'Stolen Valor' Precedent Won't Help Lying Marine

'Stolen Valor' Precedent Won't Help Lying Marine
Courthouse News
By TIM HULL
October 29, 2014

(CN) - The Supreme Court's rejection of a law that made it a crime to lie about military service and accolades does not help a Marine Corps veteran who was photographed wearing unearned medals, the 9th Circuit ruled Wednesday.

A federal jury in Idaho found Elven Swisher guilty in 2007 for making false statements to the Veterans Administration, forging discharge documents to obtain benefits and theft of government funds. The jurors also convicted Swisher, who had served three years in the Marines beginning in 1954, for "wearing unauthorized military medals."

During the one-week trial, prosecutors said that Swisher had in 2001 secured $2,366 a month in federal benefits for post-traumatic stress disorder he claimed to have developed after an off-the-books mission in 1957 that never actually happened.

An "unpublished narrative" included with Swisher's application for benefits told of his supposed participation in a secret combat operation during which "Swisher and approximately 130 other Marines were flown by helicopter to an unknown location in China or North Korea," the 9th Circuit explained.

Swisher allegedly claimed that he'd been seriously injured in a firefight while on the mission, and that he'd been awarded the Purple Heart and other medals but told to keep this a secret.

Marine Corps officials testified at the trial that there was no record of Swisher having received any injuries or medals during his service. Prosecutors also presented a photograph that showed "Swisher wearing the Silver Star, the Navy and Marine Corps Ribbon, Purple Heart, Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal with a Bronze V, and the UMC Expeditionary Medal."

After the jury convicted on all counts, Swisher was sentenced to one year behind bars and three years of supervised released.
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For More on Stolen Valor, ABC has Operation Stolen Valor