Stolen Valor and Service Dog Provider
Kudos to WLNS Channel 6 in Landsing Michigan who seem to regularly investigate stolen valor, even having a page of their website dedicated to it – Stolen Valor Investigations. To date, most of it centers around Kirk Lanam – who claimed *cough* that he was a Brigader General.
On April 19, 2023, Lanam, in civilian clothing and with one of his service dogs at his side, walked up to the podium at the Hamburg Township Planning Commission. “Good afternoon, my name is Brigadier General Kirk Lanam,” he said. “I am 34 years on paper with the United States Air Force and 22 years active combat.”
We would be remiss if we didn’t say that he followed this with “318 deployments.”
.
WLNS reports that when Lanam separated from the Air Force he had the rank of “airman basic.” We may need a ruling on this, but Lanam could be the most enormous disparity in rank that we’ve had by X number of paygrades. However, it is hard to calculate the jump from enlisted to officer.
The dogs are innocent in this entire fiasco.
Veteran nonprofit head charged with embezzling more than $400K from vulnerable adult
by: Shajaka Shelton – Posted: Jan 23, 2025 / Updated: Jan 24, 2025
LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) — The Michigan Attorney General has charged 52-year-old Kirk Lanam, who is accused of inflating his military service while running a Livingston County veterans service dog nonprofit, with embezzlement from a vulnerable adult. He pleaded not guilty.
Lanam, of Hartland, was arrested in Oakland County Wednesday and arraigned in Rochester Hills Thursday. He was charged with five felonies for allegedly financially exploiting an 87-year-old man by fraudulently obtaining legal power of attorney in March of 2024, knowing the man was a vulnerable or incapacitated adult with a court-appointed guardian.
He is accused of diverting more than $400,000 from the victim’s funds to himself and the non-profit he ran—the Howell-based Veteran’s Service Dog Organization Veteran Service Dogs Organization. Lanam was at the center of a 6 News stolen valor investigation in 2024.
Then…
The Oakland County investigation reveals Lanam took over the financial affairs of an elderly Korean War veteran. Former supporters and volunteers for VSDO have told 6 News that when he took over that financial burden, the nonprofit was struggling to pay its bills.
At the time Lanam took over the veteran’s finances, veterans told 6 News he began showing up with expensive items, such as lawn moving equipment, security cameras—and even a new Hyundai Palisades. The 6 News Investigates Team can show more than $250,000 in spending from this elderly veteran’s account that appears to have benefited VSDO generally and Lanam specifically.
Is it just me, or does VSD sound like a venereal disease?
Category: Air Force, Air Force Poser, Valor Vultures
