http://plymouth.wickedlocal.com/arti...NEWS/140126145
Rich Harbert
Old Colony Memorial
Posted Jan. 29, 2014 @ 10:00 am
PLYMOUTH – Lisa Haglof was disgusted when a man contacted her in December to report that someone was impersonating her brother, a fallen Special Forces soldier, on the Internet.
But as the man continued to communicate with Haglof about the wrongness of the crime, something about his allusions to Staff Sgt. Matthew Pucino's service with the Green Berets did not ring true.
Within days, Haglof heard from another stranger, a woman who said she been victimized by the very same person, a man named Brandon Ashraf who was using Pucino's photos on an Internet dating site.
Haglof and her family were floored.
"I wanted to crawl through the computer to get to him," Haglof said.
But with the help of the woman and police in upstate New York, they were able to bring charges against Ashraf for impersonating a war hero.
Pucino's family celebrated last weekend after learning that police in Cheektowaga, N.Y., had charged Ashraf with impersonating Pucino, a Special Forces officer who died in an explosion in Afghanistan in November 2009.
Pucino grew up in West Plymouth.
Lisa Haglof said New York authorities told her Ashraf admitted to impersonating her brother and expressed remorse. He faces second-degree criminal impersonation charges that could land him in jail for a year, but the maximum penalty is unlikely without an accompanying monetary loss.
Haglof said she learned of the impersonation from Ashraf, himself, a 28-year-old firefighter and paramedic who contacted her in early December to say he had found someone using her brother's name and image online.
The images had been taken from the website the Pucino family created to honor the son, brother and uncle known to friends as Blackbeard.
Haglof said two women have since come forward to say Ashraf contacted them using Pucino's name, image or both.
In at least one case, Ashraf used the Blackbeard nickname and linked to photos of Pucino with his sisters, claiming the women as his own siblings.
Haglof said she is still waiting to hear more from a third woman who contacted her with a similar story only recently, after learning about Ashraf's arrest in New York.
According to police there, the charges stem from Ashraf's use of Pucino's name and image on the Internet in 2011 and 2012. Cheektowaga police said Ashraf went so far as to set up a meeting in Florida with a woman from one of the dating sites.
Haglof said she was told Ashraf took on her brother's identity as part of a game designed by others online to see how many women they could trick into online relationships.
The incident has been as sad as it has been repulsive for the family, which must now be ever vigilant against similar online imposters.
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