The action comes on the heels of an incident where police confronted a 75-year-old veteran named Bob Ford over Memorial Day weekend. Ford had attended a wreath-laying ceremony early Monday morning in uniform, then strolled through an arts festival. An Army soldier in a t-shirt and shorts, whose credentials were not questioned, demanded that police investigate Ford. After questioning him twice, police officers followed Ford, shouting "Stolen Valor!" until he left the area.
"This is a serious, serious issue," said Harrisburg Police Detective John O'Connor, who was part of the original incident. "A food vendor might have given him a free cup of water. Or an artist might have thanked him for his service. The guy had the wrong belt buckle for a Marine, and if that's not evidence of a hardened criminal, I don't know what is.
"Murder investigations are hard," O'Connor continued. "We have a bunch piling up, but this feels like a 'win' to stop whatever he was up to. And we're going to continue our efforts next month. A caller tipped us off to say a lot of impersonators - I think he called them re-enactors - will be around the area next month.We're already gearing up to stop these people before they impersonate again. I'm a vet, too, so this really, really matters to me."
O'Connor declined to provide proof of his service to this news source.
