Re: Imposters. A long story but one you may find interesting.

[Guest guest]

Re: Imposters

This is very interesting. When I was an Assistant United States Attorney

many years ago I prosecuted an impostor named Harold Cleveland who

went about masquerading as a USN Admiral, Captain, Army General, Colonel,

and whatever else he deemed advisable. He typically would appear at a

military recruiting office wearing a uniform which " outranked " all the

personnel there and present them with " Special Orders " which he was expert at

formulating. These " Special Orders " would place him on Temporary Duty (TDY)

to the recruiting office and order the personnel there to make available to

him any and all facilities and materials with which to carry on a " Special

Recruiting Assignment. " This was during the Viet Nam conflict, and he would

tell the cover story that he was on a tour to recruit former aviators to go

back on active duty. He would usually remain in the office after the others

had left for the day and would access military manuals with up-to-date codes

for issuing orders and so forth. He would use the typewriters and copying

machines to make the orders.

The next part of his scheme involved his joining a local service club such as

Rotary, Lions or Kiwanis. He would then show up at multiple local banks and

open an account with $100 and ask them to transfer a balance from the Bank of

America Downtown San Francisco Branch which usually amounted to around

$20,000 by wire into his account. He would say that he had been in Nam for

the last couple of years and had saved all his money.

He actually had funds in the BOA but nowhere near $20,000, so when they

checked, he actually had an account there. He would tell them that there was

no particular hurry in getting the funds transfer done and he didn't want to

incur special fees for an immediate transfer---within the next several days

would suffice.

The next day he would show up at the bank and visit a loan officer. He

would show a Bill of Lading from North American Vanlines or some other

carrier and relate that the moving folks had shown up unexpectedly with his

household goods and were charging him $800 per day storage until they were

unloaded. The Bill of Lading would be in an amount such as $4,567.89. He

would ask for a 30-day loan to pay the movers, secured by his account funds,

and he would further tender the title to a new Chevy as collateral. He would

use as references the people in the service club and also show his " Special

Orders. " Without fail, the bankers would grant him the loan and cut him a

Cashier's Check made to himself in the amount of the Bill of Lading. Then,

he would immediately to to a drive up teller and cash the check, using his

newly issued check card and service ID to do so. He would routinely hit 4 or

5 banks in each city in a two or three day period and then disappear.

He got caught because he actually appeared on a local radio talk show in

Denver and somebody listening happened to have been aware of his scam in

another city. But because the interview was taped before broadcast, before

the FBI could get there he was long gone.

He was arrested in Denver several months later when a bank officer from New

Orleans who had been scammed two weeks before happened to be in the Denver

Airport and recognized him. He called the FBI and they nabbed him. He was

dressed as a USN Commander ( " Commander Cleveland " was his favorite moniker,

and Harold Cleveland was his real name) at the time. He wore an

impressive array of service ribbons.

He had in his briefcase used airline tickets to places like Buenos Aires,

Praetoria, South Africa, Paris, France, and Sydney, AU. He also had a bundle

of military orders. He had actually been travelling around much of the time

on military flights and had upon occasion " bumped " generals and admirals.

The US Magistrate set bail at $10,000 which he promptly made. He jumped bail

and failed to apprear for his preliminary hearing. A fugitive warrant was

issued together with a bench warrant.

The next time he appeared was about 6 months later, at the Officer's Club at

the airbase in Amarillo. He had made the acquaintance of an FBI agent, and

they met several times for drinks at the bar. He was in the process of

getting the FBI agent involved with an investment scheme he was then

promoting, involving a non-existent mutual fund, when the FBI agent happened

to be thumbing through a stack of " IO's " (Identification Orders) on his desk

and to his utter horror recognized the good Commander. He immediately

marshalled his troops and arrested Commander Cleveland again. This time the

US Marshalls drove him to Denver in chains, and he was held in the jail in

Golden, CO.

He asked to see me and make a deal. He had signed a waiver of attorney, and

asked me to bring the US Customs people with me. I took the Special Agent In

Charge of the Denver Customs Office with me, and we interviewed " Commander "

H. R. Cleveland in his cell. He told us that he was in a position to help us

bust an international drug cartel operating out of Colombia. He said that

he had been flying drugs into the US in an old DC-3, that his contacts always

met him at the Hotel Tequandama in Bogota, and that he would be glad to set

up a " sting " for us in return for our dropping the charges against him. We

said, " No deal. " I particularly remember that during our interview the jail

people brought his lunch, consisting of a baloney sandwich which he stated

that he would not stoop to eat. I remember eating it and thinking it was one

of the best baloney sandwiches I'd had lately. <g>.

At the end of the interview I asked him why he did this, remarking that with

his talent for talk he could have been the world's greatest car salesman,

real estate salesman, lawyer, or what ever. He paused for a full minute

before answering. Finally he said, " I would miss the thrill of the chase. "

He ended up entering a guilty plea to impersonating a federal officer and

received 20 months in prison. He was really only in the service for a few

months in the " 50's " and was discharged dishonorably from the Army for being

a deserter.

If he's still alive, no telling who he is impersonating, but I'll wager that

he's impersonating somebody. Anybody hired a new ER physician lately?

Gene Gandy