Posted on 11/12/2009 1:18:32 PM PST by csvset
MARTINEZ -- A Martinez high school graduate will appear in federal court today on charges that he masqueraded as a decorated military veteran after being photographed wearing a host of fake medals, including the Navy Cross and the Purple Heart, authorities said. Steven Douglas Burton, 39, of Palm Springs was charged last week in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles with unauthorized wearing of military medals or decorations, a misdemeanor. Burton has never served in the military, authorities say. They say he works at a bank in Palm Springs. He is expected to enter a not-guilty plea today in a Riverside courtroom. An attorney for Burton was not immediately available for comment. Burton was caught with the help of Colleen Salonga, a fellow former classmate at Alhambra High School in Martinez who is an actual Navy commander, authorities said. Salonga saw Burton at their 20th high-school reunion last fall wearing the uniform of a lieutenant colonel in the Marine Corps, authorities said. The uniform displayed the Navy Cross, the Purple Heart and other medals, federal prosecutors said. Suspicious, Salonga went up to Burton and asked to take a picture with him. She turned over the photo to the FBI, authorities said. Investigators confirmed that Burton "had not been a member of any branch of the military or of any armed force and had not been awarded any such decorations, service medals or badges, including the Navy Cross and the Purple Heart," court papers said. "Mr. Burton was blogging on a Web site and claiming to have done multiple tours of duty in the Middle East, both in Afghanistan and Iraq," Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Akrotirianakis said today. "He also claimed to have fought in Fallujah."
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
After all the publicity, can you imagine this douche-bag showing up for work?
Soon to unemployed, I think...
He’s actually consulting the president on the deployment numbers for ‘stan.
It would take almost 20 years to reach either rank through either structure - enlisted or officer. Private to MGySgt = 20 years. 2ndLt to LtCol = 20 years. And he’s only 39 years old! What a man!
The Corps recognized his natural superiority in boot camp and meritoriously promoted him to MGySgt upon graduation from PI. The rest as they say is Marine Corps history. I can't believe he only got one Navy Cross. And it is pure politics that he isn't a General by now. I hate politics. A dude this hot should be sent to Afghanistan. Just issue him a bayonet and watch the Taliban crumble before him. Actually sending there might be a good punishment: no pay due private. They gotta have some non-critical s^&t duties for him.
Great Martinez family. Her brother, if not mistaken, was in my brother’s class at Alhambra.
Distinguished Service Cross, I have a great uncle buried in France in a WW1 US cemetery that was awarded the DSC posthumously.
I lived in Contra Costa County. I grew up in El Sobrante, and lived in Walnut Creek for a few years.
“Burton ... would not come to the door, and a man who came to the door referred CNN to Burton’s lawyer. The man said he was Burton’s partner for 18 years and retired from the U.S. Air Force.”
Ewww...
Read most of the comments after the article. It’s odd - BDS lives on in SF, with a number of wingnuts comparing this moron to President Bush appearing in uniform on the Abraham Lincoln; another whole subset was too clueless to understand how insulting it is for people to claims the honors bestowed on our military for service to their country. A third subset thought that impersonating an officer was within his 1st amendment rights, and a fourth group of libtards took more offense at the Navy officer who turned him in than at the offense committed. If we ever are invaded, I hope they land in San Francisco first and clean out that “wretched hive of scum and villainy” before getting thrown back into the sea...YMMV
"Send him to Marine boot camp",
"make him wear a sandwich sign and uniform announcing his crime for all"
"make him work as an orderly in a VA hospital, one month for every false medal"
"send him to Afghanistan to earn his own medals"
LMAOF!
So this idiot is actually trying to become one of "the village people" to make his "partner" happy?
But he's a sick SOB from any measure you care to take.
Looks like the bottom photo might be the one the Navy Commander asked him to pose in - that might be her to his right, almost cropped out of the frame.
I was just trying to point out how he had an uneven number of medals compared to his fruit salad
It may be correct, some are just ribbons, not medals
My late brother, who is now resting in Ft. Hudson National Cemetary (B.R. LA) a Vietnam Vet and Marine would probably bust a gut laughing at this guy. Then he would likely take pity on the poor soul and only smack him around verbally.
How pathetic.
Not to say he should have tried in the first place, but if you are going to try to pull this off, it’s probably not a good idea to load yourself up with so many medals and awards that you look like the second coming of Audie Murphy. About the only thing this idiot didn’t try to claim was the MOH, even though he got pretty damned close by pinning on the Navy Cross. While claiming heroism you don’t have is pretty bad, I’m actually more appalled and offended by him claiming the purple heart. I just buried my dad a year or so back and I know the life long cost he bore (pain, suffering and ultimately the cancer that took his life originating in his shoulder bone(s) where he took that German bullet) that accompanied the purple heart he earned with his blood. For this jackass to claim that he was a wounded vet for some reason really sets me off.
I never served in the military, but with a dad and two brothers who were vets and who served in WWII and Vietnam respectively, I can’t stand the FAKERS!
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