Stolen Valor: Man Can't Prove Super Secret Special Forces Team

He claims PTSD and faced off with police while armed yet he survived.

Military service claim by man in standoff still unproven
Herald Washington
By Diana Hefley, Herald Writer
December 18, 2014

EVERETT — A Snohomish man could face jail time if he can't convince a Snohomish County judge that he has delved into the accuracy of his claimed military experiences as part of his court-ordered mental health treatment.

Superior Court Judge Michael Downes said Wednesday that he hasn't received sufficient records documenting that Tyler Gaffney is getting to the bottom of whether he has been truthful about his military service in the U.S. Army.

Downes in January sentenced Gaffney to six months in jail for a Sept. 29, 2013, incident that involved a standoff with Snohomish County sheriff's deputies. Gaffney assaulted his father and threatened to blow up and shoot police.

He confronted deputies, armed with a Airsoft gun that resembled a M-4, an assault rifle widely used by the U.S. military. Deputies used less-than-lethal ammunition to subdue him.

Gaffney later told detectives that he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder because of his combat experiences. He claimed that “he was a member of a super-secret Special Forces team,” who served in clandestine combat missions and had been awarded medals for his bravery.

The detectives, who both served in the military, reported that many of Gaffney's combat stories followed the plots of popular war movies. Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Paul Stern raised concerns about “stolen valor.”
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