European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 6, 1978, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Wednesday september 6, 1978 the stars and stripes Page 11 Marine fraud illegal recruiting is creating a class of untouchables who can t be disciplined by John Fialka Washington is Marine corps recruiting fraud which apparently is wide spread is creating a class of untouchable enlisted men who cannot be disciplined by the military Legal system. Instead they Are being separated from the corps with non punitive discharges and often with full veterans benefits. From february 1976 to june 1978, Accord ing to Marine corps Headquarters 790 marines were separated in this fashion from the corps because they had been enlisted with forged diplomas concealed criminal records drug problems mental illness or other problems which would have made them unfit for service. In nearly All of these cases the fraud was discovered after it had been raised As an absolute defense to charges brought against enlisted men for a wide variety of infractions ranging from unauthorized absence to heroin dealing and attempted murder under two recent cases handed Down by the . Court of military appeals in an at tempt to Stop fraudulent recruiting practices once the fraud is established the service loses All jurisdiction to discipline soldiers. In the marines however instead of Stop Ping fraudulent enlistment the cases Are now acting As a major loophole in the corp s criminal Justice system. According to several Marine corps Law yers and judges interviewed the process is now causing severe morale problems in line units where commanders Are becom ing reluctant to press disciplinary charges if they know it is Likely that a Recruiter fraud defense can be made. It is also Cost ing the government millions in wasted training rehabilitation and Legal costs and veterans benefits but the corps still appears to be extremely reluctant to discipline its recruiters. In one Case believed to be the largest single recruiting fraud Case in Marine his tory four new York recruiters were charged with bringing 281 panamanian aliens into the corps using a variety of ruses including fraudulent birth certificates and High school diplomas. Last week at Parr is Island s.c., the Mil itary trials of the four were completed. Marine juries have acquitted three of them. A fourth staff sgt. Jon g. Funk was demoted to sergeant and fined $1,395. According to the marines the Recruiter is identified in each untouchable  the slits european edition col. Billy e. Spangler Usa editor in chief it. Col. . Taylor Usan Deputy editor in chief Mert Proctor managing editor Elmer d. Frank production manager henrys. Epstein circulation manager this newspaper is an authorized unofficial publication for . Armed forces overseas. The stars and stripes is published in conjunction with the armed forces information program of the department of defense. Contents of the stars and stripes Are not necessarily the official View of the . Government the department of defense or the . European command. The appearance of displays in this newspaper concerning commercial publications does not constitute an endorsement by the department of de sense including the military departments. Military address the stars and stripes Apo 09175. International mail the stars and stripes Postrach 11 10 34, d-6100 Darmstadt 11, Germany. Tel Griesheim c prefix 061s5 611 m Darmstadt Airstrip prefix 2376 741, telex 0419-332. New York office room 948, 201 Varick st., new York 10014, Tel area code 212 620-3333. Second class postage paid at new York . News bureaus Bremerhaven Germany Dan Synovec building 103, Carl Schurz Cavern Bremerhaven military 8659 or Bremerhaven Civ 0471 88782 Kaiserslautern Germany Floyd Harrington building 2897, Pulaski Barracks Vogel Weh military 6050 or Kaiserslautern Civ 0631 52104nuernberg, Germany John Savard building 21, William o. Darby Cavern Nuernberg military 7256 or Nuernberg Civ 712563 Stuttgart Germany de Hill bldg. 4330, Mcgee Barracks Stuttgart military 7001 or Stuttgart civ541513 ., Gary Harris Raf Mildenhall co  Sports office Apo 09127. Mildenhall 712511 ext. 2231 or civilian Mildenhall 713882. Telex 81652 Washington d.c., John Hart Oast a the Pentagon room 2e756, Washington 20301, Tel. 202 697-6695. Circulation offices Germany Berlin civilian 8331846, Mil 6187 Bremer Haven Civ 85168, Mil 8119 Frankfurt Civ 692050 Kaiserslautern Civ 57617, Mil Vogel Weh 6050 Munich. Civ 6901503 or 6901504, Mil 6556 Nuernberg Civ 712558, Mil 7256 North German Region Rhein main Mil 7103 or 6025 Stutt Gart Civ s14596, Mil 6030. Greece Athens Civ 9923390 and telex tow2. Italy Van Conza Civ 55934. Spain Madrid Civ 2057546 or Torrejon air base Mil 754. Turkey Istanbul Civ 664372. United kingdom Greenham common Civ 44768, military 46263 ext. 209. Asked How Many recruiters had been disciplined in connection with the 790 recorded separations a corps spokesman said that it is having difficulty finding the exact number despite researching the matter for four Days at the request of the Washington Star. We have a number he said but it s very rough. We want to refine it a  meanwhile the corps system of Justice is groaning under a heavy Load of cases involving men who simply walk out As one Marine lawyer put it. According to Marine statistics an average of 50 untouchables Are now leaving the corps each month a number which is slightly less than one fourth of the average number of men brought before courts martial each month. Even Marine defense lawyers who have had a Legal Field Day using the recruiting fraud defense find the process unnerving. You have an individual who is a ticking time bomb said capt. John Atkinson an attorney in the judge advocate s office at Kaneohe Marine corps air station in Hawaii. Once a judge says the marines Don t have the jurisdiction to try him he becomes hell on wheels disobedient and  Atkinson said he just finished a Case where a Marine charged with trying to smuggle int off the base proved that his Recruiter had forged his High school diploma. That stopped the trial but before the corps had completed the paperwork to separate him from the service the Marine had broken into the locker of the senior sergeant in his Rifle battalion and burned his dress uniform. Again the corps could not touch him. According to Atkinson the untouchables often escape prosecution altogether be cause state and Federal prosecutors Are Loath to take cases that occur on military bases. As the senior Legal officer on the base you begin to worry about people s health and safety when you see this sort of thing operating Atkinson said. Capt. William Maxey another Marine attorney recently completed a year As a defense counsel at Camp Pendleton. I would say the fraud came up in about 75 percent of my cases. In about 60 percent of those it held up. For a defense counsel it s great. It gets Down to the nitty Gritty and the government has to prove jurisdiction and it can to had a big drug Sale a heroin Case where the Guy sold drugs to an under cover Man. It was just locked in. In theory they had him. In fact he walked out with a general  another Pendleton defense attorney who asked that his name be withheld Esti mated that he has walked at least 75 untouchables Many of them with criminal records that had been concealed by the Recruiter. Some cases Are very simple i Call the probation officer and he is startled. You mean to Tell me that so and so is in the Mil itary he will say. How the hell did he get in that Guy should be locked up what bugs me is that these people Are so clearly predictable As disciplinary prob lems that they re of no value to the Marine corps in the first place he added. In Marine Legal jargon the untouchables Are called Catlow Russo cases after a Case involving Marine pvt. Thomas Catlow who facing criminal charges was coerced into enlisting through the Conni Vance of a judge and a local Recruiter and Louis w. Russo an illiterate who was Able decorated army nurse May yet join vow Post Richfield Minn. A an Over seas Veteran of world War ii who was unceremoniously rejected by the veterans of foreign wars 32 years ago is More Wel come now. If you Don t belong in Here nobody does said one member of the Fred Bab cock vow Post in Richfield after looking Over the applicant s discharge papers. In 1946, it was different. Hazel Hill Turk was told you can t join. You re a Wom  the former army flight nurse fumed and her husband quit the vow. But the vow National convention voted to admit women and the picture changed. At first mrs. Turk was t impressed. Then she thought it Over and wound up at the vow Post in Richfield a Minneapolis suburb. Post members were impressed with her military record. As a first lieutenant during world War ii in the 801st medical air evacuation squad Ron she served in new Guinea the West Ern Pacific the South Philippines and Luzon. Her decorations include the distinguished unit badge four Battle stars a Victory medal american theater ribbon Philippines liberation ribbon Asiatic Pacific theater ribbon and two overseas service bars. But whether Shell become Minnesota s first female vow member in t certain because the National Headquarters has yet to Issue a directive on the change. She thinks the debate Over women in combat is ridiculous. She recalls dodging bullets during Basic training and mastering a Rifle and a Para Chute. She lived in the Jungle fighting malaria and snakes and flew in non Ressu sized two propeller aluminium planes. She injured her Back and now wears a Brace because she held onto a disturbed Soldier who tried to jump from an air plane. And she once found a japanese Soldier hiding under the wooden floor of her tent. He was shaking because i had my gun she says. He s still running far into the Sunset As far As i  letters motherhood recently an carried an interesting announcement that motherhood should be a matter of Choice. I thought it was Odd that an should carry  a Public service announcement about something so obvious. Then it occurred to me that the announcement might be saying that abortion should be a matter of Choice. Mothers who want to exercise their free Dom of Choice through an abortion should realize that abortion not Only terminates a pregnancy it terminates a life. No matter How nicely one tries to put it abortion kills a living being a baby a per son. Abortion is ugly and vicious. It is no Way for a Mother to exercise Freedom of Choice. Stanley f. Roche Brun sum the Netherlands a $20 Reward i lost Silver Dollar Money clip in the Vicinity of the rec Realton Center at Hahn a. A Reward of $20 plus the Money on the clip for its return with no questions asked is of . Sgt. Bud Pumroy Box 435 Apo 09109 to join the army after his Recruiter taught him the answers to the armed forces intelligence test. In the Russo Case decided by the . Court of military appeals in August 1975, the court said that by finding a Lack of jurisdiction to try Russo the Case will have the salutary effect of encouraging recruit ers to observe applicable recruiting regu lations while also assisting the armed forces in their drive to eliminate fraudulent recruiting  what happened according to Navy cmdr. Sebastian Gaeta head of the Navy s appellate defense division in Washington which handles Marine cases on Appeal was that there was an almost immediate groundswell of Catlow Russo cases that built from that Day on. We know that some of these claims Are unfounded but sometimes the government can t rebut them. There Are Many cases in which it is absolutely patently Clear that the kid was fraudulently enlisted Gaeta added. It s a particular problem in Japan where we Are told the japanese can t understand that people Are in the Marine corps but that the Marine corps can t touch  freeing people on Catlow Russo de lenses is clearly a painful decision for Many military judges. Recently capt. . Cedarburg chief judge on a panel of the Navy court of military review Here wrote a decision freeing a Marine who had committed a forcible sodomy on a fellow Marine at Parris Island. The defense was that a Recruiter had failed to note what he knew about the defendant s use of marijuana. Cedarburg s decision concluded that the ruling while in conformance with the Russo Case would Only erode respect for military Law. Who will vindicate these victims for the degradation they have suffered if the military Justice system cannot0" Cedar Burg added. One High ranking military judge admitted he has grave doubts about the Wisdom of Russo. It s getting out of hand. We recently saw a Case where a Guy was committing Larcenie in the Barracks so the men invited him out for a jog and then beat the hell out of him. They were charged with criminal assault. This thing just invites  one Marine defense attorney admitted that he had found his own Way out of the problem in serious cases i try not to find Russo  the Issue of Marine Recruiter fraud was raised in july when several Young recruit ers in Cleveland admitted to an investigator on the staff of sen. Howard m. Metzenbaum a Ohio that unrealistic recruitment quotas imposed by superiors forced them to resort to a wide Range of fraud including even the concocting of non existent phantom recruits through the use of ringers to take the necessary tests. At the time the Marine corps insisted that the affair was a very local  since then at the request of the Senate armed services committee Marine com mandant Gen. Louis Wilson has ordered a nationwide investigation of recruiting a  to a Marine spokesman the investigation has been completed and the results May be known soon. Cleaver visits Watts with a new convince los Angeles a Eldridge Cleaver the former militant Black Panther Fugi Tive packed a Bible instead of a gun when he returned to will Rogers Park in Watts after a 10-year absence. I used to carry a gun. Ready to take pm with me Cleaver told a crowd of about 500 people at opening ceremonies for the second annual gospel Watts happening Celebration. But i m not worried about it anymore. They re coming