Harold Kauffman; another liar in Tampa

| May 25, 2014

Harold Kauffman

AverageNCO sends us another link to a liar, Harold Kauffman, in Tampa Bay who was outed by his VFW post. Kauffman had been telling the tale of his two Purple Heart medals and his Bronze Star Medal which turned out to be false;

Polk County VFW Post Commander Gerald Menard said they investigated Harold Kauffman’s background after he bragged about having two purple hearts and a bronze star.

After searching through military records they found out Kauffman was lying.

Kauffman did serve in the military but admits he lied to veterans, his family and to the state when he got a purple heart specialty license plate.

[…]

Lake Wales Mayor Eugene Fultz, who is also a veteran, said he’s shocked at the accusations.

“I am really outdone with how many people are trying to pass themselves off as deserving veterans of certain benefits,” Fultz said.

Kauffman apologized about the lies he told.

“I’m so sorry I lied about a purple heart and I lied about a bronze star, and I apologize to everybody in the nation,” he said.

When asked why he did it, he blamed it on drinking.

Lake Wales and the Polk County VFW, you might remember, was where they found Ed Cameron, the former VFW post commander who had lied about his medals before they plastered his visage on the side of a bus.

As soon as I saw the picture of him without a shirt on, I knew he was guilty of something. I watch “Cops”.

Category: Phony soldiers

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B Woodman

At least it was his own organization that “outed” him, not some other outside organization.
It’s good that the VFW did it themselves, but it would have been better if they had done their investigation BEFORE he was allowed in.

jedipsycho (Certified Space Shuttle Door Gunner)

Yeah, but with a lot of these characters, they don’t start shoveling the BS of the big lies until after they are allowed in.

SJ

“As soon as I saw the picture of him without a shirt on, I knew he was guilty of something. I watch “Cops”.”

My family gets mad at me because I always yell “get the guy with no shirt” when I watch COPS. (Or the guy with the wife beater shirt.)

Sparks

SJ you too!! My wife says, “if you’re just gonna get upset and yell then turn it off!” I can’t though. I love seeing the bad guys get taken down.

2/17 Air Cav

How about 48 hours and the resting/sleeping suspect in the interrogation room? Guilty every time. As soon as I see the head go down on the table, it’s time to roll the credits.

Club Manager

Well Done! to this VFW Post. I have not heard word one from the American Legion in Arkansas, from the Department Head to the Post Commander, about their poser at the Cabot American Legion Post. This guy is actually their membership POC. Suffice to say I will have a copy of the TAH post in hand at the State Veterans Cemetery tomorrow and see what their Department Commander has to say face to face.

Beretverde

Good for you Club Manager!

USMCE8Ret

If only the VA would start checking the validity of some claims, perhaps that organization would find out how many people are scamming them too. (Just an obvious observation…)

Hondo

Both do “check”, USMCE8Ret. Unfortunately, what they check is documentation handed them by the applicant. Passable fake documents (and sometimes some really p!ss-poor fake documents) get by them fairly often.

That problem will persist as long as both the VA and VSOs accept documents directly from applicants. It will be greatly reduced when they start requiring documents be sent directly to them from official sources instead.

Yes, that would introduce some level of delay. In exchange, it would also IMO reduce the incidence of accepting fraudulent applications by at least 90%.

HMCS(FMF) ret

Hondo – you’ve hit the nail on the head. Both groups need to clean their internal processes up and flush the “turds” out of the system as a good first step, then go after those that have taken money from them due to their false claims.

But, as we know, they won’t… don’t want to upset people… especially those that think that they deserve what they have stolen.

Just an Old Dog

There wasn’t anything in the story about him drawing VA compensation for anything.
He appears to have committed fraud with the State to get the PH plates.

Beretverde

The VFW post commander wants him prosecuted under the Stolen Valor Act. Good luck with the FBI.

Green Thumb

Dude looks like he is the missing guy from Goodfellas.

Valkyrie

Polk county,huh?

MustangCryppie

“When asked why he did it, he blamed it on drinking.”

Jails are full of guys who use the exact same excuse.