STEALING from, not SUPPORTING the TROOPS!
Related: Iraq for Sale
The Pentagon Spending Sprees
Occupation Iraq: KBR'S Chemical Killings
"Lynn man accused of stealing donations; Allegedly posed as veterans agent" by Eric Moskowitz, Globe Staff | December 27, 2008
WOBURN - As an Army Ranger who served two tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan, Nick Ford thought there was something suspicious about the man seeking holiday donations for military families at Ford's local Stop & Shop.
Paul K. Guilmain Jr. told shoppers that he was an Iraq veteran and National Guard member, but to Ford he didn't look like anyone who'd seen duty in years. The paunchy 44-year-old slouched, went hatless, and wore outdated woodland camouflage fatigues - the kind with the green, black, brown, and beige pattern, not the more modern design. The rank on his sleeve, corporal, didn't fit with his age.
"It took every ounce of restraint not to rip this guy's face off," said Ford, who opted instead for friendliness and a discreet investigation. His sleuthing led to Guilmain's arrest on Christmas Eve at the Woburn Super Stop & Shop, near Ford's home. Guilmain, who lives in Lynn, was arraigned yesterday on charges that he posed as a representative of a national veterans organization and pocketed the money for himself.
"I just chatted him up, got all buddy-buddy with him. I even put five bucks in his little jar just to keep it cool," said Ford, a 23-year-old Purple Heart recipient, in an interview outside the supermarket. "He trusted that I wasn't onto him, [but] the second I left this place I was already investigating him."
Guilmain toted a clipboard with a letter that appeared to be from the National Veterans Foundation, and he had the foundation's logo on his collection jar, authorities said. Additionally, Guilmain - who had permission to solicit inside the store from the supermarket's manager - decorated a festive, if grammatically incorrect, poster proclaiming "MILITARY FAMILY'S FOR THE HOLIDAYS."
But Guilmain had no connection with the national foundation, a Los Angeles-based organization that does not solicit in person and that provides counseling and referral services to veterans....
--more--"Now if only the papers would get after the trillion-dollar looters, huh?
