Miss. vets arrested over Purple Heart claims - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

Miss. vets arrested over Purple Heart claims

Federal investigators on Tuesday arrested two Mississippi men who allegedly falsely represented themselves as Purple Heart recipients in order to obtain free vehicle license plates.

John Wayne Lebo, 57, of Tylertown and Christopher Billeaud, 52, of Biloxi are suspected of altering their “official military discharge papers to reflect awards and medals [they] did not receive,” according records filed in federal court.

In doing so, both obtained the Mississippi Purple Heart vehicle license plate, which never expires and is given to Purple Heart recipients at no cost, U.S. Attorney Ruth Morgan said.

Purple Heart medals are given to war veterans wounded in combat by an enemy attack and are posthumously given to family members of those killed in battle by an enemy.

The arrests followed separate investigations by the Department of Veteran Affairs.

John Weber III, the attorney for Lebo, was unavailable for comment.

Kathleen Billeaud, the wife of Christopher Billeaud, an Air Force veteran of the 1991 Persian Gulf War, said the U.S. government is making a big mistake.

“My husband did not falsify anything. Sandbags collapsed on his neck during a scud [missile] attack, and his neck was broken. I have the documentation right in front of me to prove it,” she said.

According to court papers, officers with the Air Force Office of Investigations went to the Billeaud home in April 2007, after they say they discovered that Christopher Billeaud said he was a chief master sergeant, although he retired as a master sergeant.

One of the officers noticed that a vehicle parked at his home had a Purple Heart license plate. During the interview, the officer asked Billeaud if he received a Purple Heart, and he told the officer no, court records show.

Kathleen Billeaud said her husband has been recognized by VA and the head of Keesler Air Force Base hospital as receiving a Purple Heart, but not by the Air Force.

She said the Air Force recognizes his disability but said there was some discrepancy on how he was injured.

“He’s partially disabled. How can he have these injuries, and they are not service related?” she said. “I don’t understand why they are doing this to him. We’ve got a war going on, and I can’t believe they are doing this to a veteran.”

Investigators obtained a letter from the VA Regional Office in Jackson stating Billeaud was rated 100 percent service-connected for his disability, but the letter did not “mention anything about a Purple Heart,” court papers said.

Billeaud denied providing the Harrison County tax collector’s office his discharge letters and does not know how it received them, records show.

Lebo served with the Army from 1967 to 1969 as a firearms instructor.

According to court papers, along with claiming a Purple Heart, Lebo altered his discharge papers to show he had received a Silver Star, Airborne Medal and Sharpshooter. He first obtained a Purple Heart License plate in 1999.

Lebo’s alleged phony discharge papers were discovered after an investigator compared his original forms with the ones he used in Walthall County in order to obtain the Purple Heart license plate.

“It’s not just about earning the tag, but when you have a Purple Heart, you get priority treatment at V.A. medical centers,” Morgan said. “When this happens, you cheat true veterans that need treatment for their wounds suffered in combat.”

The Military Order of the Purple Heart is a national organization of Purple Heart veterans that champions the rights and interests of recipients. The national commander of the group is retired Army Col. Henry Cook III of Diamondhead.

“We get outraged by these ‘wannabes’ as we call them,” Cook said. “It’s something that is puzzling to me, but you’ll be surprised how widespread it is.”

Cook said people falsify claim to have Purple Hearts and other war medals to get the benefits, and some do it for the glory of the valor.

“I’ve known combat veterans that had a great deal of service to be proud of in their own right, but when they came back they seem to want to steal more,” Cook said.

Falsely claiming war medals is a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail and a fine of up to $100,000.