Jacob R. Cruze, Las Vegas phony colonel
Our friends at POW Network have another high-profile phony notch on their belt with Jacob R. Cruze, who claims service in almost every conflict in recent memory, including three tours of Vietnam. According to the Las Vegas Review Journal, doubts were raised at a Ranger convention in LV;
In 2004 in Las Vegas, Cruze raised suspicions of former Army Rangers when he showed up at the Riviera for their annual conference wearing a dress-blue uniform bearing a colonel insignia and numerous ribbons and medals on his jacket. But when he was asked about his military career by attendees, his comments didn’t fit with events, locations and dates of military operations.
Wading into a shark tank wearing a meat suit, I guess would be a good metaphor in this case.
Here’s his actual records;
Apparently, he was arrested in Virginia for using false documents to get special veterans’ license plates, the weasel.
Category: Phony soldiers
I’m surprised the Rangers didn’t saw him off at the knees.
He claims to have been in Vietnam in 69. Must have been one helluva 12 year old. I don’t know which is worse – poseurs who can’t get their timelines straight or civilians who don’t know enough history to call bull…
Leesburg VA, home to C Co 3/116 INF, 29 ID (Light) unless they have moved.
OK boys, go and find us Mr. Cruze.
Well, damn. Looks like the asshole lives in a state that’s covered by the 9th Circus, so referring him to the Federal authorities as a potential Stolen Valor Act case is currently a NO GO. Hopefully the SCOTUS will rectify that reasonably soon.
Wow. His record is odd. 7 years and only 2LT? Hell you get to 1LT just for breathing correctly.
His commission source is Presidential Appointment? Even that official record looks odd. I know there are odd commissioning sources, but that is odd. Best I can guess is that he was brought on directly for medical purposes.
ah well…who cares. He ruined any good record he had.
Steadfast&Loyal: Two possibilities. First one: as I recall (don’t have the old DA Pam or Reg handy), even in the 1980s/1990s USAR 2LTs had to complete an Officer Basic to be eligible for promotion to 1LT. Don’t see in his records that he ever did so. Second one: he was a real shithead. I’d love to see his 67-8s (that would tell), but those aren’t subject to FOIA disclosure (pretty sure that takes an SF180).
Well, looks like I spoke too soon in post 4 above. He apparently DOES live in Leesburg, VA – and was recently arrested for fraud there:
http://leesburg.patch.com/articles/business-co-owner-arrested-in-leesburg
Anyone have good contact info for the prosecutor’s office handling his case? They might be interested in this info – or have a good working relationship with local Federal law enforcement. VA isn’t under the 9th Circus.
I did notice that the pic of him in his class A’s had him wearing the prerequisite 1st Cav patch on his right shoulder.
Wow. You know, why the heck doesn’t anyone ever try saying they were Supply? Why is it always Ranger-this or SEAL-that? Not saying it would be good, but they always seem to think the Quartermaster Corps doesn’t do anything…
The DUI is Medical branch, and the record says Army Nurse – so a Presidential appointment is not beyond the realm of possibility.
@9- In the navy, “quartermaster” means assistant to the ship’s navigator- a helmsman. Maybe it’s too damned confusing for them?
@9 Flagwaver that is exactly what gives me fits! A little bit of modesty and research would go a looong way. Recently a guy came into our local watering hole wearing a t-shirt with large block letters, USMC. I saw him an said “Semper Fi Bro” he responded with “Hi ya”!? Right away the BS meter switched on. I started asking questions and it took less than 5 minutes for him to fall apart. He had no idea of our rank structure, MOSes or unit structure. If he’d have spent an hour on Google he might have lasted more than a couple of minutes. Instead he was flopping around like a salmon during their swim up stream, no disrespect to salmon. Forkin’ Retard.
Bonu point for having the balls to walk into a Ranger reunion with those award and rank on, but negative double points for being stupid enough to walk in and think he could get away with it.
Like I said…I’m glad I was a bubblehead. Nobody tries to pretend to be one of us.
Wow!
Maybe I could kinda sorta understand a civilian getting carried away in the moment perhaps in a bar one evening and telling a tall tale about one’s made up exploits that didn’t really happen. But to be unhinged enough to buy uniforms and such to bolster a complete fraud is so far into lah-lah land that it is scary delusional.
Teddy, I’ve had that discussion over more than a few cold ones at the local VFW. The squid and I just agreed that the military was confusing and called it good.
Yat Yas, I know what you mean. At my armory, we made it a habit to always have one of the big pots brewing because all the LEOs and fire fighters were free to partake. We had some vets come in for some brew or a quick shower. Hell, even a couple of Brits dropped in for directions and got some lunch (they were on leave from Iraq and touring the West Coast of our pretty country).
Well, we had one douchenozzel walk into the armory for some coffee during duty day and he claimed to be an Army vet. It was all good, he seemed legit having the appropriate level of fitness and haircut. I asked for ID and he showed me his Driver’s License (post-9/11, so I had to ask).
He asked me how things were going in such a boring place, and I answered with “HOOAH.” He looked confused and my douche-o-meter went off. I asked him where he was assigned, and he replied that he was 2nd Rangers in Ft. Lewis. Having just returned from Lewis, I asked him what he thought of the PX at Madigan. He said that he didn’t really use it much, so couldn’t really say…
For those of you who don’t know, Madigan is the hospital on post… and it doesn’t have a PX.
I politely asked him to unass the armory before I called the cops. He started puffing up like a bullfrog and saying how I (an active duty soldier stationed in an armory) couldn’t talk to him (a supposed veteran who was no longer in the military) like that. So, I asked him to name one of the three general orders that ALL troopies had to memorize from the beginning of BCT.
In response, he stormed out of the armory and drove off… asshat.
@Hondo.
Okok…I see where you are going. one of those lame asses that got assigned to the Reserves and went IRR without serving a moment either active nor Reserve duty time. That would explain the 90 year old 2LT.
Still…..the appointment block should say ROTC, USMA, or OCS…unless the Presidential Appointment is ROTC speak from the 80s/90s. No idea. Going off my record where in that block it says ROTC.
Ahhh well…more professional curiosity then anything else. Oddly that kind of stuff interests me…that is how the military handles its commissioning of officers and NCOs.
Steadfast & Loyal – no, the block should say how the guy got his commission. There is direct commission, and Presidential Appointments.
George C. Marshall received a Presidential Appointment as a 2LT. The folks who usually get these are flag officers going for 3 or 4 stars. The POTUS appoints so&so for a period of time/position, and the Senate approves.
FWIW, I was working in officer recruiting before my current deployment. As a rule AMEDD packets, (docs, PAs, nurses, NPs, shrinks, etc.) are the biggest pain in the ass, second only to chaplains. A special branch (defined by Title 10 USC, 3064) like Med, JAG, or Chaplain receives their commission directly if they come in off the street as a civilian and meet all the pre-reqs. Some nurses commission through ROTC, (RN/BSN program w/ROTC contract) and some officers who already hold basic branch commissions and finish law school will commission as JAGs but still have their original commissioning source.
As for being a 2LT @#6 is right, if you’re a nurse and IIRC, a PA or NP you don’t get promoted to 1LT until you complete your branch BOLC.
If you’re a regs geek, you can look up ARs 600-100 and 135-100 respectively.
@Flagwaver: Damn. I just spent 3 minutes trying to recall one of those GO’s, and all I came up with was “Never actually load my weapon until after the Joint Chiefs have granted permission.” and “I won’t shoot unless and until I contact one of the politically-correct assholes at the Pentagon.” and “I will not unass my post until properly relieved by a State Department “expert”.” But then, it has been nigh on to 40 years . . .
You forgot, “I will report violations of my privacy and rights to the nearest mainstream media outlet”
Nichevo: thanks. Thought about finding and posting an extract from the reg, but realized we were talking about the late 1980s/early 1990s and I didn’t want to try and find a 20-year old reg online to verify. So I went from memory. Thanks for the backup/verification.
– break –
Steadfast&Loyal: I think his record shows he did to some TPU time. But even in a TPU during that time frame no OBC meant no promo to 1LT. His record clearly shows he never went.
AFAI remember from my reserve service, Nichevo is correct about promotion to 1LT after finishing the AMEDD reserve officer basic course. AMEDD officers with a doctoral degree (MD, DDS, PhD, etc) are commissioned as captains. Some reserve units can mangle the promotion paperwork so a promotion to 1LT might be delayed for a nurse, but there is a great deal of truth in Steadfast & Loyal’s comment about appropriate respiratory function and promotion.
Flagwaver: right with you. Why aren’t there Stolen Valor cases of 88M (motor transport operator) or 92F (fueler)? Those men and women saw more than their fair share of IED attacks and ambushes on the roads of Iraq. Civilians must not assign any importance to food, ammo, radio batteries, spare parts, or fuel. Similarly, none of these dickweeds pretend to be dentists or x-ray technicians or medical logistics specialists.
The Stolen Valor case I’m waiting to see is the buttmunch who claims to have received a Defense Distinguished Service Medal or Legion of Merit for service as the chief Pentagon officer in charge of protecting the red-cockaded woodpecker. It’s absurd enough to be believable, as anyone from Ft. Bragg knows from first-hand experience.
Incidentally, a very smart UCLA law professor wrote an excellent brief for the Supreme Court on why the Stolen Valor Act should be upheld. His basic argument is that knowing lies should not be protected by the First Amendment. Interested readers can find his document here:
http://www.law.ucla.edu/volokh/alvarezbrief.pdf
#16 Steadfast & Loyal,
As a mere ROTC grad, I decided to look around at the “Presidential Appointment” thing. Found this at
http://www.wmich.edu/rotc/becomingAnOfficer.html#nurse:
“As a nursing student in the Army ROTC Bronco Battalion, you’ll combine Military Science classes and a summer internship known as Nurse Summer Training Program, or NSTP, with your regular WMU Bronson School of Nursing program.The result upon graduation is a presidential appointment as a commissioned officer in the Army Nurse Corps. Nursing students at Grand Valley State University, Hope and Calvin Colleges are also eligible to participate in ROTC at Western Michigan University.”
There were other university websites with much the same description.
So, apparently, ROTC-grad nurse corps members are Presidential Appointments de riguer.
@22 ex Army doc, kinda of a long read and I didn’t get a bunch of but if I understood right, the false statements must cause injury. They do cause injury, the asswipe they busted in Scottsdale got money from the Legion, got airline tickets and got a job under false pretenses, that’s theft and fraud. I feel injured because he’s claiming to be as good a man as my 1st PltSgt who took me under his wing and worked with me. Because of him I was a Sgt (E-5) in just over 2 years. He taught me about true leadership, responsibility, duty and real honor. This limpdick knows nothing about any of them. I feel sad that the 9th circus court of appeals says this cumbreath can claim my honor even thought he didn’t go though MCRD, he didn’t get shipped 1,000s of miles away from home missing once in a life time family events not to mention the holidays. I didn’t have to endure combat, the only action I saw was at Mauel’s Place in Oceanside, but if the call had come I would have done my duty and gone. He took the honor of ever per who actually served and especially those who lost their lives doing their duty.
Am I the only one who can’t look at his photo without thinking “Goooooooooll-y!” and giggling?
Immediate red flag on the mess blue: He’s wearing medical branch colors, but he’s wearing a CIB, CMB, and Aviator wings.
Also, most Colonels would be lucky to have 3 rows of mini-medals on their Mess Blues, and this guy has 5 rows.
” I’d love to see his 67-8s ”
67-9 is the OER. There’s no such thing as a 67-8.
#16 virtual insanity
Odd that you picked that site….it’s my alma mater. Class of ’97.
David: the DA Form 67-9 (Oct 97) is the current Army OER. It’s predecessor as the Army OER was the DA Form 67-8 (1 Sep 79). The 67-8 was the OER form in use when this tool served in the USAR.
http://www.militaryguides.acenet.edu/FormsArmy/DA67-8_1979.pdf
Apology accepted, youngster. (smile)
He’s a nurse. Direct commission.
If you look closely, you’ll clearly be able to identify the “Crew-Served Enema Qualification Badge”
This guy’s as good as SgtMaj douchebag and Pvt grifter!? He’s also a bigamist and a deadbeat dad! Oh, and he likes to drive with no drivers license, it’s suspended. Col peckerhead is delusional.
Well, looks like he made FoxDC. Seems to have still been in jail as of last Wed.
http://www.myfoxdc.com/dpp/news/virginia/man-charged-for-pretending-to-be-doctor-in-virginia-020812
It also looks as if he made the Las Vegas papers (he had a history there going back to 2004).
http://www.lvrj.com/news/army-vet-a-former-las-vegas-resident-charged-with-fraud-in-virginia-139136779.html
Unfortunately, it also looks like the local US Attorney’s office is either passing on this one, or is playing “wait and see” until after the SCOTUS rules on the SVA. Let’s hope it’s the latter.
There are many people who have been injured by this individual. His behavior which includes pathological lying has been repeated in several states over more than three decades. While such actions may be secondary to a personality disorder; the judge should throw away the key rather than imposing the recommended sentence of five months. The punishment is an outrage and does not produce any significant deterrent.
As a victim, are there other venues that may be approached? I am not familar with SCOTUS and don’t know if they are accessible to civilians . . .
An update: looks like this guy could really get slammed in VA – to the tune of 10 years and $100k in fines (see 4th para of linked story). And as of yesterday, it looks like “COL” Cruz was still in jail.
http://www.lvrj.com/news/fake-id-use-upsets-military-veterans-143287936.html
I didn’t realize the applicable VA statute was quite so . . . . nice. (smile)
Another wannabe down…. A zillion more to go, I’m sure!
Looks like he plead guilty to 2 felony fraud counts last Friday and is looking at somewhere between 14 and 18 mo in prison. In exchange for the guilty plea, the prosecutor apparently dropped 1 felony and 1 misdemeanor count. And it looks like his actual name may be “Richard Reginald Cruze, Jr.” So the bastard was a lying POS even when he joined the USAR.
http://www.lvrj.com/news/former-las-vegan-pleads-guilty-to-possessing-phony-military-id-145855875.html
Would have personally preferred to see him get more time. But I guess can live with this assclown having 2 felony convictions and getting a year plus in the state pen. He’d better hope he can.
Update on our favorite fake SF Colonel: his sentencing apparently has been moved to 21 May 2012.
Enjoy your last month or so of freedom, “Ricky”. I understand the VA state prison system is almost as much fun as the one run by the Federal government.
Hi Injured,
I, too, was a victim of this con-artist. Only now am I realizing how many people he has harmed. Yes, I fell for his story about being a Colonel; yet, other fabrications of his included NOT being married (when he was), and NOT having children (when he had fathered two) compounded by his being a dead-beat dad. He lied about his background, his family, his upbringing, his career, and his education. In fact, he lied about anything that could be lied about!
Prior to encountering him, I had never been exposed to this type of behavior (pathological liar). Needless to say, I was shocked when I found out the truth – bit by bit. But he certainly played the “Colonel” routine well by dressing the part, especially at parties. He would wear his “garb” and impress everyone with his tales.
So many emotions came into play when I realized I had been duped. Hurt, pain, but primarily shame. I was embarrassed that I had fallen for a con-artist. Most friends were compassionate, but other acquaintances found the situation “funny” and would make ‘teasing’ remarks which were humiliating. It’s amazing how such a twisted individual can wreak havoc on the victim’s self esteem.
Besides the emotional shame of having been involved with someone like this, the only material gain he received from me was money I loaned him. Although I never got repayment, just knowing that he will spend time in jail is some type of consolation.
Ran into Jake in 2011, but fortunately for the Internet I figured him out day 1. So I pretty much played him. I also was asked for money by him 20,000.00 to be accurate. He didn’t get a dime. It’s ashame , he is a smart guy, this could have been his life, all the things he lied about. Instead he is a tennis official and a limo driver.
Too Smart
[…] Pounder 8 Paul “PTSD Counselor” Schroeder v. 9 Asleigh “Shrapnel slit my throat” Martel 5 Jacob “read my plates bitch!” Cruze v. 12 Albert “Sensei Dick Munch” John 4 Dave “Tiger Hunter” Groves v. 13 Micaiah “Marine […]
Turd
OMG!!! Guess who I received a call from yesterday??? Yes, the infamous Mr. Cruz and he is now released from jail. I had limited dealings with him and lent him no money, but was also told a bunch of lies. Kinda felt sorry for him when he asked that I not hang up on him…made me wonder how many hang-ups he had already received. But when he asked if he could take a shower at my house, I had to politely refuse. Good luck in real life, Mr. Cruz.
@44.
Good, safe call on your part.
Better be safe than sorry with these clowns.
@44,Injured and Injured Too – Don’t sweat this. I was duped many years ago by this moron. He’s a joke. It isn’t about you being not bright enough to catch on, it’s about him being a Class A loser and dickhead. I wish I could find some compassion for him but I just find him deplorable and not worth the space he’s taking up. Feel bad for his kids. The rest of us got off easy. Please don’t carry this dog’s luggage for him and feel any guilt or shame. It’s his. Give it back to him and move on with an actual life. Something he will never have.
By the way, he is attempting to be reinstated as a nurse in Virgina. I think I will write them a note about the character and diabolical nature of this creep….
@47. His RN license was suspended or revoked in Nevada in 2007, according to publicly available records. If he’s trying to get licensed or relicensed in Virginia, the VA Code provides, in pertinent part:
§ 54.1-3007. Refusal, revocation or suspension, censure or probation.
The Board may refuse to admit a candidate to any examination, refuse to issue a license, certificate, or registration to any applicant and may suspend any license, certificate, registration, or multistate licensure privilege for a stated period or indefinitely, or revoke any license, certificate, registration, or multistate licensure privilege, or censure or reprimand any licensee, certificate holder, registrant, or multistate licensure privilege holder, or place him on probation for such time as it may designate for any of the following causes:[…]
2. Unprofessional conduct;[…]
4. Conviction of any felony or any misdemeanor involving moral turpitude;[…]
5. Practicing in a manner contrary to the standards of ethics or in such a manner as to make his practice a danger to the health and welfare of patients or to the public;
7. The denial, revocation, suspension or restriction of a license, certificate, registration, or multistate licensure privilege to practice in another state, the District of Columbia or a United States possession or territory; […]
We NEVER see anyone falsely claiming to be a 42A either.
@A_Proud_Infidel — it’s because us 42’s are just too badass for them to handle. 🙂 SEAL, fuck, Ranger, fuck, but 42 — y’all can’t HANDLE this level of paperwork. 🙂