So our friend John Lilyea from Thisainthell contacted the reporter that had been duped by Chelle’s lies about a Purple Heart and being shot down in Iraq. Needless to say the reporter, Surae Chinn, was furious and wanted to set the record straight.
The reporter then interviewed Lilyea and gets the truth out about this embellish-er Here is the story by WUSA9.
Vietnam Veteran Don Williams, was awarded a Bronze Star with V device, and a Purple Heart for his actions on 11 April 1966. Don was shot six times while under heavy fire, but refused to stop bandaging ad trying to save the lives of his fellow Soldiers.
“What happened to us, they killed all the medics,” he said. “I ran out of bandages. They hit me in my foot, they hit me in my hip twice. I was crawling and doing what I could do to patch guys up. They hit me (in the ankle). (The) bullet is still in. Finally I felt something like a broom handle being pushed into my back. There are two bullets lodged in my spine (like a wedge).” Don said.
Thirty-two years after being injured in the Vietnam War, in 1998 he put the two medals in a storage unit in Memphis. Soon after his mother passed away and he slipped into depression.”I became homeless, and I thought I could sustain the rentals,” Williams said. “I did for a while, but it became burdensome when you have limited income.
“Ultimately Williams got help from the VA Hospital and got off the streets and back with his family. He never thought he would see his Purple Heart or his Bronze Star again.He will soon be reunited with his two combat medals.”I am sitting here trying not to tear up,” Williams said. “But those medals are who I am. They are my history.
The amazing thing, Williams says he would do it all again for his country if he had to.”Like I keep telling my kids, I left flesh and blood over there and I came back with some medals,” he said. “Some metal in here. But I am getting my babies back. Life is good.”
Here is the video courtesy of FOX13:
A true American Hero, I am glad the auctioneer and the Mayor saw that these medals meant something to someone and ensured they got back to the rightful owner. Thanks go out to the Mayor and the auctioneer.
And a salute to you Mr. Williams for your service and sacrifice for this country!
So Matt Farmer, performed on American Idol on Wednesday January 30th, before he did he told his story. He claimed he was on a mission in Ramadi, Iraq and they came across an IED, and the IED exploded. And the only thing he remembers is waking up in the hospital after the explosion.
He also claims he was diagnosed with a TBI(Traumatic Brain Injury), and the medication prescribed to him for the TBI was supposed to cause him to be sterile.
Only one problem Mr. Farmer, all of your brothers are saying it did not happen. In fact the stories they are telling us are in fact totally different from what you have claimed on the show?
We are being told by all of them, that you were never hit by an IED. According to them, you were drinking on top of some non-prescription acne meds and it caused you to have a seizure, hence the reason you were sent out of the AO.
Your roommate while you were deployed sent us the following:
Here is the back ground. I was the sniper section leader attached to his company and lived in the same room with him until he was medevac’d from Ramadi because he got drunk while he was taking accutane, an acne medication.
He proceeded to rat out everyone he was drinking with and never came back to the company. He was never involved in one single direct fire engagement, was never wounded, and made up this whole lie to try and make his story sound good to American Idol.
I have a whole list of soldiers who were there and will back this up, he is a fraud and deserves to be called out. If he is collecting disability from the VA an investigation needs to be arranged as well. Sincerely,
And here is another statement from a Soldier that served with Matt:
Matt Farmer is a fraud. He is currently auditioning with American idol under false pretenses. I served with this person from Dec 2005 until he prematurely left theatre for using banned substances specifically medication not prescribed and alcohol.
The theatre was Ar Ramadi Iraq 1Bn 26inf blue spaders 1ID attached to 1-77ar 1ID and 2nd marine expeditionary force. His actions endangered the rest of his platoon and company and forced the rest of the company to be searched in what is called a “health and welfare” for illegal substances.
Sgt David Johnson
And the statement’s just keep pouring in:
His story on American idol is all lies. he did deploy with us but never saw combat, never got blown up, never got a TBI and he was kicked out of Iraq because he drank alcohol while he was taking Accutane. I have pics, soldiers numbers, and his army records and timeline of his age and time in service will tell you it all doesnt line up at all.
So I am not up to speed on what Accutane is, but seems what ever it was it touched off a Health and Welfare inspection. If you do not know what that means, it is when they come and search your tent/belongings for contraband like Alcohol etc.
Here is another statement:
I was stationed with and deployed with Matt Farmer with B Co 1-26 Infantry. Matt was part of headquarters platoon and I was a part of 3rd PLT. Matt is one of the individuals selected during the long beach auditions. I believe that there are things you need to know!
First Farmer was not sent home from being blown up in an I.E.D explosion. He was sent home because he almost killed himself! He was sent home after they found him in seizures from taking unauthorized acne medication while consuming unauthorized alcohol while in Iraq.
The medication with which he was referring to that “almost made him sterile” was the acne medication!
I bring this to your attention because as a retired vet, from the same unit as young Matt, I feel that it is incredibly morally unjust to our fallen brothers!
This is a statement we got from someone who also went through basic with Matt:
Too whom it may concern
Hello, my name is John F. McManus and I would like to make a statement about something that has been brought to my attention. However, to begin with I’d like to state who I am and what my record very clearly shows. I was active duty Army Infantry from September 14, 2005 to February 6, 2010. Upon completion of Infantry basic training and AIT at Fort. Benning, Georgia, I was assigned to Bravo Company, 1st Battalion 26th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division in Schweinfurt, Germany and arrived early January 2006.
I deployed to Ramadi, Iraq late due to knee surgery and I was boots on ground on 4 January, 2007, and was a part of the troop surge, unit extensions and Operation Murfeesboro.
That being said, I saw Matt Farmer on American Idol telling stories of being blown up by and IED, getting medevaced out of theater and being discharged due to TBI, or, Traumatic Brain Injury. This is a bold faced lie to put it nicely. Matt Farmer was medevaced from Camp Ramadi, that is true, but the reason he was airlifted out is because of a far different reason. Matt Farmer had an acne problem as young men sometimes do, and his mother was mailing him perscription strength acne medication.
What happened on the night of September 4th, 2007 is the following: Matt Farmer got his hands on some whiskey that another soldier had recieved in the mail.
He proceeded to get drunk throughout the evening and at some point in the night he had a seizure resulting from a reaction between his acne medication and alcohol. He drunkenly gave names of every soldier involved in the incident and even some that weren’t. He was taken from Camp Ramadi that night and wound up back in Germany. He then proceeded to make claims of both PTSD and TBI so that he wouldn’t have to redeploy back to Iraq to face both the concequences of him drinking in theater and also the soldiers that felt betrayed by him.
He spend the remainder of his days in the WTU (Warrior Transition Unit) and was eventually medically discharged for the ailments he claimed, effectively ending his military service somewhere between November ’07 and January ’08. I can not give you a better time frame for his discharge as I was home on 45 day block leave beginning December 7th, 2007.
Matt Farmer is no war hero. Matt Farmer is a pathological liar that has used the blood, sweat and tears of real, hard working, tough, brave and honorable Infantry soldiers to paint himself as somone he most certainly is not. He doesn’t deserve to be placed in the same category as the centuries of American Infantrymen who fought for and in some cases died for this great land. The truth will come out and Matt Farmer will regret the day he lied to America.
John F. McManus
Specialist(Former)
Team Leader
United States Army
Infantryman
We have several other statements from other Soldiers of the unit as well, we reached out to Matt to get his version of what happened and he responded and wanted to make the following statement:
I wanted to contact you directly and let you know that American Idol took certain things i said out of context. 3 pictures that were shown were not ones provided by myslef but stock photos THEY used.
I at NO time gained any monitary values about my story that was used on American Idol and want it to also be known that i am no longer apart of the show (which teqnically i am not suppose to divulge) BUT as i know that there are people upset i also want to let you know that certain things that were said are true.
I did drink and overdose on pills. Was Medevaced to Al Asad where i was there fro several days (Not sure how many as most of it was in a drug induced blur) than sent to Laundstill Germany. There they did lots of psyhc evals where they told me i had PTSD and anxiety disorder. I was then transfered Back to my unit in Schweinfurt Germany. I was never KICKED out of iraq. I was told that i needed to go back to my unit to undergo further evaluations.
EVerything was medical and Psyc. I wasnt kicked out of iraq or the army. After getting back to my unit i was there for a few months at my unit and had several bouts with 3-4 day sleep deprivation. After this the Psycologist in Schweinfurt Germany and CMHS referred me to the Warrior Transition Unit. I was in Germany in the WTU for a portion of time. After that i was transfered (and escorted due to mental issues) to Ft. Sill, Ok where i was there at the WTU there for a year (maybe a little less). After being there i was put up for a med board for retirement due to PTSD and Anxiety Disorder. I did my med board and was put on TDRL in 2010 i recieved my permanat retirement at E4.
While in the care of CMHS i was out on TONS of medication that indeed side effects were that I had asked american idol to not talk about anything but my daughter and i. i wanted no “claim to fame” for anything that was in my military carrer. I do have a memorial tribute tatto and there is nothing on there that has any medals or anything else.
In no way do i want to erase the memory of anyone who served nor am i wanting to be anything that isnt me. I was suppose to continue care with the VA CMHS and have NOT….since coming off meds and leaving the care of the military i have found myself spiriling out of control. I take responsibility for my actions but threts against MY life and the life of my family is something that i dont feel is warranted. I am not trying to disgrace anyone that has served and have sent american idol an email saying that they chopped my story up. MY FOCUS was on my daughter….thats what i wanted to be shown and they use your words to pad viewership.
The people making the claims indeed are correct…i did overdose. that is why i was sent from country. but as in my 1sg Hekinin email he stated that he just thought i went back to germany and was medically released for tbi or ptsd. i stayed in longer than that and that was the last that the people in my unit knew. that i left germany. i dont know what rumors traveled at the unit from there but i went to Ft. Sill WTU. I realize that honor is most of what we base the “brotherhood:” on. I am destraught over the threts to myself and my family, not to mention dealing with the day to day life that is being unmedicated and lving with a dises. In your previous email you had mentioned that the comments are that the meds i overdosed on made me steril which in fact is not the case.
When i arrived back in germany i was put through a riggorus regiment of drugs to try and find out what actually would work. it was in that process that continued all the way to Ft Sill that i even had an issue that required me to be put on Viagra also. I was told the pills in essance NUKE your system due to how many different meds i was put on and switched too.
I know you have sworn statements from these people and in fact the porition of is correct after that these people know nothing. There are comments on FB that i played xbox the whole time? i was on every guard shift and patrols that others were untill i left country which was 2 months prior to the rest of the unit returning home.
I am also in the process of trying to get ahold of someone from VA to try and get in to some care facility to get meds and try and get things realigned.
Furthermore, there are several people that are in this chain of threats and accusations (although the OD part is correct) has spent several YEARS trying to cause me and my family pain. C**** S*** has taken it apron himself latterly since the day of the accident to make rude comments on Facebook, send disheartening messages on faebook, and latterly seek and destroy me.
Like i said. I have received NO money nor will i for anything from american idol…or actually any singing at all. I PAID to go to idol the countless times that it took to go there. (which althoug it seems like one day its actually MONTHS on end)
Im currently in the process of trying to talk through things with 1st to try and piece a little more of those first few days together. and would like the opritunity to discuss further with you those things.
We responded to Matt with this as he did not mention the statement concerning the IED: Understood, but our main concern is your claim that you were hit bu an IED, that was not chopped up. You plainly state that your truck was hit by an IED during a convoy?
His response was that American Idol chopped up what he said for ratings:
The transcript is as follows
“I was on a mission in ramadi iraq and we came across an IED and it exploded”
Then an explosion sound and the stock added photos that i DID NOT give American Idol. you can tell this as the pics of me are far worse quality than those photos.
Than the next part was “I just remember waking up in kuwait” Like i said…this is the magic of television. IM FIRM in the fact that i know i had talked about in over 6 hours of interviews that i discussed certain missions and stuff that we did on a day to day basis…i than mentioned to a producer in an interview that i had an accident while in country and remember “waking up in kuwait”this is where this was all pieced together. I am sure you have watched the american idol clip and can realize that it is chopped up.
Our Response: But I am sure you can see how bad it looks, as it seems you plainly state you were hit by an IED in a Convoy?
No i totally understand how it looks…and this is why i am thankful that you are allowing me to have an open line of communication with you.
i just sat down and watched the clip again and turned on captions and then copied the transcript to you. they cut audio and than start it again…the pictures i sent them were that low quality stuff that you download off Facebook. and just to let you know i NEVER saw the clip before it airing last night so when they edited it the way they did i was just as surprised.
Actually the first thing that came out of my mouth on the phone with my mother and family was “i didn’t send them those pictures i only sent ones of me and than ones of my daughter” and they agreed that it seems as though they added these stock pictures in to imply what WASNT said.
like i said i take responsibility for how i left country and live with that decision that i made every day of my life…along with everything else up in my head.
Like i said…there won’t be any further stories on me as i ended my journey with them the first day i showed up for hollywood week, which I’m actually glad that happened because i realized that the time they require out of you left little to no time at all for my family (my daughter)
So when asked about the IED, he seems to claim American Idol doctored the video for ratings? Guess we will wait to see what they have to say.
Also here is another video sent to us by one of his unit members, if you fast forward to 25:00 Matt claims to have been a Sniper in Iraq: The Story: The Battle Begins
UPDATE The video above was removed by the church because they did not want bad publicity. Those that saw the video, including myself, can verify it including Matt making the same claim of the IED. He also claimed in the video that he was a sniper in Afghanistan, although he never deployed to the stan.
UPDATE: Thanks to a fan, we have the audio from the video above that was deleted. Listen as Matt claims his Spec Ops Missions:
UPDATE 20130201 Matt sent us the following statement, in this statement he admits to the lies he told.
Everything you have read is correct. It was ALL lies. I in fact HAVE lied since a younger age and had a problem with it. I am coming out and making a statement (even though I was instructed not to) because i DO want to come clean. Just so everyone knows I’m not reviving any sort of disability for Tbi. Let it also be known that I left country 2.5 months before the rest of the unit came home, I stayed in the army PAST my ETS date and was released from full service (wether active or reserve) in 2009.
I do in fact take FULL responsibility for the actions and words I have said, and know that this will never go away. In NO way was I looking to take from everyone who has served. I started to believe my own lies. And after I believed them… I would catch myself talking like it had happened to me my entire life. To the gentleman above who talked about going to the VA I am doing just that, the “cocktail” u refer to Has been my deterrent for the last couple of years as I feel like when I was medicated while at FT sill and even at Schwinefurt It was never “correct”. Never the less.
The lies end here. I want to base the life I have left on nothing but what is real and genuine and in the here and now. I am EXTREAMLY remorseful and VERY upset that I allowed myself to take from the hard work of the guys that i was deployed with among others. To think that I would go on a national tv show and get away with continuing a lie so big, and so deeply imbedded in my lfe and brain… Is rediculous. Hindsight is always 20/20. The work the blue spader a did overseas was impeccable and I regret that I took from that. To EVERYONE but more importantly the men I served with, I AM DEEPLY REGRETFUL AND SORRY. my road to figuring out how to make a life built on trust starts now. It starts with getting help. And starts with this message.
I was told to keep quiet and not talk to anyone, and I have decided that what’s best for me and my family is to come out and end the insanity. I indeed have many many things to work with and need to get alot of help doing it. Again I appologize to everyone that I have come across and hurt or lied too.
I at no time was a sniper, was never deployed to Afghanistan, did a single tour in Iraq, and was never at any time hit or wounded by an IED
Meet CSM John Collier, at least he would like you to believe he is a CSM. We did not out this guy, he was outed awhile back by my friend and original Stolen Valor hunter, Doug Sterner. But one of our fans found him on facebook, continuing his lies, we figured we would give him a special place here on our site.
So he claims to be a CSM, is wearing tons of unauthorized medals, and here is what he claimed in a newspaper article:
And in the picture above he is also wearing the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier Guard Identification Badge.
Here is the complete news story, which includes the citation for his Silver Star:
I think he watched way to many war movies! Although he did serve, just not in the capacity in which he claims. Here are his actual service records:
And he was discharged as an E-1, something tells me he was awarded something, but it wasn’t a Silver Star! He served mostly as a vehicle mechanic in the reserves, and he is still using his embellishments today. Here is a post we found on facebook, courtesy of one of our fans.
That is one of our fans commenting, soon after he sent us all the info he found. Here is a snapshot of his facebook page, we blotted out the friends, as they probably do not know of his posing ways. I am sure you guys can pick apart the uniform, pic is a little blurry but you can still make out most of it.
Paul Schroeder, of Houston Texas, was indicted back in July for altering his DD214 and making himself a war hero. He also used the fake 214 to get a job as a PTSD Counselor as well as special tags from the state of Texas.
He altered it to say he had the following:
Bronze Star (3 separate awards)
Purple Heart (2 separate medals)
Meritorious Service Medal (2 awards)
Combat Infantryman’s Badge
The DD-214 also details several Special Forces qualifications and missions.
Here is the indictment :
According to Military.com:
He presented the forged document to the Houston Police Department and used it to receive Silver Star license plates from the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles, said HPD Capt. Gregory Fremin.
Police turned the DD-214 over to FBI agents, who opened an investigation, Fremin said.
For years, Schroeder had portrayed himself as a highly decorated Special Forces sergeant first class who suffered from PTSD after serving in combat in Iraq, Afghanistan, Africa and Central and South America. But Army records show that Schroeder really spent 10 years as a military policeman stationed in New York, Panama and Texas. He left the Army as a sergeant in February 2001, before the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan even started.
After an investigation, it was found he was a Veteran, but served as an MP and never left the country for any type of combat.
But in my opinion the worst part of this story is that Schroeder played a high-profile role in Houston’s veteran community as the former director of counseling at PTSD Foundation of America, a local nonprofit. He mentored veterans suffering with post-traumatic stress disorder and led group therapy sessions at churches, community colleges and the Star of Hope Mission. He also lectured at the Houston Police Academy as part of a post-traumatic stress awareness program for officers and cadets.
But as of today he has been sentenced to 30 days in prison for “unlawfully possessing and exhibiting a certificate of discharge from the military, knowing the same to be forged, counterfeited, or falsely altered.” Which in my opinion is not enough since not only did he forge the document, but he hurt a lot of Veterans by trying to help with something he knows nothing about!
So a word to the wise to those of you that want to make some pen and ink changes to your DD214, it is illegal and you can be prosecuted!
This is a case we outed awhile back, and we are just getting the chance to transfer him to the new site.
Meet David Trusty Garcia Diaz Jr. Mr. Diaz, is the worst of the worst, he posed as a SSG, and claimed the following…Silver Star, Purple Heart, Ranger, SF and CIB among others.
The worst part is he took advantage of VHP(Vet Hunters Project, Vets Organization that Helps Vets down on their luck), they contributed over $900.00 to this poser, fixing his car among other things. This group does a lot to help our veterans, and to be taken advantage of like this is appalling! They did several stories on him and posted it to their Facebook page. We became aware of it, when one of our fans, brought it to our attention.
One story, had a picture of him giving his “Silver Star” to a homeless couple that the group helped.
He also gave encouraging words to a father whose son was deployed.
Our admin, 1SG D got trial by fire on this one! He went over to USARA, and started asking around about this guy. He also claimed to be a part of 5th group, and the 426th Civil Affairs. Once USARA and SOCNET found out about this, they started ringing phones and it didnt take long to find out the truth. Seems he did serve, bit for a very short period. Im sure this guy has used his fraud to gain other stuff also, and this is being looked into. And here is the organization he cheated, Vet Hunters Project.
Here is the DD214 he forged, as you can see he changed everything except the bottom parts where it gives his narrative reason for separation as “Entry Level Performance and Conduct” which means a Basic Training failure, along with a RE(Re entry)Code of 3. And a Uncharacterized Discharge.
Check out these Class A’s, I need some like these!
Guess he forgot that the Silver Star goes before the Purple Heart?
And here is a letter he forged, claiming it was from his VA Doc about his PTSD and losing more than half of his Platoon in Iraq.
Looks like he loved posing as a hero, well now he can love a permanent spot on our website. Last we heard he was under investigation for fraud and forgery, we will update as we learn more.
A few people shot us emails about this soon after they saw it posted in a local news paper in Texas, as well as several members of the VFW she joined. Meet Tina Marie Kersten, she claims a Silver Star, … Continue reading →
Alright Friends here is another one. This was brought to us a few months ago. He has already been outed by the AWESOME folks at http://www.pownetwork.org, but I wanted to finish this for the person who brought it to us. Here is the link to the fakewarriors story on him Fakewarriors.org Josh Banner
This guy’s name is Joshua Banner.
For the last seven years he has claimed to be a Sgt with 2nd Recon Bn. When in reality he was discharged as a Lcpl with an artillery unit.
Look at the stack this piece of garbage claims 2 purple hearts and a bronze star along with several others.
He is claiming that he went to boot camp, MCT, then artillery training and got picked for recon. Then he went through SOI recon school, Airborne, Dive, Sniper, Ranger, SERE, and he is also claiming he jumped into Afghanistan in 01, did 2 tours, and was in the invasion in 03 but he was then recycled to his arti unit when he got out.
He was claiming that all the information that was given to us and the folks over at POWnetwork was fake and all we had to do was ask for the “real” documents.
When asked for his information on several different occasion he wasn’t able to produce any information to back up his stories.
Our friends over at RangerUp respond to Stolen Valor with a music video. Some of you may remember the picture that was making its rounds a few weeks ago, a lot of you thought it was someone stealing Valor. In a way it was, and in a way it wasn’t!!!
One of the RangerUp guys in the video, SSG Amenta, is a great guy. He was a trainer of mine at one time, just don’t let him play around with any simulators.
Here is the music video to the song Stolen Valor by SoldierHard. Boone Cutler, from Tipping Point with Boone Cutler makes a guest appearance in the video. This sends the message to the posers out their LOUD and CLEAR! Very well done, send props to them for it! POSERS BE WARNED! Everyone in this video is either currently Active Duty, or are Veterans of the military.
