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He was busted for impersonating the best of the best. a navy s.e.a.l. he allegedly wore this s.e.a.l. uniform, even claiming he earned a purple heart, but his story didn t check out with a texas sheriff, a veteran himself. he set up a sting, allegedly catching gonzalez accepting a rifle if as a gift for his so-called service. he is now facing extradition from puerto rico. he enter hasn t entered the plea. he couldn t shine the s.e.a.l. s boots as far as i m concerned. reporter: he was confront bade real veteran who noticed his uniform wasn t quite right. why is your flag so low on your shoulder? it should be up here. got me on that one, bud. reporter: this man wasn t charged but the federal stolen valor act makes it a crime to benefit from pretending to be the real thing. doug sterner helped to pass it. stolen valor is not a harmless crime. it s a lie. ....
he s wearing the rank of a staff sergeant. that makes sense. here it is, guys. stolen valor at its finest. wearing a united states army uniform. you know that s illegal, right? what you re doing right now? let me tell you something. if i was phony, he wouldn t be wearing this uniform. i just called you out on ten different things and all are [ bleep ]. what you re doing right now is illegal. because you know what, i ve worn that [ bleep ] uniform and i ve had friends get killed in afghanistan wearing that uniform. stolen valor right here. stolen valor! the man, is sean yetman and claimed he received medals for his military service. to help me get to the bottom of this, i m joined by the man responsible for what s known as the stolen valor act. doug sterner, real military historian and vietnam combat veteran, also coauthor of ....
Wearing united states army uniform, you know that s illegal, right. let me tell you. if i was phony i wouldn t be wearing this. you wouldn t? you are phony. i called you out about ten different things. all of them are bull [ bleep ]. this is illegal. you know what, i ve worn that and i had friends get killed in that uniform. you are full of [ bleep ]. stolen valor. right here. stolen valor. the man the name on the uniform is shawn. he claim head received medals for his service. it s called stolen valor. to help me get to the bottom of this disturbing case i m joined by the man responsible for what s known as the stolen valor act. doug sterner, a real historian and combat vaet ran, co-author of restoring valor, and he joins us from colorado springs. doug, let s remind folks what went on. you were offended by so many who were impersonating individuals who had won awards for military ....
Criminal action. what you see probably is the smallest part and beneath it there is any level of criminal activity. understood. doug, thank you for your real service. we appreciate it. thank you, michael. good to be on with you. when i come back, this question. what do elected officials think about the choke hold case and is there anything they can do about it. senator bob casey is one of the good guys. i ll ask him when i return. ....
restoring valor and joins us from colorado springs. doug, let s remind folks what went on here. you were offended by so many who were impersonating individuals who had won awards for their military service that you initiated a law, along with your wife pam, president george w. bush signed it into law. unfortunately, it went to the supreme court of the united states, and they said, hey, there is a first amendment right to lie. so what about this guy? because i know the law was then retooled. how does it treat him? well, first of all, thank you for having me on today, michael. it s good to be on tv with you for a change. i want you to understand, there s two types of stolen valor. one type of stolen valor, when you put on a uniform or wear a medal. that has always been against the law. the stolen valor act that was signed by president bush and redone and passed in 2013 is section 704 of title 18, u.s. code. that addressed verbal claims ....