Marine vet lied about Iraq injury to steal $350,000: prosecutors

A Marine vet faces criminal charges for using a fake story about being the sole survivor of an Iraq IED blast to bilk the government out of almost $350,000 in payments for injuries he didn't actually have, reported The Daily Beast on Friday.

Paul John "P.J." Herbert, according to Justin Rohrlich, "described traveling through the mountains of Iraq with a contingent of British Royal Marines when they hit an IED," for a laudatory piece in the Daily Hampshire Gazette. "Herbert said he and the others were providing safe passage to Kurds fleeing Saddam Hussein’s chemical attacks, under Operation Provide Comfort, which stretched from 1991 to 1996." He even went so far as to file a Purple Heart application for these injuries in 2017.

However, according to the report, it was all a lie.

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"A group of veterans realized that some of Herbert’s tales didn’t make sense, according to one who spoke to the Recorder in 2022," said the report. "For one, IEDs did not come into regular use in Iraq until the early 2000s. And vets who knew Herbert and had seen his discharge papers were further taken aback when, at an event, he told stories that didn’t match up with his official service record. Further, a local veteran said details of his own near-death experience in Afghanistan — specifically, the part about hearing a helicopter propeller upon coming to in Iraq — wound up in Herbert’s 'recollections.' When they asked Herbert to provide proof of his claims, he gave them a form that hasn’t been used since the Korean War."

Over the years, said the report, Herbert has used this fake story to fraudulently obtain $344,040 in disability benefits. He also received a free service dog. Nor is this the only lie he appears to have told about his military service; per the report, he "admitted to wearing more than a dozen other ribbons and medals he never earned."

Herbert faces a maximum of 10 years in prison for theft, and up to five years in prison for false statements.

Misrepresenting military service is taken very seriously, even in cases when the lies aren't used for monetary gain. Last year, pro-Trump Ohio congressional candidate J.R. Majewski's campaign fell apart after it was revealed he falsely claimed he was a "combat veteran" in Afghanistan when he actually just loaded up planes at an airbase in Qatar, and falsely claimed he was demoted a rank for getting in a barracks fight when it was actually for a DUI.