A pair of Montana men who falsely claimed military service in order to get their cases to a state veterans court ended up getting a lesson in respect for the U.S. armed forces.
Cascade County District Judge Greg Pinski sentenced Ryan Patrick Morris, 28, and Troy Allan Nelson, 33, to prison on Friday after they both falsely represented themselves as veterans to get their cases moved to Pinski’s Veterans Treatment Court, reported The Associated Press.
Morris was originally charged in 2017 for a burglary case, during which he was also punished for pretending to be a former military member. According to The Great Fall Tribune, Morris told the court he was a veteran, claiming he suffered from PTSD as a result of seven combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as a hip replacement after being injured by an improvised explosive device.
Nelson was accused in January 2018 of forgery and elder abuse for spending money from his 86-year-old neighbor’s account, the court paper says. He had managed to enroll himself into the veterans court before he was exposed.
While Morris was sentenced to 10 years for violating the terms of his probation for felony burglary with three years suspended and Nelson was sentenced to five years for a drug possession conviction with two suspended, Pinski ruled that the two would have to meet a series of conditions before being eligible for parole.
In addition to 441 hours of community service—one hour for each of the Montanans killed in combat since the Korean War, the two must both hand-write the obituaries for the 40 Montanan service members killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, the names of all 6,756 American service members killed in those wars, and letters of apology identifying themselves as having lied about military service to various organizations for veterans including American Legion, AMVETS, the Disabled American Veterans, the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Vietnam Veterans of America.
On top of all that, the two must stand at Montana Veterans Memorial in Great Falls wearing a placard that says, “I am a liar. I am not a veteran. I stole valor. I have dishonored all veterans,” for eight hours on each Memorial Day and Veterans Day during the suspended portions of each of their sentences.
“There are certain people—shameful people—who have not put their lives on the line for this country who portray themselves as having done so,” said Pinski on court, reported The Great Falls Tribune.
“I want to make sure that my message is received loud and clear by these two defendants,” Pinski said. “You’ve been nothing but disrespectful in your conduct. You certainly have not respected the Army. You’ve not respected the veterans. You’ve not respected the court. And you haven’t respected yourselves.”
Despite what the placard says, neither man was officially charged with stolen valor, which is a federal crime punishable under Stolen Valor Act of 2013 by a maximum one year in jail.
The Stolen Valor Act of 2013, the latest version of the Stolen Valor Act, prohibits falsely holding oneself out to be a recipient of certain military decorations with intent to obtain money, property or other tangible benefit.
