Michael Douglas McDowell; Phony General gets 5 years probation
Chief Tango sends us a link to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram which reports that Michael Douglas McDowell, who we talked about last year, pleaded guilty and got 5 years probation for his cute little stunt;
Michael Douglas McDowell, who entered his plea Tuesday, also pleaded guilty to bigamy, for marrying a woman while still married to his estranged wife. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports he was sentenced to five years’ probation in each case.
McDowell often wore medals and ribbons, and had a Purple Heart license plate.
Tarrant County prosecutor Joshua Ross says the 57-year-old McDowell “perfected the art of stolen valor.”
McDowell’s ruse came undone when he visited Fort Worth police Chief Jeff Halstead in 2012, offering him a tour of the White House or Pentagon. Halstead became suspicious and asked investigators to check his background.
Apparently, McDowell had been doing this for 15 years and getting away with it.
This is what we wrote last year about his elaborate ruse;
Dude had a drivers’ license with no picture of him because he had convinced Texas motor vehicle folks that he was an intelligence officer and couldn’t have his photo in the public record. He had Purple Heart license plates, walked around with three cell phones so “Washington” could stay in touch with him – and he’d have imaginary classified conversations with other people in the room. He carried files marked “Top Secret” in a briefcase handcuffed to his wrist. He even had a vehicle with government plates with which he’d pick up VIP folks from airports.
Category: Phony soldiers
Fort Worth is getting soft?. Wait this is a Fed case. That explains. The Fort Worth D. A. Tim Curry,I believe is a vet. Joe
@39 Combat Historian “…[i] I went to OSUT at Benning in Jun 1979, and MG Grange was already the post commander by then. During my OSUT at Sand Hill,[/i]…”
I was there “with you” at the same time frame — graduated 30 August 79 — but I was down the road and across the street at Harmony Church, D-2-1. According to my “yearbook”, MG Livsey was the CG then; either the yearbook was not updated, or MG Grange assumed command after 30 August 79.
–ghp
@52: I was in D-3-1 at Sand Hill, when Sand Hill was pretty much brand spankin’ new, and the starship barracks there were shiny new and spotless. I think the “yearbook” was not updated, because I distinctly remembered being quizzed on my chain-of-command all the time by the drill sergeants, and MG Grange was in the chain-of-command as the Infantry Training Center/School CG…
BTW, I stayed at Harmony Church for a week in 1999, when I was preparing to deploy to Europe in support of Balkan Ops. By 1999, all the old WWII barracks from OSUT days had been torn down, and they had built concrete buildings and quarters for the deployment facility there…