Why Stolen Valor Goes Ignored
Someone sent in this article about Stolen Valor. A guy named Jonn Lilyea was interviewed:
“It’s pretty disgusting, because I have friends who are in Arlington who only got to wear their medals as they were being buried, and these guys just pin them on like they’re buttons or decorations,” John Lilyea, a former platoon sergeant in the U.S. Army who tracks stolen valor cases, told The Daily Caller News Foundation. “That’s what sets off most veterans, because we know people who didn’t come home.”
It appears this Lilyea character has been dealing with cases of fake and embellished military service claims for a while now.
Lilyea has tracked down and investigated stolen valor cases on his website — This Ain’t Hell, But You Can See It From Here — since 2008, compiling hundreds upon hundreds of alleged fraudsters through tips and extensive research.
Another guy named Doug Sterner was interviewed as well. It seems he has been around for a really, really, long time.
Doug Sterner, a former Army sergeant and military historian, who runs the Military Times’ Hall of Valor database of medal recipients, said stolen valor cases take “time away from typing up the citation of legitimate heroes.”
“It’s a far bigger problem than anybody realizes,” Sterner told TheDCNF.
It is a well done article that sheds some light on many of the Stolen Valor issues we are facing today. A huge thank you to KATHRYN WATSON for doing all the work on the article. If you like the article please drop her a note. It sounds like a few hoses and tubes can’t keep an old Platoon Sergeant down, or at least quiet anyway.
Category: Army News, Bloggers, Historical, Military issues
But…but…it’s a victimless crime, right?
Until a real Vet meets up with the poser. THAT’s when you end up with a ‘victim’…
Nice article, I wonder when and if other new outlets will start picking up on this? I’m sure the vast majority of them are still busy shitting bricks over President Trump living up to what he promised to do.
trum was overturned by a judge immediately. he, is living up to loyalty to a KGB officer and being a skinner. charles manson has less disloyalty to america than trump and his sympathizers.
Says you.
Many of us agree with Trump’s decision to slow the intake of refugees until we have a way to ensure that there are no wolves hiding among the sheep.
DAESH (I use this name for them because ISIS leaders have threatened to cut off the tongue of anyone who uses it to describe them) has said that their goal is to sow sleeper agents in among the refugees and infiltrate the countries that accept the refugees. Once they are in the country, they will then strike the innocent in the host country, killing as many infidels as possible.
Many of us are also tired of seeing the Federal government get more and more involved in our daily lives, and want the scope and reach of the Feds cut back and that power returned to the state and local governments.
But hey, I am just a fiscal conservative and a civil libertarian who lurks and occasionally comments on things here.
It involves a lot more victims than most people realize. They are not only taking one person for a ride, but usually many; from the many wives that have gotten away from Chevy Cheesegut, to Kyle Barwan and these, that I know about:
Just some of his victims, both women, and men that he has “taken” from, by claiming false military status:
Dee Dee, Kentucky
Katie, Kentucky
Ben, Kentucky
Caitlin, Florida
Meredith, Florida
Nathan, Virginia
Chelsea, Florida
Katie, Florida
Paige, Florida
Cindy, Florida
Shelby, Florida
And, among and between these there have been at least as many others. Each of them thinking that he was actually in the military, and that he actually had payroll problems. Neither of which is true.
Well, you guys wanted to know why PSG Lilyea hasn’t dropped in to soothe your concerns, and now you know.
He was busy being interviewed about the one thing that makes everyone’s ass twitch: stolen valor and the fraud that follows it.
This Jonn guy is kinda sketchy…..
Just sayin’……
Hope you are feeling better.
Sorry, but Stemer’s comment of stolen valor taking ““time away from typing up the citation of legitimate heroes” makes no sense and I doubt is supportable officially.
I seriously doubt if anyone in the military is saying or complaining they cannot issue or type up a citation because of someone crime of stolen valor.
The conclusion that the 2013 Stolen Valor law is some how weaker than the 2006 Stolen Valor law is ridiculous as well. It can and is often argued that an unConstitutional law is “stronger” than a Constitutional version of the law. That’s what freedom, rights and the bed rock of the laws does. It is almost as if the author was arguing against the Constitution, which is rather silly in my opinion, especially when dealing with an issue that impacts men and women who swore to uphold the Constitution.
I am not arguing against the issue of stolen valor, but to me the article almost reads as if the writer wanted something more and more “sexy.” It is almost as if the issue itself isn’t valid enough so throw in a quote that doesn’t make sense, add a bad Constitution reference and there ya go!
Bad article on a subject that needs more people talking about it.
I think he was referring to himself spending time chasing phonies instead of bringing attention to legit heroes on his website.
I concur with SSG E.
SSG E,
I agree with that and never said otherwise. That’s why the statement as proof of anything is not a good one.
If he would rather be typing (copying) citations than looking up military people, that’s a choice he makes. No one is forcing him to submit requests for potential Stolen Valor people. It’s a choice he makes and I would even say it may be a choice he makes that enhances his website as he reports on those who commit the crime.
He can choose not to go after the information or teach others how to do it, ect.
What he would rather be doing has no impact on the effects of stolen valor at all.
As I said, it is not a well written article because it brings in subjective elements to make what is easily made with facts. Those facts aren’t “sexy” enough, so the author went in a different direction.
A couple of years ago few of us former ASA/MI guys found a Stolen Valor low life named Ron Stone had posted on a the Fort Devens Facebook page.
We tracked him down and learned he had been writing books based on his “stolen valor” fake combat SF training.
We got his records, exposed him to the public, shamed him in public and got the local TV station to track him down and admit on TV it was all lies. You can find the TV interview and documentation of a FB page we created and maintain “Ron Stone” Stolen Valor.
We sent our information to This Ain’t Hell and the Stolen Valor FB page. Only John posted our material we were blown off by the Stolen Valor FB page because they only want to post their work. (SF poser patrol posted the work as they helped us on the SF impersonation part of the case.)
The arrogance of the guys at Stolen Valor has astounded us. In the group that did the work we had former and present intel special agents, law enforcement, lawyers and other with advanced degrees (not to mention a guy who had received credit in his EER for exposing a SF Stolen Valor impersonator in 1985!!!)
Yet they ignored most of our messages and basically said we were not as qualified to hunt these low life’s down…apparently they don’t know what they don’t know.
That’s basically the long way of saying, This Ain’t He’ll and John have done right by us and many others. Thanks!!!
Possible that they avoid the work of others, out of concern that they themselves might get sued because someone outside the team failed to dot an “i” somewhere?
“Not invented here” is certainly a long-time part of military culture, sadly.
Actually they have been sued because unlike us we had two lawyers and other actual LEO vetting the information before posting. We even offered to assist with some of their vetting but we where ignored.
Good article… hopefully other blogs out in the interwebs pick up on it.
Dave, thanks for posting it….
Wow; that Lilly guy sure sounds like he’s kinda not too dumb.
As I have seen a person embellishing his little military record too so many and I have sent the Veterans Affairs proof of my ex husbands wrong doings, but nothing has been done about it. He still takes up time when a real true solider is waiting to get in to see a doctor or Pyscologist. People and companies give him discounts and freebies because he tells them sob stories of some fake injuries in Iraq (he was never there). He calls other soldiers his men, He steals from our country as far as I am concerned. I just wish they would investigate him considering all the pictures and information I have provided for them to see what he is doing and can do. He will act all crippled up when around the VA but when he is home away from there you would never know that he has the problems that he says he has.
I would encourage you to send the information you have to the admin of TAH, click on Contact Us at the top of this page.
He is all ready in the stolen valor records here, but I never sent all the pictures and posts by him and all my info on him. My ex is Hubert Jay Hemenway jr. He goes by Jay
I understand how you feel, no matter how good of a job Jonn does, the feds still don’t seem to want to put the effort into putting them in prison where they belong. Jonn does way more than most and at least thanks to him the public is aware of this shitstains on the underware of this nation!