A man who pleaded guilty last year to altering an identification card after he was spotted in the uniform of a three-star Marine general has been charged again with posing as a highly decorated Marine officer. Sixty-seven-year-old Michael Hamilton of Richlands was charged last week with wearing a Marine colonel’s uniform and three counts of wearing medals, including two Navy Crosses, the second highest award for valor.

With the aid of Maggies Farm (Stolen Honor as a Pick-up Line?), Moonbattery, (Captain Chinpubes below was spotted at a grand Victory party for Moonbat Houston Mayor Annise Parker), and cdr salamander, here is a better shot and a breakdown of the awards claimed by

Well, lets review the “awards” at least. You can see a high-res here and a full-frontal here. His decorations include; Round Patch, right side says “Central Intelligence Agency.” Ummm yea. Great start. Awards: Around the neck is the British Commander of the British Empire. 2 Distinguished Service Cross, Air Medal, Flying Cross, 2 Silver Star Bronze Star, Purple Heart, National Defense [Service Medal] Devices: SAS crest, CIB w/ 2 stars, Master jump wings, Helo pilot badge, Air assault wings, Pathfinder …. and so on. How did he ever have the time to complete JPME 1 & II?

M. McBride Contributed photo in Houston Chronicle

A Houston man was charged on Friday with allegedly impersonating a U.S. Army general by wearing a uniform decorated with more military honors than earned by famed Gen. George Patton. The FBI charged 44-year-old Michael P. McManus with five federal misdemeanors, accusing him of unlawfully wearing an unauthorized uniform embellished with some of the U.S. military’s most distinguished combat medals. He is one of about 50 people charged under the 2006 Stolen Valor Act, which makes it a federal crime to falsely claim to have received a medal from the military, regardless of whether the accused does not try to profit from the deception. One man bilked a Veterans Affairs program out of huge sums of money, while a woman received some $40,000 in tuition after telling employees at her university that she was an Air Force pilot flying in Iraq on weekends. The Houston Chronicle reports.

According to the Department of Justice, McManus did actually serve in the Army between the years of 1984 and 1987. However, he never achieved a rank higher than private first class, nor did earn the Military Combat Awards and insignia he is accused of wearing. As we first pointed out Friday night, those medals include two Distinguished Service crosses, a Purple Heart and a medal around his neck indicating he was the commander of the British Empire.

ABC reports.

Rick Strandlof may have lied about being a decorated Iraq War veteran, but those lies are protected by the First Amendment, according to his attorney and a civil liberties organization.

Would you trust this man in a foxhole?

Strandlof, 32, is charged in U.S. District Court in Denver with five misdemeanors related to violating the Stolen Valor Act — specifically, making false claims about receiving military decorations. He is accused of posing as “Rick Duncan,” a wounded Marine captain who received a Purple Heart and a Silver Star. Strandlof used that persona to found the Colorado Veterans Alliance and solicit funds for the organization. On Tuesday, the Rutherford Institute, a nonprofit civil liberties group based in Virginia, filed a friend-of-the-court brief in Strandlof’s case attacking the constitutionality of the Stolen Valor Act.

Denver Post reports.

A 69-year-old San Diego County man has pleaded guilty to a federal charge for posing as a decorated Marine major general.

Navy Times reports.

Fort Lewis says an Army private will be court-martialed Tuesday in the death of a 16-year-old high school student in the barracks.

Seattle 911 reports.

Whether Robert White was injured in Iraq in 2005 and deserved a Purple Heart makes no difference now. The chief hospital corpsman wore the award without receiving it through official channels, and in the Navy’s eyes, that makes him a faker.

Marine Corps Times reports.

An Army captain at Fort Monroe could face a court-martial for allegedly wearing a dozen unauthorized medals and badges, as well as larceny, fraud and conduct unbecoming an officer.

Kate Wiltrout of the Virginia-Pilot is reporting that:

An Army captain at Fort Monroe could face a court-martial for allegedly wearing a dozen unauthorized medals and badges, as well as larceny, fraud and conduct unbecoming an officer.

Volokh Conspiracy is engaged in filing an amicus in a case called United States v. Strandlof still at the trial level involving a prosecution under the Stolen Valor Act. Here’s a link to a DenverPost.com article about the person involved.

Strandlof, 32, spared no detail in his alleged resume: Annapolis graduate. Marine captain. Survivor of the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on the Pentagon. Wounded three-tour veteran of the Iraq war.

Volokh first blogged about the case here. Essentially the issue coming from the case is a First Amendment one. Here is a part of the order for supplemental briefing.

In short, it appears to this court that the Act [as currently written ] purports to criminalize pure speech on the basis of its content. A law that imposes a content-based restriction on pure speech generally is subjected to strict scrutiny and cannot stand unless it is narrowly tailed to serve a compelling government interest. My research has revealed no precedent from any jurisdiction holding that the protection of the honor and reputation of military awards qualifies as a compelling government interest sufficient to justify a content-based regulation of pure speech.

We’ll see. The Strandlof case will be one to follow in regard to a First Amendment challenge to the Stolen Valor Act.

A retired Coast Guard chief warrant officer 2 who claimed to be a decorated and combat-hardened SEAL — and managed to get a disability rating from the government — has pleaded guilty to wearing combat awards he did not earn. He also claimed to have earned the Silver Star, Bronze Star with “V” for valor, Purple Heart with four stars, a Combat Action Ribbon and Vietnam War-era awards. The Coast Guard clerk bought the story and added the awards to Barnhart’s DD 214. Later DD 214 alterations would add a Navy Commendation with “V” device, Presidential Unit Citation with three stars, and Vietnamese Medal of Honor First and Second Class.

reports Navy Times.

[Update to previous report] the Ramona Sentinel.com reports.

A Ramona man who admitted to posing as a major general in the U.S. Marine Corps has pleaded not guilty to a misdemeanor federal charge that alleges he violated the Stolen Valor Act by wearing medals he did not earn.

The ABC Action News reports.

An ABC Action News Investigation has resulted in federal charges for a Tampa man who has been masquerading as a highly decorated U.S. Marine. The U.S. Attorney’s Office has charged Ocasio with two counts of violating the Stolen Valor Act, the federal law making it illegal to wear or claim to have received awards of valor like the Navy Cross. He’s also been charged with falsifying government documents, specifically the DD-214. He showed the falsified documents at area VFW’s and American Legion Halls in order to gain membership.

David Vincent Weber arrived last month at a Ramona Veterans of Foreign Wars event in style: two stars on his shoulder and two Purple Heart medals pinned on the front of a Marine Corps uniform.

Weber, 69, appeared in a federal courtroom in downtown San Diego yesterday with considerably less pomp. He faces a charge under the 2005 Stolen Valor Act of wearing military medals he didn’t earn while passing himself off as a Marine major general at VFW Post 3783’s birthday celebration for the Corps.

SignOn San Diego reports.

A man accused of posing as a Marine major general at a Veterans of Foreign Wars party in Ramona to celebrate the birthday of the Marine Corps was arraigned Wednesday on a federal misdemeanor charge of making false claims about military decorations or medals.

San Diego News Network reports.

A man accused of posing as a highly decorated war veteran faces federal charges of falsely wearing heroic medals of honor. Angel Manuel Ocasio-Reyes, 48, was charged under the Stolen Valor Act. This is the fourth time in 12 months someone has been prosecuted under the Stolen Valor Act, according to Amy Filjones, a spokeswoman with the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Tampabay.com reports.

A separated Marine who says he lied about earning a Purple Heart while serving in Afghanistan faces charges of misrepresentation of decorations in Obion County.

Reports Marine Corps Times.

A Palm Springs man who surprised former classmates at his high school reunion in Martinez when he showed up in a Marine Corps uniform has pleaded guilty to wearing military medals that he never earned. He will face as much as a year in prison and up to a $100,000 fine when he is sentenced March 1. He remains free on $10,000 bond.

The SFGate reports.

Kenneth Jerome Nelson was once celebrated as a war hero and the unofficial caretaker of a monument dedicated to Vietnam veterans in the shadow of the California State Capitol.

Now, he’s known as a liar. The veterans activist pleaded guilty Monday in U.S. District Court in Sacramento to wearing a Silver Star that had not been awarded to him, a misdemeanor. Nelson, 60, will be sentenced March 1 to a violation of the federal Stolen Valor Act, which prohibits wearing unearned military decorations, authorities said.

So goes the report in Marine Corps Times.

Web Site Aims to Uncover Fakers in Fatigues

Reportstolenvalor.org.

Those on active duty can be sent to court-martial for prosecution under the UCMJ.

In early November, retired Senior Chief Jeffrey Sparenberg was the guest of honor at military heritage day in Delaware. Sparenberg spent 23 years in the Navy, including time on the destroyer Cole, and he was at Fort DuPont State Park that day to donate a flag that he said flew over the Cole shortly after it was attacked nine years ago.

A photograph from the ceremony shows Sparenberg on the steps of a shuttered brick building. The left side of his chest is covered with military medals — including a Bronze Star and Purple Heart, purportedly from the actions he took and the injuries he suffered in that lunchtime attack. Now Sparenberg is back in the spotlight: The Navy and the ship’s former commander say he was not on the Norfolk-based ship at all on the day it was struck.

Question, as a retiree is SC Sparenberg subject to recall and prosecution at court-martial under the UCMJ? It appears he may be subject to federal prosecution under the Stolen Valor Act for wearing the purple heart and bronze star medal.