Fake Marine Sentenced!

[Wrench3516]

Fake Marine sentenced to probation, volunteer work


Staff photo by ERIC HAUSMANN

''I really admire the military,'' Angel Ocasio-Reyes, on the right, said before he was sentenced today

By ELAINE SILVESTRINI | The Tampa Tribune
Published: June 21, 2010

A man who pretended to be a highly decorated Marine will serve three years of probation, including 120 hours of volunteer work, probably in the service of veterans.

"I really admire the military," Angel Ocasio-Reyes, 49, said before he was sentenced today for three federal misdemeanor charges under the Stolen Valor Act. "I never meant to hurt anyone."
Ocasio-Reyes, of Tampa, bought a beribboned Marine master gunnery sergeant uniform at an Army Navy surplus store in New York and paid a friend $25 for a DD Form 214, an official military discharge document, showing Navy service.

He altered the form, typing in his address and a slew of medals and decorations, including the Navy Cross, making it appear as though he served in Iraq and Afghanistan and was injured in combat.
He went to American Legion halls - at least three times to Post 148 in Riverview as well as visits to Post 111 in Seminole and the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post in Seminole.
"He fit right in," said Commandant Roger Golden of Marine Corps League 567, who served twice in Vietnam. "You've got a Navy Cross on your chest, you're god. Everybody respects that…We took him to parties with us, we took him to a picnic and then come to find out, it just terrible; it's a big disgrace"

Ocasio Reyes said he was ashamed and embarrassed. "I apologize to all the veterans and all the military and their family … It's a really bad thing that I did."
Veterans who packed the courtroom of U.S. Magistrate Mark Pizzo were unmoved by the defendant's apologies.

"If I see him around the V.A. hospital, I'm going to let everybody around there know who he is and what he is," said Vietnam veteran Dennis Antle of Tampa, who said his brother earned the Navy Cross the hard way. Ocasio-Reyes, he said, is "lower than scumbag."

Eventually, the real veterans noticed inconsistencies in his story, and notified authorities. In March, Ocasio-Reyes pleaded guilty.
Defense attorney Adam Allen said Ocasio-Reyes posed as a decorated veteran "because he looked up to that position, looked up to those awards… It was something that he always wished he had accomplished in life. He was honored to be in the company of those men."

Pizzo today noted that the Navy Cross was created by Congress in 1919 and is the highest decoration given by the Navy for extraordinary heroism that doesn't justify a Medal of Honor. "There have only been a couple thousand Marines who have been awarded the Navy Cross."
Sentencing guidelines called for Ocasio-Reyes to receive between zero and six months in prison, but Pizzo said time behind bars is "not appropriate" for Ocasio Reyes.

Allen said the defendant's father is a military veteran, who has talked to his son about what he did. "He's dishonored his father," the federal public defender said.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Donald Hansen said that as a veteran who served more than 22 years of active duty, he was "outraged" at Ocasio-Reyes' affront to "to the honor and integrity of those veterans who earned those medals, often posthumously."

[WXSgt]

little too lenient. maybe we should show him the phrase "corporal Punishment" came about.

[Danny C Smith]

little too lenient. maybe we should show him the phrase "corporal Punishment" came about.

I'm a Cpl.
Let me punish the maggot

[WXSgt]

I do miss being a cpl but off to bigger and better things lol

[FistFu68]

Wonder if that Fucing PUNK showed up at the VFW Post walking around with His hands in His pockets like the Pic.

[jetdawgg]

Too soft on this guy....I hope that someone Marine in the VA shows him the score

[spotts]

I hope he has to empty bedpans at the VA hospital. The friend that sold him the DD214 should also be charged.

[WXSgt]

I hope he has to empty bedpans at the VA hospital. The friend that sold him the DD214 should also be charged.

i didnt think about the friend but technically he just gave him the document. he falsified it himself

[USNAviator]

Was staying in AZ a few years ago. Kept running to an older gent. He always wore a Marine baseball cap red and with the "scrambled eggs " on the visor, you know the type. We struck up a conversation about service etc.

I'd run into this guy all over town. One days he comes up to me, takes off his cap and points to the "scrambled eggs" and tells he didn't want me to think he was trying to pass himself off as an officer. I told him the thought never entered my mind

Few days go by I ran into a buddy of his. He tells me his friend had a slight stroke. Then he goes on to tell me more about his friend.Seems this Marine was for real hero, Silver Star, Two Purple hearts. Saw action on Tarawa and Okinawa. With all that under his belt he was concerned I might have thought he was a phony. Amazing!!

The real ones never talk about it

[hbharrison]

It is the real phonies the Ilegals that have been running around wearing USMC ball caps making themselves out to be Marines. Guys like this one deserve what they get but those illegals deserve worse.

[WXSgt]

separate crimes in my book they should all burn for posing alone

[Vandrel]

**** that, they should have sentanced him to 3 years of CCU.....




Oh yeah, I forgot.... they did away with CCU long ago cause it was "mean"

[SgtThrasher]

Why where they so lenient on this creep?

[Danny C Smith]

I do miss being a cpl but off to bigger and better things lol

Good one! LOL.

[USMCJohn]

They should make him stand on a street corner everyday. He should carry a sign stating "I am a liar, a coward and a phony".