A Philadelphia man who was caught posing as an Army Ranger at a shopping mall on Black Friday once pleaded guilty to impersonating a police officer after he was caught wearing the uniform of a cop who was killed in the line of duty.
The man, 30-year-old Sean Yetman, is also being investigated by police and the U.S. Army for possible violation of the Stolen Valor Act of 2013.
Yetman was confronted by Ryan Berk, a 26-year-old Purple Heart recipient, in the Oxford Valley Mall in Bucks County last week.
Berk had spotted Yetman telling a child about his military service, but he knew something was not right and confronted the man while filming the entire exchange.
Video from the encounter, posted to the YouTube account for Stolen Valor, went viral and has received nearly 3 million views.
Berk, a veteran of the war in Afghanistan, caught Yetman in numerous lies.
He asked the fraudster where he earned the three Combat Infantry Badges on his uniform. Yetman initially said he got all three in Afghanistan. Berk pointed out that it is impossible to get three of the badges, called CIBs, in one theatre. Yetman then said he received one badge in Iraq and two in Afghanistan. Berk then informed him that only one badge is given per war, regardless of the number of tours one serves. (RELATED: Veteran Confronts Man Wearing A ‘Fake’ Army Ranger Uniform)
Berk picked apart other inconsistencies in Yetman’s uniform and became increasingly agitated during the exchange
“He’s full of shit wearing a United States Army uniform, claims to be a United States Army Ranger,” Berk announces in the video.
“You know what, I’ve worn that fucking uniform,” Berk says. “And I’ve had friends get killed in Afghanistan wearing that fucking uniform.”
Yetman denied that he was a fraud and quickly moved away from Berk.
Now, it has come to light that Yetman’s dress-up routine was not an isolated incident.
According to the Bucks County Courier Times, Yetman was arrested in 2003 during a traffic stop while wearing the police coat of Robert Hays, a police officer who was killed in the line of duty in 1995. Yetman was also wearing Hays’ badge. He pleaded guilty to impersonating a public servant and received three months’ probation.
According to police, Hays’ widow said she had given her husband’s coat and badge to her son. Yetman knew Hays’ son and likely obtained the deceased officer’s coat that way.
A woman at Yetman’s Philadelphia home said that Yetman does have military experience, the Courier Times reported. The woman did not elaborate.
The paper also reported that Yetman’s name is not listed in U.S. Army databases which lists active duty and recently retired soldiers. He is also not listed as an Army Ranger.
Local police and U.S. Army investigators are investigating whether Yetman committed a crime under the Stolen Valor Act of 2013, which made it illegal to falsely wear a military uniform or embellish one with unearned insignia in order to gain material benefit.