Man Who Impersonated A Dead Police Officer & A Solider & Is Confronted By Real Ranger (RAW VIDEO)

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.