You hear of people trying anything and making up any story to get out of serving in the military, but how often do you hear of someone making up a story to get into the military?  That’s what authorities believe Jesse Bernard Johnston III has done, in what is being called the first stolen valor case in the US Army’s history.  Johnson apparently talked his way into a non-commissioned officer’s position with the US Army Reserves thanks to his distinguished service in the Marine Corps, including a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star.  As it turns out, Johnson had never even been in the Marine Corps, had never completed basic training, and was in no way qualified to be an officer, or even an enlisted man.

Johnson’s only encounter with the Marine Corps was in a 12-week Marine officer candidate course that he took in college.  Johnson didn’t even finish that 12-week stint!  Yet somehow, with a chest full of medals he didn’t earn and a uniform he was not fit to wear, Johnson became a sergeant in the Army Reserves and got stationed in the Corps Support Airplane Company at Forth Worth’s Naval Air Station.

Your guess is as good as mine as to how he got away with it for so long.  Maybe he’s just a great con artist who missed his calling.  Now here’s the question:  is he going to be thrown in the brig, or is he going to get civilian jail?

Tags: stolen valor, man fakes his way into the army, fraud, United States Army, man fakes Marine Corps record of valor, Jesse Bernard Johnston III, Fort Worth, Texas, cons, scammers, unusual scams

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