Posted on 11/01/2007 3:02:45 PM PDT by mdittmar
Former Atlantic City Mayor Pleads Guilty To Lying To Get Benefits
The former mayor of Atlantic City pleaded guilty Thursday to lying to enhance his veterans benefits, a crime that played a role in his bizarre three-week disappearance earlier this fall.
Making his first public appearance since leaving office Oct. 10, Robert Levy admitted to falsely claiming to have been awarded two military medals and embellishing his military record in order to receive more money in disability benefits from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
Levy admitted fabricating stories that as a soldier in Vietnam, he had been left in the jungle for weeks along with South Vietnamese troops he was working with to fend for himself. He also claimed to have made a number of parachute jumps when he did not.
As a federal judge read the accusations, Levy said, "Yes, your honor," but nothing else.
Levy was elected in 2005 to preside over a city where the political corruption is almost as famous as the casinos. Four of the last nine mayors have been charged with taking bribes; three men who were on the city council last year are now in prison in another bribery case.
Levy disappeared from city life in late September before resurfacing to resign. He cited ill health and the federal investigation into his war record as his reasons for leaving.
The Press of Atlantic City reported last fall that the Vietnam veteran's claims that he was a member of the Green Berets were untrue. He apologized, but federal authorities have been looking into whether Levy made that claim to increase his veteran benefit payments.
During his absence from city hall, Levy spent time in a substance abuse and mental health treatment center in northern New Jersey. Jacobs described the mayor's time there as "a detox situation."
I can’t find anything in this article that tells me his political affiliation. Wonder why?
phony soldier?
It’s a given it’s NJ.
His ediotor can be reached at (609) 392-3622
You can always call and ask a polite question.
Did he fight alongside Kerry?
Soldier with a phony story.
The Vietnam Veterans Against the War had a lot of them smear their own generation of military with phony stories "documented" in the "Winter Soldier Investigation".
And Vietnam Veterans Against the War bastards like David Cline and Bill Perry encouraged and mentored the Iraq Veterans Against the War, which did have a phony soldier, Jesse MasBeth.
And don't believe IVAW's BS that he wasn't a member. Their staff was able to hand out his DD-214 to investigative journalists.
And the Iraq Veterans Against the War are up to their necks in the attempt to smear this generation using the exact same tactics from the 60s. Spread that word, people need to defend our troops.
He fought with Kerry....for the wishbone in the Christmas turkey they had for dinner that year in Cambodia.
Yep.
He was with Kerry on the secret mission to Cambodia. They were both under orders from Nixon. Since Nixon hadn't been elected president yet, it was really, really secret.
So do I. It's in this rather clearly-written sentence.
The Democrat was elected in 2005 to preside over a city in which the political corruption is almost as famous as the casinos.
Maybe you suffer from a particular strain of freeper's disease which prevents clicking on the link and actually reading the whole thing before posting.
Nonetheless it's a shame that this decorated Viet Nam vet lied in an effort to make an excellent war record seem even better.
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