice and service.

The 35-year-old Army veteran told a reporter that day about his three tours of duty in Iraq. Voice dropping to a near-hush, he spoke, too, about the buried bomb that ripped through his Humvee, injuring him and claiming the lives of three friends, one of them a soldier from Paterson.

“I’m haunted by that day every day of my life,” Otchy told The Star-Ledger.

But Otchy wasn’t in that Humvee. He was at home in New Jersey when the soldiers died. And he didn’t serve three tours of duty in Iraq. He served half of one tour before he was sent back to the States for extended rest and relaxation.

A Star-Ledger examination of Otchy’s claims — including a review of Army records and interviews with military officials, members of his battalion and the blasted Humvee’s lone survivor — show the Verona man fabricated his story.

Otchy’s uncle, a retired Army colonel who now works as a surgeon in Fairfax, Va., alerted The Star-Ledger two weeks ago to the discrepancies in his nephew’s background. Daniel Otchy called his nephew a troubled man who has been in and out of the military all of his adult life and has a need to seek affirmation.

“I have always tried to support my nephew,” he said, “but what he’s done here is just not right.”

Doubt also has been cast on claims Otchy made Sept. 11, 2001, when he was interviewed by reporters near a triage station along the West Side Highway in Lower Manhattan.

Dressed in camouflage fatigues, he said he was a New Jersey Army National Guard soldier who had been conducting search-and-rescue operations atop the ruins of the collapsed Twin Towers.

“I must have come across body parts by the thousands,” Otchy said. His comments, captured by television cameras and picked up in an Associated Press report, were carried in newspapers around the world, translated into German, Japanese and Afrikaans.

A slightly longer account would later be published in the book “America’s Heroes,” about the response of rescue workers on 9/11.

Records show Otchy wasn’t in the National Guard in 2001. In addition, Otchy’s uncle said his nephew told him he didn’t work on the pile at Ground Zero.

read more here

Iraq veteran from Verona is found fabricating stories

Alabama man charged under Stolen Valor was AWOL

Ala. man faces stolen valor charges

The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Mar 5, 2010 15:23:08 EST

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — A Huntsville man has been charged with wearing military medals he did not earn.

Skyler Tarquin Smith was arrested by federal agents at an American Legion post Tuesday night, when he thought he was about to be inducted into a chapter of the Military Order of the Purple Heart.

Officials say he was wearing a uniform as well as a Bronze Star, Combat Infantry Badge, Senior Parachutist Badge, Air Assault Badge and Purple Heart.
read more here
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2010/03/ap_army_alabama_faker_030510/

Stolen Valor:Steven Douglas Burton

Military Impostors Are Neither Few Nor Proud

Richard C. Paddock
San Francisco Correspondent


(Dec. 14) -- Steven Douglas Burton wore the Marine Corps uniform proudly. He had rows of medals, including a prestigious Navy Cross, a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star.

He posted a photo of himself in uniform and blogged about serving one tour of duty in Afghanistan and four in Iraq. He was at the Battle of Fallujah, he said, and praised the doctors who "patched us up."

But Burton wasn't a hero. He was a fraud who purchased medals online.

A scam that began two years ago when Burton wore a Marine Corps uniform as a Halloween party costume ended Monday with a guilty plea in federal court in Riverside, Calif.

Burton, a 39-year-old bank employee from Palm Springs, was unmasked after he wore the uniform of a Marine lieutenant colonel to his 20-year high school reunion. A classmate who was a Navy commander became suspicious of his story, got him to pose for a photo and handed it over to the FBI.

Burton pleaded guilty to a single count of the unauthorized wearing of a military medal. He faces up to a year in prison and a $100,000 fine for violating the Stolen Valor Act, which prohibits wearing an unearned medal or falsely claiming to have earned one.

"The defendant was wearing some of the highest military honors given in this country for valor," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Akrotirianakis, who prosecuted the case. "He never served in the military."
read more here
Military Impostors Are Neither Few Nor Proud

AMVETS launches new stolen valor Web site

AMVETS launches new stolen valor Web site

By William H. McMichael - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Dec 4, 2009 18:30:38 EST

A leading veterans group has launched a special Web site aimed at raising awareness about the growing number of false claims of military service, medals and awards, and helping the general public report such claims to authorities and the media.

“We’ve seen the news stories, and we have a lot of anecdotal evidence — people calling us and asking us about the issue,” said Jay Agg, national communications director for AMVETS. “ ‘What is it? How do I report it? What are the punishments? What constitutes a violation of the Stolen Valor Act?’ That is really … the genesis of this project.”

“Veterans have a special place in American society,” said Duane Miskulin, AMVETS national commander. “The brave men and women who answered our nation’s call to serve are revered for their tremendous self-sacrifice and courage in the face of daunting odds. Stolen valor is a serious offense — one that cuts into the core of what it means to be a veteran.”

Miskulin said the 2005 Stolen Valor Act, which makes even false claims of an undeserved medal a federal misdemeanor punishable by up to year in prison and a $100,000 fine, has not stemmed what he said is a rise, even in recent months, of such false claims.
read more here
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/12/military_stolen_valor_amvets_120409w/

Marine imposter suspect to plead guilty

Marine imposter suspect to plead guilty

10:15 PM PST on Friday, December 4, 2009

By JOHN ASBURY
The Press-Enterprise

A Palm Springs man has agreed to plead guilty to one federal charge of the unauthorized wearing of military medals he did not earn to impress his classmates at a high school reunion.

Steven Burton, 39, is scheduled to enter his plea Dec. 14 in U.S. Federal Court in Riverside, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Akrotirianakis.

Burton pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor charge Nov. 12, a day after the charge was filed on Veterans Day. He is free on $10,000 bond.

FBI agents and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service began investigating Burton when he appeared at a high school reunion dressed as a lieutenant colonel. At the reunion in the Bay-area community of Martinez, Burton wore several medals, including the Purple Heart and the Navy Cross, the highest medal awarded by the U.S. Navy or Marine Corps.

A Naval commander attending the reunion took a picture that included Burton and submitted it to investigators. Authorities discovered Burton had posted his photo on blogs claiming that he served in Iraq and Afghanistan, though he never served in any branch of the military.
read more here
http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_S_medals05.42643ef.html

Dishonorable Marine pleads guilty

Marine pleads guilty in hero hoax, to be sentenced
By DAVID DISHNEAU (AP) – 1 hour ago

QUANTICO, Va. — A Marine Corps sergeant pleaded guilty Wednesday to faking post-traumatic stress disorder and pretending to be an injured hero to get in free to rock concerts and professional sporting events.

Sgt. David Budwah pleaded guilty to nine charges, including making false statements, malingering and misconduct at a court-martial hearing on the Marine Corps Base in Quantico, Va.

Some of the charges may be condensed at his sentencing hearing Wednesday afternoon. Budwah faces up to 8 1/2 years in prison, a reduction in rank and a dishonorable discharge.

Budwah acknowledged he was never deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, as he claimed. He said he lied about having helped with the 2004 tsunami relief effort and didn't earn eight medals and ribbons he wore on his uniform.

"The truth of it is, I was never deployed and I was never injured," Budwah told Navy Capt. Bruce W. MacKenzie, chief judge of the Navy-Marine Corps Trial Judiciary. "Everything that I said was false."
read more here
Marine pleads guilty in hero hoax, to be sentenced

updateMarine sentenced to 18 months in hero hoax case
The Associated PressHe must also forfeit all pay and benefits during his confinement. Budwah acknowledged he was never deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan

Marine charged with faking war wounds and combat medals

Sgt. David W. Budwah is not just a jerk deciding to play dress-up hero, telling tall tales to impress strangers. He isn't your average veteran faking wounds to collect funds he didn't earn. He is worse because he is still in the Marines! This is a betrayal against every real wounded veteran, every real combat medal wearing hero and every man serving today in the military.

Marine charged with faking war wounds for gain
By DAVID DISHNEAU (AP) – 3 hours ago

SABILLASVILLE, Md. — On a sultry day in July 2008, Marine Sgt. David W. Budwah strode in his battle fatigues to the front of a picnic pavilion to tell three dozen young boys what he did during the war.

With his clear gaze, rigid posture and muscled, tattooed arms, Budwah looked every inch the hero he claimed to be. He said he was on his second tour of duty in Afghanistan when a homemade grenade exploded, wounding his face and arm when he dove to shield a buddy from the blast.

He urged the boys, ages 9-12, to take pride in themselves, their country and its warriors.

"We're here to make sure of the freedom you have every day," Budwah told his audience at Camp West Mar, a wooded American Legion compound about 60 miles northwest of Washington.

Spencer Shoemaker, then 10, was so impressed he had his picture taken with Budwah and kept a treasured newspaper clipping about the visit.

"What he said made me feel like I wanted to join the Marines," Spencer said.

But the Marines say Budwah is a liar, a fraud and a thief. They are court-martialing the 34-year-old Springhill, La., native, alleging he was never in Afghanistan, wasn't wounded and didn't earn the combat medals he wore — or the many privileges he enjoyed.

Budwah joined the Marines in October 1999 and spent nearly all of the next six years with a radio communications unit in Okinawa, Japan, according to the Marine Corps Base in Quantico, Va., where Budwah has been stationed since February 2006.
read more here
Marine charged with faking war wounds for gain