chapter said in response to inquiries about the matter. Wineberg did not respond to requests for comment from InMaricopa . Medal detector Bryan Masche was running a Republican bid for governor when he met Wineberg at a speaking engagement in Maricopa last year. The eight- year Air Force veteran still remembers touching Wineberg’s fake Purple Heart medal and thanking him for his service. It’s a memory that now disgusts him. “There’s nothing more disrespectful, hurtful, insensitive and plain disgusting in my book than stolen valor. It speaks to a deep- seated psychological personality disorder,” said Masche, who studied psychiatry in college. “It’s hurtful. It’s sleazy. It speaks to a number of different psychological conditions that someone is so hard up for attention, they have to go out of their way to make up lies about who they are.” Masche worked closely with the Army on deployment. He’s active in veterans’ groups and understands their psychology. It made him uneasy when Wineberg didn’t ask about his military experience, but rather touted his own heroic stories. “People who have seen really bad stuff, they just don’t talk about it,” Masche told InMaricopa . “When Stan talked about Somalia, all these pieces were starting to come together. I was figuring it out in my mind.” Masche once called out a phony war hero in Scottsdale just minutes after meeting him. This one took him a little longer than he liked to admit, but sooner or later, he figured it out. “Something in my stomach just didn’t sit right in that situation, but I couldn’t quite figure it out,” Masche said. Then, he started replaying their conversations in his head. Something clicked. “Here I am thinking Stan was somebody who was involved in combat, in a disaster in Somalia,” he said. “In actuality, he wasn’t asking me about my service because he knew I would, in a short amount of time, realize this guy was full of sh*t.” Warriors wanted Stolen valor — the act of making false claims about military service — is a term coined by Vietnam veteran B.G. Burkett in his titular 1998 book. He busted so many people exaggerating and inventing their service records that he
Mr. Stanley Wayne Wineberg Jr.,
the MVD Now website to order them, which at the time would send the tags by mail and allow the driver to supply his DD Form 214 — military discharge paperwork — after the fact. Under Arizona law, he needed to prove he received a Purple Heart to obtain those plates. “Because of the glitch in the system, I couldn’t prosecute him,” Fisher said. “I brought it to MVD’s attention, so they’re fixing that flaw.” Instead, Fisher sent the letter demanding Wineberg turn in the plates or face criminal charges. The detective didn’t confirm whether he surrendered the plates and neighbors reported seeing them months later. When he received the letter, Wineberg called the inspector general’s office. “It’s hurtful. It’s sleazy. It speaks to a number of differ- ent psychological conditions that someone is so hard up for attention, they have to go out of their way to make up lies about who they are.” BRYAN MASCHE “He was very distraught when he called me, probably because he thought I was going to arrest him,” Fisher recalled. “He said, ‘I made a mistake, I was in a bad place.’” For Fisher, Wineberg’s Somalia story reeked of falsehood. “I don’t know how that story can be true,” he said. As soon as a soldier is wounded, his unit would recommend the Purple Heart and it would be awarded immediately upon treatment. Wineberg never supplied a DD Form 214. “If he provided any of those documents, they would have been forged,” Fisher said. “That’s where we’d get him. On forgery charges, and maybe tampering with public records.” Fisher said he believes Wineberg is guilty of stolen valor, a federal crime that carries a one-year prison sentence. It’s a separate felony charge in Arizona that could mean more than four years in prison. It’s unclear if a forged DD Form 214 exists for Wineberg. He joined a Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association chapter in Denver, where he wore a Purple Heart medal on his jacket. The nonprofit veterans’ charity requires discharge papers from its members. “We cannot meet your request without authorization from the former member,” the
The Office of Inspector General has discovered a discrepancy with your customer record. Our records indicate that on June 21, July 3 and July 20, 2023, you obtained Purple Heart License Plates and failed to provide the required documents. No response to this request will result in your license being further suspended or canceled, or other appropriate criminal charges being filed. Wineberg fronted as a Sergeant First Class in the Army with 15 years of service, a Green Beret in the Elite Special Forces with Top Secret Security Clearance. He earned his Purple Heart, telling anyone who would listen, when he suffered shrapnel wounds, saving his comrade “Eddie” in Somalia. Indeed, Wineberg is an Army veteran who was honorably discharged, earning 18 medals and badges along the way. And yet no detail in his story — not a single one — is true. He served fewer than seven years, according to military service records obtained from the National Personnel Records Center through a Freedom of Information Act request. Wineberg's highest rank was E5, two notches below what he claims. The records don’t mention Somalia. Although his awards suggest he saw combat, he was also a driver and mechanic. He never received a Purple Heart, the National Archives confirmed. He's not credited with saving anyone’s life. He had standard security clearance, and he was never in the Special Forces. Yet his Purple Heart vanity plates read “SF RNGR” — Special Forces Ranger. Gone fishing Earl Fisher isn’t just a detective at the Office of Inspector General in Phoenix. He’s also a proud veteran who served in the Vietnam War as a medical combat corpsman. For him, investigating stolen valor is personal. So, when the state opened its investigation into Wineberg, Fisher was the man for the job. “He’s a vet, but he’s not happy with what he has,” the detective told InMaricopa . “He wants more.” According to Fisher, Wineberg abused a loophole in the system. Had he gone into a Motor Vehicle Division office to request his plates, he would have been denied. But he used
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December 2023 | InMaricopa.com
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