Father deceives community and Legion about son’s war wounds
Zedechek sends us a link in which a father, who claims to be stressed out from his son’s deployment to Afghanistan, reported to the community that his son was wounded in an IED attack in Afghanistan. The community and the American Legion sprang into action, raising $4500 for the father to fly to his son’s side at Landstuhl hospital.
However, his son wasn’t wounded and remained in Afghanistan;
“All I can say is I’m very, very sorry. I’m going through a nervous breakdown, and I’ve been going through it for some time,” Jerry Carollo said today. “I’m going to check myself into a psychiatric hospital so I can get better.”
Yeah, a stint in a hospital ought to straighten your ass out. Hardly. Nor will it straighten out the community which trusted him and poured it’s heart out in the form of cash. Think the next request will be as forthcoming as this one?
According to Stars & Stripes, it was the supposedly wounded soldier who outed the scam;
But after someone posted the [New Jersey Star-Ledger] column on the son’s Facebook page, the feel-good story fell apart. Pfc. Carollo replied that the story was bogus. On Sunday, Jerry Carollo admitted he had made up the story, citing the stress of having a son in a war zone.
Nice job, Dad. If the hospital prescribes electro-shock therapy, I know where you can find some people to throw the switch. Most of the denizens of this blog have had children deployed to Afghanistan and I’ll wager that none of us ever thought to profit from it.
Category: Shitbags
“Most of the denizens of this blog have had children deployed to Afghanistan and I’ll wager that none of us ever thought to profit from it.”
I am beyond horrified at this guy’s actions. My son did a tour there and I know other folks around my area whose kids also served ion Iraq, Afghanistan or both. Nobody here pulled a stunt like that.
This is another form of Stolen Valor. This guy profited through fraud, but even worse, the next time someone asks for help they’re gonna be given a thorough going over thanks to this jackwagon.
I agree with Tim, and it points out what I have always said about the “Harm” aspect. Because of this douchetool, people will be more reticent to give to wounded warrior causes, and rightfully so, all because this assclown pulled this nonsense. Persecute.
What kind of douchebag tries to profit by wishing harm come to their children??? To have made up a story of something happening to one of my kids,I would be scared to death that it actually would happen … and if it did happen, the guilt would be too much. This yo is beyond comprehension,a major PoS. Posters are correct, this is another form of Stolen Valor. Jerry ‘PoS’ Carollo should be prosecuted to the fullest extent and/or run out of town on a rail.
The sad thing is that if he showed up at a lot of VA hospitals saying he had PTSD because his son was in Afghanistan, but currently didn’t have anything to prove he was a vet, they would still admit and treat his fake PTSD until the could verify he was a fake.
I guess the community didn’t look into the fact that the military and other programs already cover the expense of next of kin being flown to their child or spouse’s side. I’m surprised the local recruiting Bn didn’t throw up the BS flag as a local boy being hurt or wounded certainly has an impact on the recruiting mission in the area and PAO generally let’s the recruiters know when something happens after NOK are notified. At least we were in my experience with USAWRECK. Kid must be completely embarrassed. Maybe this dude and the USAF Ribbon Rambo from Benning should start a reality show.
Tim and TSO; I see this type of thing often. We get several requests per month from down and out types, or those “needing emergency funds” to take care of something quickly. Some of the stories are so shakey that there is no need to investigate, but we do investigate as much as possible before giving funds. If it is for a larger sum, or their story is a little weak, we always give them the phone number of the CVSO (County Veterans Service Officer) and tell them to give that office a call, because they can, usually, help quickly and be able to assist the Vet in getting more substantial funding.
It’s Jerry Callo…not Carollo!
Sorry, was having a Cousin’ Vinnie breakdown.
Honor and Courage