LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – A local man has resigned his post as commander of the Lakeport Veterans of Foreign War post in the midst of allegations that he falsely claimed to have served in Vietnam.

Robert Lawrence Deppe, 57, of Upper Lake submitted a letter of resignation in mid-February after members of the VFW Post 2015 confronted him about the allegations, according to Post Adjutant Kirk Macdonald.

Lake County News reached Deppe via e-mail but he refused to comment for this story.

Earlier in February Macdonald said it was brought to the attention of post members that Deppe was “possibly not eligible to be a member of the VFW because his military record was not valid.”

Macdonald said post members also learned at that time about Deppe's arrest on Feb. 9 for felony passing a fictitious check and misdemeanor petty theft.

Capt. James Bauman said Deppe turned himself in at the Lake County Jail shortly after midnight on Feb. 9 following an investigation into allegations that he took money from his brother-in-law, who lives with him.

Deppe allegedly took eight $100 bills and five $20 bills and replaced them with fake bills. Bauman said Deppe also is alleged to have taken to two $100 bills from his wife's purse, also putting fake bills in their place.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Richard Hinchcliff said Deppe has been charged with forgery and felony petty theft.

Post members asked Deppe to respond to the allegations regarding his arrest and military record at the Feb. 14 meeting, Macdonald said.

They also asked him to sign a Form 180 so his military record could be accessed and verified, according to Macdonald.

“Mr. Deppe chose to write a letter of resignation as commander of the post and also to be removed from the roles of the VFW membership,” Macdonald said. The resignation reportedly went into effect on Feb. 16.

Macdonald said Deppe wouldn't respond directly to the questions about his record, and made no admissions one way or the other.

While the allegations were new to the local post members, questions of Deppe's military record have been arising for several years, according to Mary Schantag, who along with her husband Chuck, a Vietnam veteran, founded the nonprofit POW Network, www.pownetwork.org.

“He has been doing this for years and has been exposed, and had been exposed in the past,” Schantag said of Deppe in an interview with Lake County News.

Schantag said Deppe had been under investigation since 2005, after he posted a story on the VFW 2015 Web site, which came to the attention of POW Network members.

Deppe had claimed on the VFW Web site – which he helped administer – to have been a staff sergeant in the U.S. Army form 1971 to 1974, receiving the Purple Heart, as well as the Silver and Bronze Stars. He also said he was a Ranger on Company H, 75^th Infantry, Third Brigade, First Cavalry Division.

But men who had served in those branches of the military claimed to have never heard of him, according to a page dedicated to him on the POW Network under the “phonies” category, which can be found at www.pownetwork.org/phonies/phonies405.htm .

Macdonald said that, in light of the issue with Deppe, VFW Post 2015 is taking new measures to authenticate service records up front to make sure nothing like this happens in their group again.

Specifically, they will require prospective members to submit a Form 180. He said that will allow the post to request military discharge records directly in order to confirm a prospective member's eligibility.

Such situations have been reported nationally. One of the most notable recent examples was that of Rick Strandlof, former executive director of the Colorado Veterans Alliance, who in 2009 was revealed as having never served in the military.

Allegations come to light

Schantag said allegations such as those against Deppe usually arise when a person claiming to be a veteran says something wrong, or uses an inaccurate detail, which tips off other veterans.

That seemed to be the case with Deppe, whose account had inaccurate information, according to a statement posted on the POW Network site by Bill Anton, one of the men who reported against him. Deppe also reportedly posted pictures showing the compound where he was stationed, which were said to not reflect what the actual compound looked like.

The Bronze Star document he used claimed that he received the award for action he took in Vietnam on April 10, 1972, while he was a corporal – not a staff sergeant as he'd stated elsewhere.

The document stated in part: “As the first three men of the element exhausted their first magazines, Corporal Deppe immediately recognized the danger caused by the lull in firing and rushed to the position, firing his own weapon and throwing fragmentation grenades. As the team withdrew from the position, he remained in his position and continued his fire, covering the team’s withdrawal. By holding the enemy at bay his fellow soldiers were able to escape without injury. When he attempted to rejoin his team, he was hit by enemy fire, which wounded him in the” left leg.

The commendation also states, “While wounded, Corporal Deppe carried SP4 Jaime Pacheco, leader of fire team 75 to safety in a nearby ravine.”

However, the POW Network alleges that the language of Deppe's commendation actually comes from a Silver Star given posthumously to Pacheco, an Army Ranger who was killed in action on May 25, 1972.

Deppe's document added, “His actions gave the team the precious time they needed to reach safety” – the exact language from one of the ending passages of Pacheco's commendation.

Deppe also reportedly used a Silver Star document that claimed he won the award on May 12, 1972 – just a month after winning the Bronze Star. The document stated that Deppe – said to be a squad leader – pushed back an ambush of the North Vietnamese Army, called in aid for wounded, fired back at the enemy and destroyed an enemy machine gun bunker and crew.

Deppe's Feb. 9 arrest was posted on the POW Network and it appears to have drawn additional attention to his case.

Schantag, who lives in Missouri, said the POW Network was contacted by the Lakeport VFW Post several days before Deppe resigned, with members wanting information on him. She said they were put in contact with one of the individuals who had reported about him before.

She said the POW Network had tracked Deppe, an Illinois native, previously in Missouri, and it believed he also had claimed to be a veteran while living in yet another state.

That Deppe did not directly respond to the question of whether or not he was an imposter could be because, as Schantag pointed out, people proved to be posing as veterans can be prosecuted.

During a typical week the POW Network will send a couple of cases to the Federal Bureau of Investigation for investigation with a view to prosecution, Schantag said.

She said they felt Deppe's case was serious enough that it was forwarded to the FBI in 2008.

Schantag said there have been about 40 to 45 prosecutions nationwide over the last few years, mostly of very egregious cases.

The 2005 Stolen Valor Act was passed in order to enhance penalties in such prosecutions, but two district courts have ruled it unconstitutional, saying that it violates free speech protections. Schantag said she expects the matter will work its way up to the US Supreme Court.

Even without the Stolen Valor Act, Schantag said US Code Title 18 still stands.

“It is still illegal to impersonate an officer,” she said.

She said states are now going for their own mandates, which will make prosecutions faster and easier. Still, Schantag said there aren't enough courts and judges to handle the number of imposters.

“I can't trust any veteran I meet anymore,” she said.

'A pandemic'

Schantag said she and her husband started the POW Network 21 years ago.

“We're not a veterans group,” she said. “We started out as an educational organization trying to write the history of the POW/MIA issue.”

It was about 12 years ago that the issue of frauds and phony veterans became a major focus for them.

“It's a pandemic. It's awful,” said Schantag, noting that she deals with such stories every day.

Imposters come from every background, she said. Ministers and police officers have been caught as imposters, as have teachers.

“We've seen fathers do it to sons, and then we have to deal with the sons,” she said.

She's also dealt with threats, via mail, e-mail and telephone. One night, within the space of an hour, she received 60 threatening phone calls.

The reasons for being an imposter are varied, she said. “It could be something as ridiculous as trying to impress a woman,” to trying to get Veterans Affairs benefits and services.

“They lie to get license plates, they lie to get property tax breaks,” she said. “It's our tax dollars that they're using.”

She said DD 214 forms, which record a veteran's discharge or release from service, are the most forged documents in the military community, and have been known to fool VA officials.

The POW Network has extensive resources for research, as well as the help of many groups – including former Rangers, Special Forces and Navy Seals – who she said can have information on a veteran's records within minutes.

“This is a huge effort behind the scenes,” she said, calling her group a “middle man” in the work.

It used to take months to get confirmation on a veteran's records, but now it takes weeks, thanks to Schantag perfecting her methodology for requesting information from contributors as well as government agencies through Freedom of Information Act requests.

“We get the answers,” she said, noting that nothing is classified any more from the Vietnam and Korean eras.

While they don't delight in exposing alleged imposters, “History has to be accurate,” she said.

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