Posted on 02/06/2017 4:48:30 PM PST by PROCON
A woman who was exposed for posing as a U.S. Army Lieutenant by Guardian of Valor in 2015 was just sentenced to prison by a Nevada judge last week. Kelsie Hoover, a transgender woman who began to undergo gender reassignment surgery a few years ago, was caught posing as a male U.S. soldier at Baltimore Washington Airport named “Michael Cipriani.” Following Guardian of Valor’s video being posted, Hoover was arrested in Oregon and extradited back to Nevada to face charges. Hoover went through trial and was sentenced to up to 20 years in prison.
American Military News spoke to Anthony Anderson, the CEO of Guardian of Valor. Anderson said the District Attorney’s office that dealt with Hoover’s case congratulated them on their work, saying it was their extraordinary investigating that was able to get Hoover sentenced.
“I’m glad that people are starting to take Guardian of Valor seriously,” Anderson told American Military News. “This is big for us.”
“Look at what this girl did,” he continued. “She got 20 years, this is not something you play with.”
A veteran spotted “Cipriani” at the airport and began filming as he called out the fake Lieutenant. The vet sent the video to Guardian of Valor and they conducted a thorough investigation. At first, Kelsie Hoover admitted to using her brother’s ID to pretend to be a male soldier, however further investigation by Guardian of Valor revealed Cipriani was Hoover’s manufactured identity and not a real person at all.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanmilitarynews.com ...
I did not read the entire article but if actual fraud crimes were committed that’s one thing but 20 years for stealing something that cannot in any way be stolen is nonsense. I can’t believe this stuff was ever taken seriously.
For those of us who have served, it's all about Honesty, Brotherhood and Honor. Something these A-Holes will never know.
I would agree wholeheartedly, but calling this a crime? and one that warrant a crime of 20 years in prison?
As I mentioned before, in this case, there was fraud that led to personal and financial gain, so the prison sentence is justified. (Not even to mention the perp's prior police record.)
If so, then that's Tyrannical. Being classless isn't a crime, and unless this woman was committing this fraud in order to gain some kind of material benefit from it, it seems like an excessive sentence...
Now, he/she will get the best health care money can buy. I have seen it up close.
20 years for pretending to be a soldier and getting purple heart licence plates? Sorry, but that is ridiculous. That the kind of sentence a rapist or a child molester should get, not some Walter Mitty. A fine, community service and public exposure would have been a muster punishment.
Sheesh, even you old FReepers don't read the articles :-)
George Costanza would allege he suffered from being a lesbian trapped in a man’s body.
I’ve worn fatigues (for the pockets), and would never leave any patches on them if I buy them second-hand. I have no interest in being mistaken for a serviceman. As I understood the “stolen valor” law, the crime involved benefiting financially from the fraud; am I mistaken?
Article says she fraudiently obtained purple heart licence plates. I hardly think that is worth a 20 year sentence. The judge must be off his rocker. I wonder if he is getting kickbacks from the private prison sector?
Is there a financial benefit to having the plates? If she swore/attested to something to get them, I have no problem making an example of someone but you’re right - 20 years seems harsh. I’d defer to the veterans/military for the punishment.
I saw a guy in Walmart recently wearing a SEAL t shirt. I didn’t get a chance to say anything to him, but I was thinking that, of everybody in that store, fat, old, crippled, he was probably the least likely to have ever been a SEAL. I never knew one who advertised.
Actually, I did click over and read the source article. There was also a video and a link to additional information, but the page I visited only said that this woman had gotten a job under her fake identity.
Other than the job, I didn't see anything which cited personal and financial gain via fraud.
That's why I wondered about the sentence. Since financial gain would put the crime on a whole different level and have a significant bearing on the sentence, it would have been proper to mention that fact in the summary article, as opposed to requiring me to watch video and/or click over to yet another page to ascertain that fact.
Thus, even after performing a modicum of due diligence by clicking at least once, I still didn't see the evidence relating to financial fraud and personal gain. It was rather buried...
I am sure there is more to the story, which is confusing to begin with. There would be several violations involved in getting PH plates when posing. The person would have to have presented false government documents to a government agency and signed a statement that it was all true and valid or words to that effect. In many states PH plates are free for life meaning you are not paying to register a vehicle ever again so you are also defrauding the state as well of all the money you would have paid.
In our state PH plates are available for 2 vehicles per each qualified veteran (two plates that never expire), so that would be even more money the state was defrauded out of if the person got multiple plates.
A person who does this ends up breaking so many laws it is not even funny on top of Stolen Valor of posing for profit.
I would imagine this person was charged with a whole stack of charges, Stolen Valor was only one of the charges.
Sounds like the person even had a fake military ID which is extremely serious, and should be for obvious reasons.
But she was. According to the article she was a public school employee (of course) claiming a disability to a “war injury” and getting extra compensation/accommodation for it.
I think the post below yours makes good, final points.
They don’t just hand out PH license plates like candy. You have to present military documents, likely a forged DD 214 and the article also said the person had a fake military ID. Those are serious charges right there, and should be for obvious reasons.
In my state after presenting those false documents to a state agency (another serious crime) you also have to sign that everything you filled out on the application and all documents presented are authentic under penalties. Since that was all false there are more charges there.
In my state PH plates do not ever expire, meaning you never pay to register a vehicle again (in my state you can get PH plates for 2 vehicles)- so the state was beat out of a lot of money through fraud and deception and that triggered Stolen Valor charges.
Claiming to be a veteran to impress people in a bar should warrant the type of punishment you suggest (in my opinion)- this is far, far, above that. As far as I know since the Stolen Valor law was changed posing for attention is not a crime, but posing for profit sure is.
I have no problem with the punishment but the article was really confusing.
So even more charges on top of the others, I have no problem with this person going away for a long, long time.
I find it hard to believe so many FReepers don’t see the seriousness of this!
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