A Philadelphia man apparently likes dressing up in uniforms.
Last
week, he was wearing Army fatigues at the Oxford Valley Mall in
Middletown when he was confronted by an Army veteran who suspected that
the man never served in the military. The veteran of Afghanistan who
lives in Northampton Township, Bucks County, posted the video of the
confrontation on YouTube and it has since generated more than 2.8
million views and incensed military families nationwide.
Back in 2003, his uniform of choice was a police coat.
The man at the center of the Stolen Valor video that quickly went viral has actually gotten himself into similar hot water before, according to police reports recently obtained.
Sean Yetman, who on Black Friday was confronted and accused of wearing
Army fatigues in public when he didn't actually serve, was once arrested
for impersonating a fallen police officer.
In 2003, Yetman was arrested while wearing the coat of a Philadelphia
police officer who died in the line of duty, according to police
reports obtained by the
Courier Times. He pleaded guilty in May
of 2003 to impersonating a public servant, which is a second-degree
misdemeanor. He was also driving with a suspended or revoked license,
according to the court records.
Flash forward to this past Black Friday. Ryan Berk, a Purple Heart recipient
who was wounded by shrapnel in 2010 while fighting in Afghanistan, saw
what he thought was a fellow member of the United States Army while
shopping in a Pennsylvania mall on Black Friday. But after watching the
man in uniform interact with other people and seeing some faults in the
uniform, Berk approached Yetman and verbally dissected him for the
inconsistencies in his uniform. After Berk sent the video to
Stolen Valor, it picked up steam. A Pennsylvania congressman contacted the U.S. Attorny's Office about the video and the alleged imposter.
Yetman's misdemeanor from 2003 wouldn't have kept him out of the
Army, but according to the National Infantry Association at Fort
Benning, GA., Yetman doesn't appear in the U.S. Army's database, meaning
he's not active duty or recently retired. His name also isn't found in
any database of the Army members who have undergone Ranger training at
Fort Benning.
Yetman deleted his Facebook account the day after the video went
live, and has reportedly lost his actual job (it's not clear what that
job was). He has still not been charged with a crime, though he is being
investigated.
Adrienne Lally, Yetman's reported fiancé, told the Army Times via email
that he and his family (including his children) have been receiving
death threats. Lally maintained that Yetman didn't receive any discounts
on Black Friday, which at this point is just a minor part in the whole
story.
Dressed as a Dead Police Officer 2003
The now 30-year-old Sean Yetman was arrested while wearing the coat of a
Philadelphia officer who died in the line of duty. He pleaded guilty in
Bucks County Court in May of that year to impersonating a public
servant, a second-degree misdemeanor. He was sentenced to three months
of probation for that crime along with a summary offense of driving with
a suspended or revoked license, according to online court records.
Yetman was arrested after being stopped on North Main Street in
Doylestown during a routine traffic safety checkpoint while wearing the
coat and displaying a Philadelphia police badge, according to court
records obtained by Calkins Media. Both items belonged to the late
Robert Hays, who was killed in the line of duty in 1995, the
Philadelphia Police Department confirmed.
Yetman told the
Doylestown officers that he worked out of the city's 26th District in
Fishtown, but then added that he was in the police academy and working
in the 26th as a drive-along, court documents show. The police coat, he
said, belonged to his uncle.
He was unable to produce a valid
driver’s license or any other identification to verify that he was a
Philadelphia police officer, Doylestown officers said. They found out
that Yetman had a Pennsylvania Identification Card, which came back
showing his driver's license had been suspended, officers said.
Doylestown
police later spoke with Hays' widow, who said that she had given her
son one of her husband’s coats and badges after his death. She also said
her son knew Yetman through his girlfriend, according to the court
records.
“She said she did not know how Yetman had come into possession of the jacket and the badge,” police said.
A newspaper said Army Human Resources Command had no evidence of
Yetman, who was claiming to be an Army Ranger, serving in the armed
forces.
Under the Stolen Valor Act of 2013, it is a federal crime to
misrepresent oneself as a military member to get any tangible benefits.
It is unknown whether Yetman received any military discounts or benefits
from wearing the uniform.
A spokesperson for the attorney general said no cases have been prosecuted under the Stolen Valor law, USA Today said.
“It’s frustrating, because you serve with good men who have either lost
their lives or have been seriously wounded who earned that uniform,” Berk
told "Good Morning America."
The Stolen Valor Act was passed because of other cases where people
pretended to be soldiers. In 2011, a man was charged with second-degree
impersonation after saying he was a soldier to get an upgrade to
first-class on an airplane.
Although many are speaking out against such charades, many people also
commented on Berk’s YouTube video to say that Berk should have left
Yetman alone because there was no proof he got any discounts by wearing
the uniform. They also said he may have had a mental illness and that it
was his free speech right to wear the uniform if he wanted to.
In the YouTube video that went viral and was shot on Black Friday,
Yetman tells veteran Ryan Berk, who was a sergeant while serving in
Afghanistan, that he is a staff sergeant in the U.S. Army Rangers and
claims he recently returned from Fort Lewis, Washington, which is the
base for the 75th Ranger Regiment, 2nd Battalion.
Yetman doesn't
appear in the U.S. Army's database, according to retired Col. Richard
Nurnberg, the executive director of the National Infantry Association at
Fort Benning, Georgia. That means he is not active duty or recently
retired. The database covers reservists as well as Army Rangers, an
elite special operations unit.
Yetman's name also was not found in
any database of Army members who have undergone Ranger training at Fort
Benning, according to Nurnberg.
He added that a misdemeanor conviction, such as impersonating a police officer, would not keep someone out of the Army.
During
the 3-minute, 26-second video, Berk becomes furious with Yetman for
wearing the uniform without ever having served. Berk suspected Yetman
was not a soldier because elements of his uniform didn't appear correct
and he had trouble answering some basic military service questions,
including how he received the three Combat Infantrymen Badges he wore,
Berk added.
Berk, who was awarded a Purple Heart after he was
wounded in Afghanistan, told Yetman that he would need to be in three
different campaigns. Yetman responded that one badge was for service in
Iraq and the others for different tours of Afghanistan.
But
military authorities, including the National Infantry Association,
confirmed that only one CIB would be awarded for service in Afghanistan
(Operation Enduring Freedom) and/or Iraq (Operation Iraqi
Freedom/Operation New Dawn).
U.S. Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick, R-8, who represents
Bucks County sent a letter to Philadelphia-area U.S. attorney Zane
Memeger on Monday, notifying him that the video could “possibly” contain
evidence of a federal crime under the Stolen Valor Act.
Civilian
and military authorities are looking into whether Yetman sought or
received military discounts while at the mall on Black Friday or if he
violated a state law that forbids the unauthorized wearing of military
decorations.
Falsely
claiming to be a member of the military is not illegal, but under the
Stolen Valor Act of 2013, it’s against federal law for an individual to
fraudulently portray him or herself as a recipient of any of several
specified military decorations or medals with the intent to obtain
money, property or other “tangible” benefit.
Surplus military
uniforms, fatigues and other items, including badges, are available for
sale in Army Navy stores, and online. But Nurnberg said that if a
military service member wants to give away a uniform, he or she must
remove the “U.S. Army” identification badge above the left pocket. That
identification marker appears on the uniform Yetman is wearing in the
YouTube video, he added.
Under Pennsylvania law it is a summary
offense to wear a uniform, decoration insignia or other distinctive
emblems of any branch of the armed forces of the United States for the
purpose of obtaining aid, profit or while soliciting contributions or
subscriptions. It is also a summary offense to, without authority,
knowingly wear, exhibit, display or use for any purpose any military or
veteran insignia.
Also, it is a third-degree misdemeanor in the
state if a person, without authority, purchases, sells, offers for sale
or accepts as a "pledge or pawn," any medal, insignia or decoration
granted for service in the armed forces.