Ex-Marine's tall tales overshadow good deeds

Ex-Marine's tall tales overshadow good deeds
By Andrew Knapp, Florida Today

When Derek Walls was arrested early this year, some of his acquaintances were confused, perhaps angry.

Walls, 42, was a hero to many. As a Marine, he said he fought in Operation Desert Storm.

He was a father figure. Parents praised him for giving their children direction through the nonprofit he founded, the Florida Volunteer Search and Rescue Corps. He called himself "the colonel."

He was an entrepreneur. He owned Combat Zone, a paintball business on Florida's Merritt Island, and ran a nearby recreation park.

He was a community leader. He coordinated the local Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots drive. His name tag: "Col. Walls."

Supporters admired him and didn't believe the 16-year-old girl, a Toys for Tots volunteer, who accused Walls of raping her at his Port St. John home just after Christmas. The teen was labeled a liar. She tried to kill herself.

Prosecutors said there wasn't enough evidence to pursue the charges. They called it a typical case of "he said, she said."

In business, in charity and in the criminal investigation, Walls leaned on his military reputation: four years as an active-duty Marine and another two as a reservist.

But as part of the investigation, inconsistencies arose. Paperwork, which sheriff's investigators acquired from Marine Corps headquarters, show that he served only six months in 1988. He was discharged as a private first class. His tales were tall. He never lost friends in battle, as he claimed; he was never diagnosed with Gulf War syndrome; he never was a sergeant.

"Yes, I lied," he told FLORIDA TODAY, when confronted with the contradiction between his stories about his military record and what Defense Department records show. "There's really no reason for it. It's been a hard year."

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