Officer charged with faking rank, award

Officer charged with faking rank, award
By Mark D. Faram - Staff writer
Posted : Friday May 9, 2008 11:45:51 EDT

A Navy Reserve public affairs officer is facing a general court-martial next week for allegedly forging an award citation and pretending to be a lieutenant when he was one rank lower at the time, the Navy said.

Lt. Paul J. Pelletier, 42, is charged with five counts of violating the Uniform Code of Military Justice, including failure to obey an order or regulation, making false official statements and going absent without leave. His court-martial is set to begin May 13. Calls to Pelletier’s cell phone were not answered as of Thursday afternoon.

According to the charge sheet, Pelletier put himself in for a Joint Service Achievement Medal at some point between June 20 and July 20, 2006, while serving with Multi-National Force in Baghdad. He served at Camp Victory in Iraq for nine months in 2006.

The award justification “outlined achievements he had not accomplished,” the sheet said.

Around the same time, he wore the rank of lieutenant when he was actually a lieutenant junior grade, the sheet said. He continued to wear the unauthorized rank, the charge sheet stated, even though he had been ordered by a captain to stop. At the time, he was still a year away from being eligible for that rank, according to Navy records.


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/05/navy_pelletiergcm_050808/