UA* for 40 Years, Caught by Covid Jab
*AWOL for our Nautically Challenged friends. Jerry Leon Blankenship had second thoughts after completing Navy boot in 1977, and deserted. He remained under the radar for some 40 years using a stolen identity, living in Tennessee.
Then he received the Covid jab at a Walgreens, and his run ended. Poetrooper sends.
Navy deserter lived in secret for 40+ years until outed by COVID shot
Liz George
A Tennessee man who deserted the United States Navy after basic training has been identified and sentenced this week — more than 40 years since going AWOL.
Jerry Leon Blankenship, 65, has been living under someone else’s identity since deserting the Navy in 1977, and remained in secret until he received his COVID-19 vaccine in 2021, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Tennessee announced on Tuesday.
Blankenship accepted a plea deal and pleaded guilty to one count of false use of a social security number and one count of aggravated identity theft. He was sentenced to 25 months in prison and three years on supervised release.
Blankenship may also face a military tribunal for deserting the U.S. Navy, the release stated.
Tennessee authorities discovered Blankenship’s true identity thanks to reports from an identity theft victim in North Carolina when a Walgreens contacted him about his COVID-19 vaccine, which he had not received.
Video surveillance reviewed by police showed Blankenship receiving the vaccine under the stolen identity in March 2021, court documents showed.
The identity theft victim claimed “he had been plagued with identity theft issues” for decades, The Charlotte Observer reported.
Then it gets creepy.
In the early 1980s, Blankenship was in a short relationship with a woman. When the woman heard he went AWOL from the Navy, she suggested he used the identity of the father of her child to avoid trouble from the military, court documents show. She shared important information such as his social security number with Blankenship.
After he and the woman separated, he met the “estranged” daughter of his first wife, from a different relationship, and they started dating, authorities said. Documents show the two settled in Newport where they raised three children and built a home repair business together.
Thanks, Poe.
Category: Crime, Guest Link
Whew! Some dudes will do anything to get some pussy.
What would he do for a Klondike Bar?
I’d do some seriously sketchy shit for Jeep parts…
I’d do sketchy shit for bacon and Bourbon!
Living the naughty step dad dream. Some places you get arrested for that too.
Put this clown in crackerjacks and send him to the brig.
25 months in prison? That means “*WEEEEEEEE!*, *WEEEEEEE-WEEEEEEE!!* from time to time, especially since Bubba, Thor Julio or “Tiny Tyrone” is a-coming in dry!
What are you in for?
I deserted the Navy because I didn’t want to get ass raped on a ship
Well I have good news and bad news
Rope, yardarm, & this POS. Some assembly required. And before the nautically knowledgeable one here bitches that Navy Ships no longer have yardarms, I will point to USS Constitution. She has yardarms…and rope!
Yeah, but why waste time taking him to the Ship while a tree or lamppost will do just fine?
Line, doggy. No rope on a ship.
Picky, picky, picky. Don’t make me whomp you with a knotted plow line. Or would it be “plough line”? Only Sister Mary Margaret knows for sure.
Didn’t someone recently post on another thread about jumping off a high point on a ship?
How many times can one jump off before not resurfacing? Sounds like a science experiment just waiting for results.
Depends on how many tie-down chains he’s wearing.
What’s the statute of limitations on rape? 8 years or so? Definitely not 40+. Not justifying this dude, but he’s not the worst monster we’ve ever produced.
I’m not apologizing for deserters, but if we’re not hanging them anymore and they’re no longer of value to the service… it’s on us for letting them slip through for so long.
Fine him for his other crimes (jail doesn’t seem appropriate), but all the Navy deserves is a lesson learned.
Marrying your step daughter? How very Woody Allen of him.
All-Points Logistics needs to up its game.
Curious as to if he – Jerry Leon Blankenship – was ever written up by the False Commander “Phony” Phil Monkress (CEO of All-Points Logistics) for sub-par conduct unbecoming of an All-Points Logistics employee.
I’ve had to work on septic lines that are less nauseous than this Jerry Leon Blankenship perv.
However, IMHO, Jerry Leon Blankenship’s desertion saved the Navy from having to deal with him and his, uh, output.
Started dating his ex-girlfriend’s daughter… while using the daughter’s father’s identity… in Tennessee… Why do I hear a banjo serenade in the background?
The sad part is that he probably missed out on 40 years of free Veteran’s Day meals at Applebees. Hasn’t he suffered enough?
AWOL after boot camp? I thought those are the guys that usually go all ‘High Speed, Low Drag’ as SEAL/RECON Marine/Ranger/PJ wannabe phonies. Him keeping a low profile was unexpected.
He should have gone all in like this guy(?).
https://bangordailynews.com/2013/01/13/news/lewiston-auburn/31-years-and-a-gender-change-later-poland-woman-arrested-for-desertion/
This was thread on TAH a few years back.
Forty-plus years, that’s gotta be a top contender for the world record “Hide and Seek” championship.
I think the military approach to desertion/AWOL/UA/etc is sensible. WHy waste a lot of time, money & manpower on someone who doesn’t want to be there? Instead, wait until the deserter pops up on radar somewhere, somewhen, for some other infraction (and they always do, inevitably). Then retrieve them from their last know location, punish accordingly, fill out paperwork, apply boot to the seat, bye-bye, close file. Better than trying to herd the cats and corral the chickens.
(have to wonder, just how many AWOLs/UAs/desertions are there out there waiting for capture & closure? and is there a “statute of limitations”, sayyy, 100 years, when the military sez, “he must be dead by now, close the file”?)
(to be continued)
(continued)
Sounds like it might be a different and interesting post for the TAH Admin to research, the little details of desertions/UA/AWOL. How many on file waiting “catch & release”? The shortest “catch” (minutes?). The longest “catch” (we have 40+ years. any longer before “catch & release”?) Most (in)famous & notorious?
(end)
I think they did away with AWOL Apprehension Units in the early 80’s seeing it as a waste of time, many are nabbed nowadays via background checks for things like Drivers Licenses and Jobs.
I had an AWOL Soldier pop up in 2010, he’d been gone almost 7 years. Battalion had no record of him, nobody even remembered him. He got scooped up by the TSA trying to fly out of Tucson. Apparently, AWOL’s are on the no-fly list. Who knew?
He could have said that his mind went blank en he jumped ship, err I mean boot camp.