Jonathan Wade Short Pleads Guilty To Impersonating An Officer Of The United States

Jonathan Wade Short

We received an email about this douche-bag from A.V.(we were asked not to name this person, so we are using the same letters the U.S. Attorney did in his release), telling us how he duped her by claiming to be a highly decorated Non-Commissioned Officer in the U.S. Army.

A.V. met Short through social media, where he started his claims of being a highly decorated soldier, who had been on multiple deployments and received high military honors (including the Purple Heart). Approximately one month later, when the two met for the first time in person, Short was dressed in a complete army combat uniform (ACU) wearing the rank of Sergeant, a Combat Infantryman’s Badge, a Parachutist badge, a Combat patch, and a Ranger tab.

During this time A.V. says he repeatedly received discounts and financial benefits only available to members of Armed Forces. Oh but wait, it gets worse!

Short admitted that he also defrauded A.V. out of about $1,000 over two months, stating that he needed it to help defray the expenses related to his son’s emergency medical treatment at Kosair Children’s Hospital in Louisville. Short had no son who was ill or hospitalized!

Short in his Fake Dress Uniform

As you can see in the photo above, obtained from our source, he is wearing a Ranger Beret, a C.I.B., Purple Heart, Infantry Cord, and tons of other awards! Looks like he forgot a few on this one!

Mugshot

I think he looks better in the above uniform, fits his character a lot better! So before I continue with everything this douche did while posing as one of America’s Finest, let’s look at his rap sheet before the recent arrest.

FAILURE TO APPEAR, CITATION FOR MISDEMEANOR

00403 OPERATING ON SUSPENDED/REVOKED OPERATORS LICENSE

0 0.0 0.0 106705 00798 ASSAULT, 4TH DEGREE (DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, MINOR INJURY)

0 0.0 0.0 75969 00016 SPEEDING 16 MPH OVER LIMIT

0 0.0 0.0 75970 00403 OPERATING ON SUSPENDED/REVOKED OPERATORS LICENSE

And then in 2010, he was arrested for impersonating a police officer! According to what we have seen he was indicted back in January on charges of second-degree burglary and two counts of impersonating a peace officer. Two months later, a complaint was filed in U.S. District Court charging Short with all the above, impersonating a soldier, wire fraud, and entering government property under false pretenses for the purpose of committing a felony. He went to Fort Knox, and an MP arrested him for impersonating a Soldier, and that’s when all the lies began to fall apart.

So Jonathan seems to have a history of pretending to be someone he is not! Well, guess what Jon, you have just earned a permanent place in our Hall Of Shame! It’s bad enough you impersonated one of America’s Finest, but then you use that aura to commit fraud against someone who thought she was helping out a Hero, good thing she found out you were a ZERO!

Short Posing With His Unsuspecting Victim

In the above picture, the douche nozzle is wearing the Ranger Scroll as a CSIB, from what I can see it looks to be the 2nd Battalion, but I can’t be sure. I can hear the real Ranger’s reading this article throat punching him through the screen!

Here is the link to the Press Release from the US Attorney’s Office: Hardin County, Kentucky Man Guilty Of Impersonating A Soldier For Financial Gain.

According to the above, once an investigation revealed the extent of his fraud, he was apprehended and detained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation near Springfield, IL. If convicted at trial, Short faced a possible combined maximum term of 23 years in prison, a combined maximum fine of $500,000, and a ten-year term of supervised release. Sentencing is scheduled for October 15, 2013, at 1:00 pm, in Louisville, before Judge Heyburn.

Seems the Impersonating a Police Officer charges stem from allegations Short entered an apartment in which two people were arguing, claimed to be a police officer and threatened to make an arrest, according to a warrant.

According to the release, if Short is found guilty in Hardin County, for that charge, the sentence would run consecutive to the time he’s required to serve by a federal court.

Well, Google loves our Hall Of Shame, so we can do our part to ensure he is never able to pose as a Soldier again! Speaking to A.V., we were also told that he was always wearing ACUs or Multicam and that he would even sleep in his uniforms!

Most Soldiers I know, including myself, want to strip out of it as soon as we can! The only time we sleep in them is when we have to, on deployments or in the field!

A.V. tells me his sentencing date is set for October 15th, and the public is welcome to attend. Sure, would be nice to have a courtroom filled with REAL Soldiers in their REAL uniforms! If you would like to attend this poser’s sentencing, we placed the address below. But remember, we are professionals, so if you are local and choose to go, represent us all well!

Courthouse Address:

601 W Broadway
Louisville, KY

We will be updating this story as we get more information, can not wait until this punk is sentenced.

Douchenozzle went as far as to get the Ranger tab tattooed on his arm!

Ranger Tab

And here is one, of course, we all walk around with our “Collars Popped!”

“Poppin My Collar”

If anyone does decide to attend the sentencing, let us know, we would love to know how it goes.

UPDATE:

We received a copy of the plea agreement for Short’s case, which also highlights some other things.

He was charged with violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 912, 1343, 1036, and 1001, and pleaded guilty to Title 18, United States Code, Sections 912 and 1343.  Those sections read as follows:

Whoever falsely assumes or pretends to be an officer or employee acting under the authority of the United States or any department, agency or officer thereof, and acts as such, or in such pretended character demands or obtains any money, paper, document, or thing of value, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.

(The above includes any Soldier, not to be misunderstood as being a Commissioned Officer as we in the Military know it. This means impersonating any Soldier, regardless of the rank.)

Whoever, having devised or intending to devise any scheme or artifice to defraud, or for obtaining money or property by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or promises, transmits or causes to be transmitted by means of wire, radio, or television communication in interstate or foreign commerce, any writings, signs, signals, pictures, or sounds for the purpose of executing such scheme or artifice, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both. If the violation occurs in relation to, or involving any benefit authorized, transported, transmitted, transferred, disbursed, or paid in connection with, a presidentially declared major disaster or emergency (as those terms are defined in section 102 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5122)), or affects a financial institution, such person shall be fined not more than $1,000,000 or imprisoned not more than 30 years, or both.

Seems he also unsuccessfully tried to join a VFW local to his area, of course, those guys were smart enough to smell the lies and he was denied!

It also sheds some light on how he was apprehended at Fort Knox by the MPs:

On or about October 11, 2012, at Fort Knox, Kentucky, in the Western District of Kentucky, in the exclusive territorial jurisdiction of the United States, the defendant,

JONATHAN SHORT, was apprehended by Military Police at Fort Knox for impersonating a Soldier who witnessed a verbal altercation.

Following apprehension by Military Police at Fort Knox, and while in their custody, the defendant, JONATHAN SHORT, told investigators in a sworn statement he had only worn a military uniform for two weeks, had done so in order to impress a woman, and gained nothing of value for doing so.

None of this was true, because he had worn the uniform since March 2012 and gained personal and financial benefits for doing so.

UPDATE:

Short was sentenced to 10 months in prison, with 3 years supervised release also required to attend mental health counseling.  He has been in prison since the trial, so he gets time served for 7 months and will be out in about 3 months.

He is also required to pay back the money he defrauded from his unsuspecting victim.

UPDATE:

Ash contacted us today to let us know that Jonathan will be out of prison tomorrow. She also said to tell the ladies to beware, in case he decides to play hero again! No worries ladies, we will keep our eyes on him for sure.

UPDATE: 

Jonathan Short was confronted on camera by the Today Show’s Jeff Rosen.

“When the Rossen team attempted to interview Jonathan Wade Short about his activities, Short struck their camera, breaking a lens, and threatened a Rossen Reports producer, saying, “You better call the cops. There’s going to be a murder here.” Short called the police on the Rossen team, only to wind up arrested himself for harassment.

Short did tell Rossen Reports that he had written a letter of apology to the soldiers at Fort Knox, but said he had no apology whatsoever for the young woman he took advantage of.”

NBC News Story