CNN’s Soledad O’Brien appears to have been one of the many who not only accepted, but promoted Brian Leonard Creekmur’s fake credentials as a Navy SEAL, according to an investigation by WTKR News Channel 3, the local CBS affiliate in the Hampton Roads metro area in Virginia.
Creekmur appears to have taken on the identity of a real Navy SEAL, Steven Matulewicz, who enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1983. He posted stories about himself on the Internet, using his supposed background to meet women and to sell real estate, and he got away with it–until a woman whom “he was wooing,” according to News Channel 3, caught onto his scheme. She did some sleuthing of her own, and discovered he was not who he said he was.
She could be forgiven for being taken in–so was CNN, according to WTKR:
And before you get the idea Creekmur is just bragging to the ladies, you should know this: He routinely corresponds with CNN reporters to offer his opinion and expertise on military stories. Here he tells Soledad O’Brien about all the death he’s seen in combat. She resent his message to her more than 140-thousand followers. CNN would not comment for our story.