I, along with many of my fellow milbloggers are convinced that a MSM reporter could not write or produce an accurate story if their life depended on it.
On the case of the Stolen Valor Impostor (McManus) the local ABC news station took full credit for finding him and the research on him and his background, even though it was milbloggers and the milblog readers who made this case so famous that it got their attention. Now the Army Times is telling the story in this week’s issue, yet fail to give credit where it is due. Unlike the local Houston ABC news station, at least the Army Times got the permission of Mrs G. from MudvilleGazette.com before using the wanted poster she created, however they assured her that several of the blogs (to include Bouhammer.com) would receive credit for helping spread the word. But as you can see below, they could not keep their word. They did at least credit my friend Mark Seavey and his awesome blog. They did also credit Mrs. G’s website, the Mudville Gazette for the photo..
But outside of that, the rest of the story is accurate. The reason it is accurate is because most of it came from….milbloggers.
Blogger helps expose alleged military faker
By Joe Gould
jgould@militarytimes.com
The goateed man was decked out in a formal Army uniform with a dozen medals pinned to his jack et and a Commander of the British Empire medallion hanging around his neck.
To blogger Mark Seavey, the “general” was an obvious fraud. Seavey’s fellow bloggers at the con servative “This Ain’t Hell” posted a photo of the alleged faker online, dead set on smoking him out.
“Wearing two Distinguished Ser vice Crosses and a Combat Infantry Badge with two stars, is analogous to saying someone is a pitcher for the Red Sox and a quarterback for the Patriots,” said Seavey. “If that person existed, you would know about them.” The blog post led to tips, angry comments, media attention and ultimately the Feb. 5 arrest of Michael P. McManus, a 44-year old former Army private first class who served from 1984 to 1987.
It’s not a first for Seavey and the blog’s volunteer staff. Seavey said they have exposed about a dozen others who have claimed unearned medals or insignia, and publicized other cases.
Seavey and his fellow bloggers are among a cadre of self-appoint ed stolen-valor police. There’s also Mary Schantag, co founder of the P.O.W. Net work.
Schantag and her husband, disabled Viet nam veteran Charles Schan tag, founded the P.O.W. Net work 20 years ago to record the biographies of prisoners of war online. The work’s flip side became weeding out and exposing people who have lied about their military service.
The Web site, www.pownetwork .org , maintained from their Missouri home, includes a “phonies index” of more than 3,000 alleged cases of stolen valor. The couple collects information and attempts to verify it through official channels and volunteer researchers. When they suspect fraud, they send the infor mation to the FBI and post it online. “We get 10 or 15 of these in a row sometimes,” she said. “[McManus] is not unusual, not in claiming the rank. We have dozens we have turned over to the FBI and we’re still waiting,” said Schantag.
Fakers typically make complex or impossible claims and like to pose as elite troops, Schantag said. “We see Marine-recon-sniper Navy-SEALs. Now, come on,” she said. “There are 300 reported fake SEALs for every real SEAL who has ever graduated [Basic Under water Demolition/SEAL] training. It crosses every boundary, every rank, every race, every job. We get preachers turned in, we get active duty military turned in.” Schantag said the frauds are offensive because they cheapen real bravery and hard work. “[Service members] have earned it, and these guys have no clue what it takes to do that,” she said.
Schantag learned of McManus when a friend’s brother sent her photos he took of McManus at the Dec. 12 inauguration for Houston Mayor Annise Parker.
Schantag posted photos of the man to the P.O.W. Network site and sent them to This Ain’t Hell, where the photo was posted at the center of a mock “wanted” poster.
Seavey’s day job is new media manager for the American Legion, but he blogs about stolen-valor cases and other military topics in his spare time for This Ain’t Hell.
For Seavey, whose blog dubbed McManus “Gen. Ballduster McSoulpatch,” the first big break was an anonymous tip saying the man’s name is Michael P. McManus. From there, readers pointed Seavey toward references to McManus across the Internet.
He found several online profiles of McManus, which contained conflict ing information about McManus’s rank, separation date and record.
“He claimed to do every job in the military that I could find, and the time frames sometimes cov ered each other up,” said Seavey. “He retired at least twice at two different levels, according to his story. At one point he was out in 2004, and another he retired in February 2008.” Among the information online, McManus claimed that he was on Gen. Colin Powell’s personal securi ty detail, that he came out to Pow ell as a homosexual and that Powell retained him anyway. Separately, in the context of his opposition to “don’t ask, don’t tell,” he claimed to have been discharged for being gay. After Seavey got the information he needed about McManus, he contacted him directly.
“As soon I had everything that he had online, the very first thing I did was send him a message via Facebook that said, ‘I hope you enjoyed your time masquerading, now you’re about to meet the big boys.’ And then I said, ‘I hope you enjoy your interview with the FBI.’ Well, he took it all down 20 minutes later.” Seavey said that he has started to see a trend in which fraudsters lie about their service records to further their personal or political agendas, either for or against the war, or targeting military policies. After This Ain’t Hell reported on McManus, the Houston press fol lowed suit. That, in turn, prompt ed the local FBI to investigate and arrest McManus, according to a law enforcement official.
Seavey said he was gratified to see in the criminal complaint that McManus’s attorney had claimed McManus destroyed the unautho rized uniform, medals and insignia — out of fear of “angry bloggers.” It emerged that McManus has been caught before making false claims about himself. In 2002, he faced federal charges for impersonating an air marshal and an Army major while trying to board a flight in New Orleans.
McManus faces five new accusa tions of violating federal law relat ed to wearing the unauthorized military uniform, the military badges and insignia. If convicted, he faces up to three years in feder al prison and $120,000 in fines.
McManus’s attorney, James Fal lon, did not return a call seeking comment.
On Feb. 9, a federal judge set McManus’s bond at $25,000 and set special conditions for his release. McManus must continue “mental health treatment,” submit to a drug screening every 45 days and refrain from the use of creden tials and identification documents or wearing of any U.S. or interna tional uniform.
