A Wisconsin man who falsely claimed to be a Navy SEAL who served in Vietnam and was wounded four times has been sentenced to four years behind bars.
Kenneth E. Jozwiak, 68, pleaded guilty to theft, faking paperwork in order to obtain benefits meant for veterans, obstruction of justice, and lying to investigators, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.
Prosecutors say Jozwiak submitted a false discharge certificate saying he served as a Navy SEAL from 1965 to 1968, receiving Bronze Star and Purple Heart awards for his service.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the northern district of Ohio, however, said all the awards, including the four Purple Heart awards for injuries suffered in combat, were false.
Jozwiak did serve in the military, but he only served one year- from 1967 to 1968- out of a four-year enlistment and did not serve overseas.
Jozwiak has a lengthy rap-sheet that includes over 120 convictions related to theft since 1975, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney David Toepfer.
Toepfer said Jozwiak went to great lengths to promote this falsehood.
“He was particularly public in how he did it,” Toepfer said. “He went as far as accompanying a child to an elementary school and representing himself as a Navy SEAL there and as having received all of these awards.”
Court documents say it was his stepson’s school. Toepfer said the event was similar to a “take a veteran to school” event.
Before the VA inspector general investigated, Jozwiak received nearly $2,300 in VA pension benefits in 2014.
“I never used that for anything, nothing. Never have,” Jozwiak said when investigators confronted him with the false paperwork, according to the grand jury indictment.
Jozwiak is not the only person who has faked his military service to get benefits.
Earlier in May, a former southern California Marine was sentenced to 21 months in prison for faking a combat injury and falsely claiming that he was awarded a Purple Heart.
The problem has become so widespread, that one filmmaker decided to create a film exposing the problem called “Stealing Valor,” which will be screened at the GI Festival in Washington, D.C. on May 28.