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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 is 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 reporters. “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.
“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. Attorneys agree. “It is a federal crime if he used ribbons or medals to obtain something of value,” says Chuck Pardue, a military law attorney in Evans, Ga. It’s also a separate felony charge in Arizona that could mean more than four years in prison. It’s unclear if a forged DD-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.
Yet his Purple Heart vanity plates read “SF RNGR” — Special Forces Ranger. Earl Fisher, a detective at the Office of Inspector General in Phoenix, is 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 said. “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 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-214 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. “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-214.
What else didn’t she know? Plenty — like his criminal record, bankruptcy, mounting back child support, tax fraud and IRS fines. And she hadn’t yet figured out those Purple Heart license plates were obtained fraudulently. Not until that letter from the Arizona Office of Inspector General came in the mail last fall. Mr. Stanley Wayne Wineberg Jr., 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 E-5, 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.
“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 shit.” When the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the Stolen Valor Act was a violation of the First Amendment in 2012, a revised version was signed by President Barrack Obama a year later. It narrowed the scope for prosecution to people who intend to profit or otherwise enjoy undeserved benefits that coveted service awards entail. “I think it was a bad call on the part of the Supreme Court,” American Military News journalist and stolen valor researcher
“We cannot meet your request without authorization from the former member,” the chapter said in response to inquiries about the matter. Wineberg did not respond to requests for comment. Bryan Masche was running a Republican bid for governor in 2022 when he met Wineberg at a speaking engagement in the Valley. 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
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ARIZONA’S LEGACY OF STOLEN VALOR • Ex-publisher of The Arizona Republic Darrow “Duke” Tully was forced to resign in 1985 after it was revealed he lied about being a retired lieutenant colonel and combat fighter in Vietnam and Korea.
• John William Rodriguez of
• J.D. “Duke”
Network’s Hall of Shame. • In 2010, Queen Creek resident
and in the Arizona National Guard. He later used his bogus credentials to obtain pay raises and upgrade his benefits. A judge handed him five years of probation, 120 hours of community service and $28,000 in restitution. • In 2011, Jeffery Lee Bennett of Tucson,
Force general, was arrested for falsifying a military ID and slapping a fake U.S. Department of Defense sticker on his car to break into Fort Huachuca and do some tax- free shopping. He served prison time after pleading guilty in court.
military members in Tucson for cosplaying as a member of the 7th Special Forces Group, wearing a bogus Combat Infantry Badge and other fake awards to quench his thirst at local businesses that gave free drinks to uniformed service members.
• Arizona State
among many covert ops that
check-writing scam. • In 2016, fake Air
• Prescott resident John Hoyt Fullen
Heart certificate to obtain veteran license plates from the MVD and even got a tattoo of the Marine Corps insignia.
Schechter , an Arizona House representative
University ROTC student Matt Farberov busted a man in a fake Army uniform who, at the Arizona State Fair, claimed to be a member of the 7th Cavalry Regiment who was involved in the battle in the la Drang Valley, a Vietnam POW and best friends with former Secretary of State Colin Powell,
Scottsdale, who wore a uniform plastered with counterfeit military medals, was jailed in 2009 for faking prestigious honors to receive free housing, discounted airfare and leniency in a drunk driving case.
involved saving the U.S. from a nuclear attack and chasing ISIS in Arizona. • A Maricopa County Superior Court judge sentenced Philip Ohman , who never served in the military, to prison in 2016 after he lied about being a Navy SEAL to win over businessmen as part of a bad
was remanded to more than a
Force veteran and Tempe resident Eric Wolfe was arrested after he forged a DD-214 and used it to apply for special veteran status on his driver’s license and a veteran-only license plate.
Kurt Alan Bishop was indicted by a federal grand jury on 34 counts of falsifying his military records, awarding himself 21 medals including the Bronze Star and Purple Heart and defrauding his way into a job as a cop
from Tucson, was busted in 2010 for fabricating his military record and lying about being a Marine sergeant who was awarded a Silver Star. In reality, he was demoted twice for misconduct and inducted into the national POW
decade in prison after the Yavapai County Attorney’s Office proved he faked his military career in 2020. He ironically named his company Arizona Veteran Movers despite never enlisting in the military, forged a Purple
• In 2015, a
who dressed up as a two-star Air
nonveteran was called out by real
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AMERICAN VETERANS Summer 2024
Summer 2024 AMERICAN VETERANS
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