Alleged fake Army Ranger in viral video may face federal charges
In a YouTube video that's gone viral, a Bucks County war veteran accuses a man shopping in Army fatigues of posing as a member of a special operations unit.
So far, an investigation hasn't determined whether the man who claimed he was an Army Ranger asked for a military discount on Black Friday at a shoe store in the Oxford Valley Mall, near Langhorne.
Middletown Township police Chief Joseph Bartorilla on Tuesday also said jurisdiction in the case � if a crime is believed to have occurred � has not yet been determined, though the investigation is continuing on multiple fronts.
Stolen Valor Happens More Than You Think Meeting a decorated veteran is a big honor. But what if those medals and ribbons are fake. Stolen Valor happens more than you think. Army Sgt. Ryan Berk, 26, who served in the 101st Airborne Division in Afghanistan in 2010-11, captured his confrontation with the man in fatigues in a video posted on YouTube, which had generated more than 2.1 million views as of Tuesday evening.
The video prompted Bucks County Congressman Mike Fitzpatrick, R-8th District, to write to U.S. Attorney Zane Memeger on Monday, notifying him that the video "possibly" contains evidence of a federal crime.
Falsely claiming to be in the armed forces is not illegal, but under the Stolen Valor Act of 2013, it's against federal law for someone to fraudulently portray himself or herself as a recipient of any of several specified military decorations or medals with the intent to obtain money, property or other tangible benefit.
Similarly, under Pennsylvania law, it's a summary offense to falsely wear a military or police uniform or other insignia for purposes of obtaining a profit, soliciting business or fundraising.
The executive director of the National Infantry Association, retired Col. Richard Nurnberg, said Tuesday the name of the man who said he was a Ranger does not appear in the Army's database, meaning he is not on active duty or recently retired.
Nurnberg said he is checking to see if the man serves in the Rangers.
"Looking at him, I'm sure he's not," he added.
The newspaper is withholding the identity of the man because he has not been charged with a crime. Several attempts to reach him have been unsuccessful.
A woman who answered the door Saturday at his home in Philadelphia claimed he had a military background but declined to provide details. She said the family had no comment on the matter.
Berk, who is studying criminal justice at Temple University, said he noticed the man's Army fatigues while he was shopping in a shoe store. But when he got a closer look, Berk said, he noticed "little things" that were off about the man's appearance � the shoelaces on his boots weren't right, an American flag patch was in the wrong spot on his sleeve, and he was missing a combat patch.
They are things that most civilians wouldn't pick up on but that no military veteran would get wrong, said Berk, of Holland in Lower Bucks. Berk received a Purple Heart after he was hit in the face and head with shrapnel in Afghanistan in 2010.
What led him to confront the man, Berk said, was a 20-minute conversation he overheard during which the man told a small boy about his military experiences.
After the man left the shoe store, Berk turned on his smartphone camera and called him over, saying his son admired guys in the Army. Berk did not identify himself as an Army veteran until almost at the end of the 3-minute, 26-second video.
In the video, the pudgy man says he is a staff sergeant with the 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment. He also claims he recently returned to the area from Fort Lewis in Washington state, which is where the regiment is stationed.
"I'm what's called a TAC-1," he says. "All I do is I go out on missions."
Berk peppers him with questions he said anyone with Army service should be able to easily answer.
"Where is your combat patch at?" Berk asks.
"I gave it to a little kid over there," he replies.
Berk asks why the American flag patch was so low on his shoulder.
"You got me on that one, bud," the man replies.
He wear three Combat Infantryman Badges and says he received them in Afghanistan.
When Berk responds that the man would have had to serve in three different campaigns, the man says one badge was for service in Iraq and the others for different tours of Afghanistan.
Nurnberg, of the National Infantry Association, said only one CIB would be awarded for service in Afghanistan (Operation Enduring Freedom) and/or Iraq (Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation New Dawn).
The National Infantry Museum at Fort Benning, Ga., which tracks Army service personnel with three CIBs, lists only 324 and the man Berk confronted is not on the list. There are four periods for which the badge can be awarded: World War II; Korea; Vietnam and other Cold War era actions through March 1995; and the War on Terror, from 2001 to the present, according to the Army.
"The only three-time earners would have had to serve in World War II, Korea and Vietnam, because nobody who earned one in Korea would have still been active for the desert wars," Nurnberg added.
When Berk called the man in fatigues a phony, accusing him of impersonating a soldier, the man offered to take him to meet his sergeant major, who he said was also in the mall. He also denied lying about his military service.
"If I was a phony, I wouldn't be wearing this uniform," the man said.
But Berk said he's convinced that the man was not a Ranger.
"He's impersonating in the uniform people died for," Berk added. "He was wearing awards that I earned and he didn't."
You and that fat bastid in the vid both need to off yourselves.
