Timothy James Watkins charged with making fase military claims

[koz]

It looks like a few prosecutors are finally taking Stolen Valor seriously.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,585417,00.html?test=latestnews



KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A northwest Missouri man has been accused of lying about earning two of the military's top honors for his actions during the 1983 U.S. invasion of Grenada.

A federal grand jury on Tuesday indicted Timothy James Watkins, 47, of Richmond, on one misdemeanor count of falsely representing the award of military medals. If convicted, he faces up to a year in prison and a $100,000 fine.

The indictment comes as similar cases face First Amendment challenges in Colorado and California. Lawyers in those two cases argued against the federal Stolen Valor Act, saying lying is protected by the First Amendment unless it does real harm.

Prosecutors in Missouri said Watkins bought Purple Heart and Silver Star medals at a pawn shop outside Kansas City after his discharge from the Army in mid-1983. He told people he won the medals for his efforts during the 1983 U.S. invasion of Grenada, prosecutors said.

Watkins was not in the military at the time of the invasion and did not take part, according to the indictment. Prosecutors said he was in the military for one month.

The Purple Heart is awarded to those who have been wounded or killed as a result of enemy action. The Silver Star is given for valor in the face of the enemy.

There was no phone number listed for Watkins in Richmond, and no lawyer was listed for him on the court documents.

John Bircher, national spokesman for the Military Order of the Purple Heart, a veteran service organization, applauded the charges against Watkins.

Legitimate recipients of the Purple Heart find such conduct "infuriating," Bircher said.

"It's a very special decoration," he said. "For someone to claim that they have a Purple Heart is a very serious thing to us."

Others have challenged the federal law that allows such prosecutions and say lying about military service could be protected by the First Amendment.

In California, a judge rejected a motion to dismiss a charge against Xavier Alvarez of falsely claiming he received the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest military decoration. Alvarez is appealing on free speech grounds.

In Colorado, Richard Glen Strandlof is awaiting trial on charges of falsely claiming he received a Purple Heart and Silver Star. He pleaded not guilty. The judge hasn't ruled on motions raising the free speech argument.

[The Reaper]

I believe that there was only one Silver Star awarded for Grenada, I know who it is, and is isn't this little punk bitch Watkins.

I recommend that they give him 2000 hours of community service at the VA hospital, changing bedpans for real American heroes.

TR

[Remington Raidr]

but these prosecutions are bought by Assistant United States Attorneys, not local prosecutors. Just sayin'.

[Utah Bob]

I believe that there was only one Silver Star awarded for Grenada, I know who it is, and is isn't this little punk bitch Watkins.

I recommend that they give him 2000 hours of community service at the VA hospital, changing bedpans for real American heroes.

TR

Please! You insult punk bitches.;)

Maybe if assholes like Watkins, Strandloff and McManus are pilloried sufficiently with maximum publicity, some of this shit will slack off. At least it will give the FBI and federal prosecutors a bit of incentive to investigate and file charges.

[The Reaper]

One thing is for sure.

If these assholes were running around flashing fake creds and claiming to be Assistant United States Attorneys (or FBI agents), their asses would be prosecuted, post-skippy, to the maximum extent of the law and their "First Amendment rights" be damned.

TR

[Utah Bob]

One thing is for sure.

If these assholes were running around flashing fake creds and claiming to be Assistant United States Attorneys (or FBI agents), their asses would be prosecuted, post-skippy, to the maximum extent of the law and their "First Amendment rights" be damned.

TR

Absolutely!

[echoes]

I believe that there was only one Silver Star awarded for Grenada, I know who it is, and is isn't this little punk bitch Watkins.

I recommend that they give him 2000 hours of community service at the VA hospital, changing bedpans for real American heroes.

TR

Great idea TR Sir!!!

And maybe add a couple of Bitch Slaps before he starts, just to set the tone!:mad:

Holly

[greenberetTFS]

This is never ending BS!....... :rolleyes: They just keep on coming!.......... :eek: Maybe this might be the start of stopping these assholes from their delusional minds that make them think their such heros....... :boohoo Maybe,just maybe!........... :(

Big Teddy

[Herdbull]

Posted on Mon, Feb. 15, 2010

Teen who wrote about man who claimed to have medals is the son of a real hero

By LEE HILL KAVANAUGH
The Kansas City Star

Abe Kyle barely heard what the FBI agent was telling him on the phone last week, other than, “We need to talk with you about your son. … We’ll be over shortly.”

His hands were shaking as he called Kearney High School. He needed to speak to his son — now!

At Adam Kyle’s “Hello?” the father unloaded: “Why is the FBI investigating you?”

Adam, 18, had no idea what his dad was talking about. He was confused. Scared. The FBI? He told a couple of friends, and soon most of the school knew.

The FBI agent arrived at Abe Kyle’s home an hour later. He showed the father of seven a photo of his second- oldest, then 13, standing beside a man. Adam was holding a Silver Star, and the man had a Purple Heart.

The FBI agent wanted to verify that it was Adam in the picture. Then he handed Abe Kyle a two-page report that Adam had written about the man five years ago: “The Hero Next Door.”

Pretty good writing for a 13-year-old, the agent said with a grin.

Abe Kyle, a 43-year-old Army veteran, read for the first time his son’s words about a man named Timothy J. Watkins.

How Watkins had received the Silver Star, the military’s third-highest medal, and a Purple Heart for his service in the U.S. invasion of Grenada.

How he was an Army Ranger who fell off a cliff after getting hit by enemy fire.

Unfortunately, the agent said, we believe Watkins’ story isn’t true.

Watkins, 47, who lives in Kansas City, North, is charged under a 2006 federal law called the Stolen Valor Act. The law makes it a crime, punishable by up to one year in jail and a fine of up to $100,000, to falsely claim you have received a medal from the U.S. military.

It’s a crime even if there’s no effort to profit from the stolen glory.

Watkins could not be reached for comment, but his defense attorney, John Patrick O’Connor, said there were “mitigating circumstances for a judge to consider.”

Watkins pleaded not guilty Thursday and has a March court date, O’Connor said.

Prosecutors allege that Watkins bought the two medals at a pawnshop. He was in the Army, court records indicate, but he served only one month before receiving a medical discharge in August 1983 — months before the U.S. invaded Grenada.

“Man, I should have titled it ‘The Liar Next Door,’ ” Adam said Thursday. “This is all really weird.”

Kyle and his father know all about the Purple Heart — and the Bronze Star. Abe Kyle received both medals while serving in Afghanistan with a field artillery unit from the Kansas National Guard. He also did a tour in Iraq. And he has the paperwork to prove it.

In 2006, he was in Afghanistan’s Ghazni province, riding in a Humvee when it was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade. Shrapnel exploded through the vehicle and nearly took off one of his legs.

The father of seven shifts his cane to one side and lifts his right pants leg to show the mottled scars.

“I spent months at Walter Reed (Medical Center in Washington),” he said. “Adam came to visit me a few times.”

He will have more surgery in a few weeks and still might need to have the leg amputated.

While he was serving in Iraq in 2004-2005, his son joined the Big Brothers program. When Adam needed to write an extra-credit report about a hero next door, his Big Brother mentor introduced him to Watkins.

Neither the FBI nor federal prosecutors will talk about what led them to investigate Watkins or how they came across Adam Kyle’s report. But with more Iraq and Afghanistan veterans coming home, there’s been a push by veterans groups to expose fakers.

Still, only about 60 people have been charged with violating the Stolen Valor Act, said Doug Sterner, a Virginia researcher who worked to get the law passed. He founded the Home of Heroes Web site, at www.homeofheroes.com, to verify who received the military’s highest honors — and who didn’t. He now oversees the site for the Military Times.

Sterner, a Vietnam veteran with two Bronze Stars, started the site in 2000 as a way for families to remember their loved ones and to read stories of heroes.

“Right now, it’s so hard to check out somebody’s story. We know there are thousands of people lying about their service,” he said. “For every one case (we find), there are 20 to 25 more who never get charged.”

Abe Kyle said he was steaming mad at Watkins when he heard the FBI’s allegations on Monday. By the end of the week, he’d cooled off, but he had another question: Who would have sold their medals in the first place, “especially a Silver Star?”

That’s something he couldn’t even fathom, he said.

“Adam told me before I left for Iraq and Afghanistan that he didn’t care how many medals I got. He just didn’t want me to get the Medal of Honor.

“Guys who get those usually come home in a box.”

People who falsely portray themselves as war heroes should be prosecuted to discourage others, he said.

“Those of us who go over there and deploy, we put up with a lot. And I would like him to apologize to my son over this,” he said.

Adam Kyle was a little more brash: “If I saw him now, I’d probably punch him.

“My dad is the real hero.”

He is working on another report now, on extraterrestrials.

And if he ever interviews one, his dad told him, “make sure you check his credentials.”

[alright4u]

Posted on Mon, Feb. 15, 2010

Teen who wrote about man who claimed to have medals is the son of a real hero

By LEE HILL KAVANAUGH
The Kansas City Star

Abe Kyle barely heard what the FBI agent was telling him on the phone last week, other than, “We need to talk with you about your son. … We’ll be over shortly.”

His hands were shaking as he called Kearney High School. He needed to speak to his son — now!

At Adam Kyle’s “Hello?” the father unloaded: “Why is the FBI investigating you?”

Adam, 18, had no idea what his dad was talking about. He was confused. Scared. The FBI? He told a couple of friends, and soon most of the school knew.

The FBI agent arrived at Abe Kyle’s home an hour later. He showed the father of seven a photo of his second- oldest, then 13, standing beside a man. Adam was holding a Silver Star, and the man had a Purple Heart.

The FBI agent wanted to verify that it was Adam in the picture. Then he handed Abe Kyle a two-page report that Adam had written about the man five years ago: “The Hero Next Door.”

Pretty good writing for a 13-year-old, the agent said with a grin.

Abe Kyle, a 43-year-old Army veteran, read for the first time his son’s words about a man named Timothy J. Watkins.

How Watkins had received the Silver Star, the military’s third-highest medal, and a Purple Heart for his service in the U.S. invasion of Grenada.

How he was an Army Ranger who fell off a cliff after getting hit by enemy fire.

Unfortunately, the agent said, we believe Watkins’ story isn’t true.

Watkins, 47, who lives in Kansas City, North, is charged under a 2006 federal law called the Stolen Valor Act. The law makes it a crime, punishable by up to one year in jail and a fine of up to $100,000, to falsely claim you have received a medal from the U.S. military.

It’s a crime even if there’s no effort to profit from the stolen glory.

Watkins could not be reached for comment, but his defense attorney, John Patrick O’Connor, said there were “mitigating circumstances for a judge to consider.”

Watkins pleaded not guilty Thursday and has a March court date, O’Connor said.

Prosecutors allege that Watkins bought the two medals at a pawnshop. He was in the Army, court records indicate, but he served only one month before receiving a medical discharge in August 1983 — months before the U.S. invaded Grenada.

“Man, I should have titled it ‘The Liar Next Door,’ ” Adam said Thursday. “This is all really weird.”

Kyle and his father know all about the Purple Heart — and the Bronze Star. Abe Kyle received both medals while serving in Afghanistan with a field artillery unit from the Kansas National Guard. He also did a tour in Iraq. And he has the paperwork to prove it.

In 2006, he was in Afghanistan’s Ghazni province, riding in a Humvee when it was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade. Shrapnel exploded through the vehicle and nearly took off one of his legs.

The father of seven shifts his cane to one side and lifts his right pants leg to show the mottled scars.

“I spent months at Walter Reed (Medical Center in Washington),” he said. “Adam came to visit me a few times.”

He will have more surgery in a few weeks and still might need to have the leg amputated.

While he was serving in Iraq in 2004-2005, his son joined the Big Brothers program. When Adam needed to write an extra-credit report about a hero next door, his Big Brother mentor introduced him to Watkins.

Neither the FBI nor federal prosecutors will talk about what led them to investigate Watkins or how they came across Adam Kyle’s report. But with more Iraq and Afghanistan veterans coming home, there’s been a push by veterans groups to expose fakers.

Still, only about 60 people have been charged with violating the Stolen Valor Act, said Doug Sterner, a Virginia researcher who worked to get the law passed. He founded the Home of Heroes Web site, at www.homeofheroes.com, to verify who received the military’s highest honors — and who didn’t. He now oversees the site for the Military Times.

Sterner, a Vietnam veteran with two Bronze Stars, started the site in 2000 as a way for families to remember their loved ones and to read stories of heroes.

“Right now, it’s so hard to check out somebody’s story. We know there are thousands of people lying about their service,” he said. “For every one case (we find), there are 20 to 25 more who never get charged.”

Abe Kyle said he was steaming mad at Watkins when he heard the FBI’s allegations on Monday. By the end of the week, he’d cooled off, but he had another question: Who would have sold their medals in the first place, “especially a Silver Star?”

That’s something he couldn’t even fathom, he said.

“Adam told me before I left for Iraq and Afghanistan that he didn’t care how many medals I got. He just didn’t want me to get the Medal of Honor.

“Guys who get those usually come home in a box.”

People who falsely portray themselves as war heroes should be prosecuted to discourage others, he said.

“Those of us who go over there and deploy, we put up with a lot. And I would like him to apologize to my son over this,” he said.

Adam Kyle was a little more brash: “If I saw him now, I’d probably punch him.

“My dad is the real hero.”

He is working on another report now, on extraterrestrials.

And if he ever interviews one, his dad told him, “make sure you check his credentials.”

I am a life member of the MOPH. In the past few weeks I received a magazine which obviously the MOPH or someone gave my INFO to medalsofamerica.com. I about blew a lid when a DSC was $15 or so.

Now an SF man whose brother was KIA, years ago, finally received his brother's updated awards print out. He asked- " Does anyone have one or know where I can get an RVN Military Merit Medal for my late brother?" Well, the damn medal was on page 20 and it was $75. He called the 800 number. The medal is history as it discontinued/unavailable now.

Now, all the medals from the DSC down are available. The RVN medal was one I had never heard of. It was for enlisted only. It was like an RVN DSC or higher for enlisted or EM KIA.

http://medalsofamerica.com/default.aspx?res=1024

This wannabe crap is very sad.

[Utah Bob]

I am a life member of the MOPH. In the past few weeks I received a magazine which obviously the MOPH or someone gave my INFO to medalsofamerica.com. I about blew a lid when a DSC was $15 or so.

Now an SF man whose brother was KIA, years ago, finally received his brother's updated awards print out. He asked- " Does anyone have one or know where I can get an RVN Military Merit Medal for my late brother?" Well, the damn medal was on page 20 and it was $75. He called the 800 number. The medal is history as it discontinued/unavailable now.

Now, all the medals from the DSC down are available. The RVN medal was one I had never heard of. It was for enlisted only. It was like an RVN DSC or higher for enlisted or EM KIA.

http://medalsofamerica.com/default.aspx?res=1024

This wannabe crap is very sad.

I am not an MOPH member, nor do I belong to VFW, AMVETS, VVA, SFA, or any other vet org. Yet I received a catalog from them last week as well. Beats me where they got my address unless maybe it was from NRA. :confused:

[echoes]

This is never ending BS!....... :rolleyes: They just keep on coming!.......... :eek: Maybe this might be the start of stopping these assholes from their delusional minds that make them think their such heros....... :boohoo Maybe,just maybe!...........

Big Teddy

Big T Sir,

In fact, someone who did not know of the Stolen Valor act asked me about this case the other day, since they saw Megan Kelly on Foxnews telling this story.
My explanation of the Act, and what it means to "You All" was not lost on them! They said in essence, that it is about damn time our judicial system got involved in exposing FRAUDS who would claim the honor and valor that Real Soldiers paid for in Blood!!!

Military Posers be damned, slapped, and rotting in prison hell, IMHO!!!:mad:

Holly

[alright4u]

I am not an MOPH member, nor do I belong to VFW, AMVETS, VVA, SFA, or any other vet org. Yet I received a catalog from them last week as well. Beats me where they got my address unless maybe it was from NRA. :confused:



This is strange. Sounds about when I got the damn thing.

[ZonieDiver]

I sign up for various things with different variations of my name... first initial, middle name, nickname, etc. Then... when crapola shows up, I can see who is "selling" my name and ask them to "Cease and Desist"!