Veterans in the news

[Legion Troll]

A former U.S. marine whose American girlfriend disappeared in 2011 while the couple lived in Panama pleaded guilty to murdering and dismembering her, federal prosecutors said.

Brian Karl Brimager, 39, admitted that he killed Yvonne Baldelli, 42, in their bedroom, cut her body apart with a machete and hid the remains in the dense jungle where a farm worker found them 21 months later.

Brimager also admitted that he disposed of a bloody mattress and Baldelli's dogs, then used her ATM card and email accounts to try to convince her family and friends that she was alive and had gone to Costa Rica with another man.

The prosecution by U.S. authorities was unusual, since the murder occurred in Panama and, at the time Brimager was indicted, Baldelli's body had not been found. He was charged under the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act as a U.S. national accused of murdering another U.S. citizen in a foreign country.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/brian-brimager_us_56cf10efe4b0bf0dab30e4df?utm_hp_ref=crime

 

[Legion Troll]

At a cemetery in Madera, flags mark the final resting places of the town's sons and daughters who served in the military.

But 400 miles away, one of Madera's own, Private First Class Andres De Leon, can't even visit the site where he hopes to be laid to rest until he dies.

"I feel they did me wrong because I risked my life for Uncle Sam just so, at the end, I get deported," De Leon said.

When De Leon was 18, he enlisted in the U.S. Army to fight in Vietnam. After serving for 12 years, two overseas, he was honorably discharged.

Now, at 72, De Leon lives in a small, one-bedroom house in one of the poorer neighborhoods in Tijuana, Mexico.

"I got no choice," he told FOX40. "I have to stay here but I'm doing the best I can."

At 63, he became addicted to heroin and was eventually arrested for possession. He served nearly three years at Soledad State Prison until Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials visited him and told him he couldn't return home.

In 2009, an immigration judge ordered De Leon deported to Mexico - a country he hadn't seen in more than 50 years.

“I was in shock. I couldn’t believe it," his son, Andres Jr., said. "I couldn’t believe they would deport a veteran with an honorable discharge."

In Tijuana, De Leon has no friends or family. He spent his first few weeks homeless. He figured he was the only U.S. military veteran deported to Mexico until he met Hector Barajas.

“I basically opened up my doors to veterans that were deported," Barajas said.

Barajas, a former paratrooper in the 82nd Airborn, grew up in Los Angeles but was deported to Tijuana. He's known dozens of deported veterans like himself and De Leon.

In 2013, he founded a support house for deported veterans.

De Leon has resigned to the possibility that he may never get to see the U.S. again, but both he and Barajas know they are entitled to a proper veteran's burial.

“I’ve been told the only way I can return is dead. So, if dead is the only way I can return, I would like to be buried with my friends in the Catholic Cemetery in Madera, California,” De Leon said.




http://fox40.com/2016/02/04/u-s-veteran-fights-for-benefits-after-being-deported/

 

[Legion Troll]

An Army veteran with a promising career as a chef was busted for drugs while dressed as a clown.

It was the wee hours —far too late for any kid’s birthday party—and the circus wasn’t in town.

So when a man wearing a clown suit walked into a Waffle House in downtown Athens, Georgia it wasn’t as if he was the evening’s hired entertainment.

No, Jacob Worthington, in full funnyman regalia, landed on a stool at the front of the counter and started allegedly puffing a bowl full of meth, turning the greasy spoon into his personal drug den.

The potluck disco party for one sparked fear in the skeleton staff working on the late shift where there was nary a customer, save for the clown allegedly getting his fix.

“It was slow that night,” one Waffle House worker who wished to remain anonymous said. “He was fully dressed as a clown. I couldn’t believe it. But you see some weird stuff in downtown Athens.”

One of servers called 911 at around 4:15 a.m. and reported to Athens police that Worthington was endangering himself and everybody at the eatery.

The red-headed 25-year-old was described in a police report as “wearing a clown suit” and leaving “a bowl where he had smoked meth on the counter” before “locking himself in the bathroom.”

Cops gained entry to the bathroom and allegedly discovered Worthington standing near the sink having switched to marijuana. The police report suggests Worthington was found with “a smoking pipe with residue inside it.”

When they patted down Worthington he copped to having “a knife in his pants pocket,” according to the police report.

The responding officers then moved Worthington back to his stool at the counter where he allegedly confessed that the book bag on the floor filled with LSD wrapped in foil and rolling papers—along with “a digital scale and a jar of marijuana, a jar of mushrooms, a small golden keepsake containing marijuana and a small bag of white powder”—all belonged to him, according to the report.

The cops deduced who Worthington was by observing a deck of cards he carried, one of which bore his identification.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/03/03/the-tears-of-a-clown-arrested-for-meth-in-waffle-house.html

 

[Leonthecat]

A former U.S. marine whose American girlfriend disappeared in 2011 while the couple lived in Panama pleaded guilty to murdering and dismembering her, federal prosecutors said.

Brian Karl Brimager, 39, admitted that he killed Yvonne Baldelli, 42, in their bedroom, cut her body apart with a machete and hid the remains in the dense jungle where a farm worker found them 21 months later.

Brimager also admitted that he disposed of a bloody mattress and Baldelli's dogs, then used her ATM card and email accounts to try to convince her family and friends that she was alive and had gone to Costa Rica with another man.

The prosecution by U.S. authorities was unusual, since the murder occurred in Panama and, at the time Brimager was indicted, Baldelli's body had not been found. He was charged under the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act as a U.S. national accused of murdering another U.S. citizen in a foreign country.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/brian-brimager_us_56cf10efe4b0bf0dab30e4df?utm_hp_ref=crime

Semper fi

 

[Leonthecat]

An Army veteran with a promising career as a chef was busted for drugs while dressed as a clown.

It was the wee hours —far too late for any kid’s birthday party—and the circus wasn’t in town.

So when a man wearing a clown suit walked into a Waffle House in downtown Athens, Georgia it wasn’t as if he was the evening’s hired entertainment.

No, Jacob Worthington, in full funnyman regalia, landed on a stool at the front of the counter and started allegedly puffing a bowl full of meth, turning the greasy spoon into his personal drug den.

The potluck disco party for one sparked fear in the skeleton staff working on the late shift where there was nary a customer, save for the clown allegedly getting his fix.

“It was slow that night,” one Waffle House worker who wished to remain anonymous said. “He was fully dressed as a clown. I couldn’t believe it. But you see some weird stuff in downtown Athens.”

One of servers called 911 at around 4:15 a.m. and reported to Athens police that Worthington was endangering himself and everybody at the eatery.

The red-headed 25-year-old was described in a police report as “wearing a clown suit” and leaving “a bowl where he had smoked meth on the counter” before “locking himself in the bathroom.”

Cops gained entry to the bathroom and allegedly discovered Worthington standing near the sink having switched to marijuana. The police report suggests Worthington was found with “a smoking pipe with residue inside it.”

When they patted down Worthington he copped to having “a knife in his pants pocket,” according to the police report.

The responding officers then moved Worthington back to his stool at the counter where he allegedly confessed that the book bag on the floor filled with LSD wrapped in foil and rolling papers—along with “a digital scale and a jar of marijuana, a jar of mushrooms, a small golden keepsake containing marijuana and a small bag of white powder”—all belonged to him, according to the report.

The cops deduced who Worthington was by observing a deck of cards he carried, one of which bore his identification.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/03/03/the-tears-of-a-clown-arrested-for-meth-in-waffle-house.html

What a clown.

 

[Legion Troll]

When two suspects tried robbing a Maryland CVS on Friday, Army veteran Joe Morici sprang into action.

And it cost him his job.

Morici, who served seven years in the Army, including a stint in Afghanistan, was fired from his management job at a Beltsville CVS because he intervened and tried to catch the men, FOX5 reported.

But Morici said his reactions were purely based on instinct when two men tried robbing the CVS pharmacy during his shift.

He quickly told cashiers to call 911 and helped an elderly man out of the store before locking the doors, preventing the suspects from leaving. Then he confronted them.

“The two kids ran into the door, which was closed now, and Joe got one of them and had him,” Chick Hernandez, a customer in the store at the time, told FOX5. “The kid, he had said to his partner, ‘Shoot him.’…And then Joe said, ‘I’ve been in the military far too long. You don’t have anything.’”

It turned out there was no gun, though one of the suspects held a screwdriver.

“I don’t really know that they didn’t really have one,” Morici said. “I just kind of assumed.”

Morici grabbed the screwdriver, but eventually the men got away.

When Morici’s boss arrived, however, Morici said he was told he was being terminated because of his actions.

“My boss, when he came in to deliver the news, he was sick to his stomach,” Morici said. “He didn’t want to, but he didn’t have a choice.”

In a statement to FOX5, CVS said it would “not comment on specific security procedures or polices as we do not want to undermine them.”

Morici said since news of his heroics went public he’s received numerous job offers and interview opportunities. He’s also applied for a position with the Prince George’s County Police Department.


http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/03/03/army-veteran-fired-from-cvs-after-trying-to-stop-robbery.html#

 

[Legion Troll]

Former JBLM soldier Skylar Nemetz was found guilty in the shooting death of his wife.

Nemetz, a Joint Base Lewis-McChord based soldier, shot his wife, Danielle, 19, in the back of the head while she was sitting at a computer.

He later told police he was cleaning his AR-15 and didn't think it was loaded.

The prosecution, however, says Nemetz returned home from military training and discovered alcohol at his home.

After some discussion, police said, Nemetz learned that a man had purchased the alcohol for his wife.

Prosecutor Mark Lindquist said Nemetz thought his wife had been cheating on him and was angry.

Two hours later, he shot his wife in the back of the head with an AR-15.

Sentencing is set for March 25.



http://www.aol.com/article/2016/03/05/ex-jblm-soldier-convicted-of-manslaughter-in-shooting-death-of-w/21323250/

 

[Legion Troll]

Kyle Odom, the former Marine suspected of shooting Idaho pastor Tim Remington on Sunday, was arrested Tuesday evening outside the White House, according to Coeur d’Alene Police and the Secret Service.

The Secret Service said in a statement that Odom “threw unknown material over the south fence line at the White House Complex.”

He was immediately taken into custody.

Hours earlier, someone posted a message to Odom’s Facebook page claiming Remington was shot because the pastor was “from Mars” and had “ruined” Odom’s life, according to Wash. television station KXLY.

Odom’s profile picture also was changed to a drawing of an alien.

Police in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, where the shooting took place, announced Monday that Odom had a history of mental illness.

Remington was shot several times in the skull and back after delivering his Sunday sermon at the Altar Church.

The shooting gained national attention, in part because Remington had prayed with Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz at a campaign rally in Coeur d’Alene on Saturday.

Coeur d’Alene Police Chief Lee White said that a person believed to be Odom had sent a “rambling” manifesto to media outlets.

A copy of the manifesto, posted online by television station KHQ, shows that a section of it was addressed to President Obama. In it, Odom asks Obama to resist the aliens, writing: “It’s time someone took a stand to end this nonsense.”

Another section, titled “NOTEWORTHY MARTIANS,” lists 50 members of Congress — including members of both parties — and dozens of Israeli officials.

The manifesto also makes threats against a second Altar Church pastor, who was placed under police protection, according to White.

“What he wrote definitely played a part in raising our awareness and concern,” White said of the manifesto.

The police chief added that he believed the Facebook post was genuine, as it was “consistent with other information we have received.”

the following message was posted to Odom’s Facebook page on Tuesday:

“Things are not what they appear to be. The world is ruled by ancient civilization from Mars. Pastor Tim was one of them, and he was the reason my life was ruined. I will be sharing my story with as many people as possible. I don’t have time right now, they are chasing me. I shot Pastor Tim 12 times, there is no way any human could have survived that event. Anyway, I have sent my story to all the major news organizations. I have no time, I have to go.”


https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/03/08/idaho-pastor-shooting-suspect-arrested-outside-white-house/

 

[Legion Troll]

A jury has found a former United States serviceman guilty of seeking to support a foreign terrorist organization after trying to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State.


http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/10/nyregion/tairod-pugh-ex-us-serviceman-is-found-guilty-of-trying-to-aid-isis.html

 

[Legion Troll]

The two top executives of the Wounded Warrior Project — among the largest veterans charities in the country — were fired Thursday after an investigation into accusations of lavish spending on parties, hotel and travel, CBS News reported.

Wounded Warrior Project's CEO, Steven Nardizzi, and COO, Al Giordano, were fired by the charity's board amid criticisms about how it spends more than $800 million raised in donations in the past four years, CBS News reported.

The charity's board of directors made their decision after a meeting in New York City, where they received preliminary results of a financial and policy audit, sources told CBS News.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/03/10/wounded-warrior-project-reportedly-fires-top-executives-amid-spending-controversy.html