A new proposed bill would crack down on people who lie about being a veteran or embellish their service.
“A person who is a veteran is offended by it,” says veteran Charles Criste. It doesn’t matter what branch you have served in, Criste says all veterans should be treated with the respect they deserve.
“We find people who has never been in the service, but put on a uniform and pass themselves off as a veteran.”
He says there are also men and women who are in the service that claim to have been in combat or wear medals that they are not entitled to. Criste sees this as incredibly disrespectful as he served for nearly 30 years.
“They do it to get veteran benefits, soliciting mercy from people, or sorrow.”
A new bill presented by Representative Rick Saccone will create harsher penalties for those impersonating veterans, “It happens more than we realize out there. I think it’s a despicable act for someone to do that, but it does happen and I think when it does happen we need to call them out and they need to be punished as a deterrent so that people aren’t tempted to do this.”
“How they should be punished? I don’t know, but stolen valor is something very personal,” veteran Stephen Nader said.
According to the representative, the offense will be upgraded to a misdemeanor three charge. What that means is that individuals who are caught impersonating a veteran would receive larger fines or potentially a longer prison sentence.
Representative Saccone calls this a “no-nonsense” bill. It already passed in committee and he is hoping to have it on the governor’s desk in a month.
