Two Montana men who lied about being veterans sentenced

2 men who lied about military service must wear sign that says 'I am a liar,' judge rules

GREAT FALLS, Mont. - Cascade County District Judge Greg Pinski came down hard Friday on two men who falsely claimed to the court that they’d served in the military.

Ryan Patrick Morris, 28, and Troy Allan Nelson, 33, were both before Pinski for violating the terms of their deferred or suspended sentences in two separate, unrelated cases.

Morris was originally charged in April 2017 in a burglary case, where court documents state he stole about $1,500 worth of items from his landlord’s garage.

Pinski already had slapped Morris with a contempt of court charge and community service when his lies about military service were first discovered back in 2016. Morris claimed Friday he completed only 10 of the 400-plus hours he was assigned because he couldn't do that much community service and hold down a job.

Morris claimed in court that he'd done seven combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, suffered from combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder and had a hip replacement after being injured by an improvised explosive device, or IED.

Nelson was accused in January 2018 of forgery and elder abuse for spending money from his 86-year-old neighbor’s account and days later had six more charges added when it was discovered he used shared access to steal more than $14,000 of the woman’s money and burglarized her home, per the affidavit.

Both men were before the judge for committing numerous violations of their release conditions.

Nelson reportedly tested positive for drugs, failed to provide urinalysis, didn’t show up for court, quit his job and cut off his GPS monitor and lost it.

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It was Morris’ third time before the court for violations, and he reportedly failed to check in with his probation officer and was eventually arrested in Georgia in May.

During Friday’s hearing, Pinski focused on the two men’s lies about their military service, pointing out that Nelson had even managed to get himself enrolled in Veterans Treatment Court before the deception was uncovered.

Morris was assigned to report to the Vet Court coordinator but was accused the following day of violating bail conditions by carrying a firearm and consuming alcohol.

Neither man was officially charged with stolen valor, which is a federal crime.

The Stolen Valor Act of 2013 prohibits falsely holding oneself out to be a recipient of certain military decorations with intent to obtain money, property or other tangible benefit.

Pinski’s sentence, however, was tailored to punish Morris and Nelson for their lies to the court.

“There are certain people — shameful people — who have not put their lives on the line for this country who portray themselves as having done so,” Pinski told the defendants, adding that their behavior was “abhorrent to the men and women who have actually served our country.”

For the original charge of felony criminal possession of dangerous drugs, Nelson was sentenced to 5 years in the Montana State Prison, with 2 years suspended.

For the original charge of felony burglary, Morris was sentenced to the Montana State Prison for 10 years, with 3 suspended.

Both defendants received the following conditions in order to be eligible for parole:

Personally hand-write the names of all 6,756 Americans killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Personally hand-write the obituaries of the 40 Montanans killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Personally hand-write letters of apology identifying themselves as having lied about military service to the American Legion, AMVETS, the Disabled American Veterans, the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Vietnam Veterans of America.

He also assigned both men 441 hours of community service, one hour for each of the Montanans killed in combat since the Korean War.

In addition, Pinski mandated that every year during the suspended portions of each of their sentences, both men must stand at the Montana Veterans Memorial for eight hours on each Memorial and Veterans Day wearing a placard that reads, “I am a liar. I am not a veteran. I stole valor. I have dishonored all veterans.”

“I want to make sure that my message is received loud and clear by these two defendants,” Pinski said. “You’ve been nothing but disrespectful in your conduct. You certainly have not respected the Army. You’ve not respected the veterans. You’ve not respected the court. And you haven’t respected yourselves.”

Both men’s attorneys objected to the placard condition, with attorney Mark Frisbie also pointing out that although his client has not been charged with stolen valor, he is being punished for it in court.

“While acts of stolen valor are very, very important,” Frisbie said, “they are not the basis of this revocation.”

Pinski cited a Montana Supreme Court case that he said gives him the discretion to impose this sentence and take the stolen valor into account.

He also cited a specific case that upheld the placard portion of the sentence and said similar punishments have been used, specifically in Montana.

Both defendants apologized for lying to the court and expressed their regret for any harm they caused to members of the U.S. military.

Follow Traci Rosenbaum on Twitter: @GFTrib_TRosenba.