Name: Former Staff Sgt. Preston Garris
From: La Grange, N.C.
The lie: In order to be appointed to the Veterans Affairs Commission in North Carolina, Garris, in 2005, produced a DD 214 for the Department of Veterans Affairs stating he retired as a first lieutenant and earned a Silver Star and two Purple Hearts during the Vietnam War, said Charlie Smith, assistant secretary of the North Carolina Division of Veterans Affairs.
The reality: His real DD 214 provided by the Marine Corps states he got out of the Corps as a staff sergeant. One Purple Heart he earned after a portion of his leg was amputated due to a wound he sustained in the Vietnam War is not disputed. At press time, the Marine Corps was still trying to find records of his Silver Star and the second Purple Heart. Doug Sterner, who maintains a database of Silver Star recipients and is frequently contacted by the FBI and other government agencies for confirmation of awards, could not find him in his database.
The result: Once members began questioning his service in 2005, he resigned in November of that year, but he did not admit embellishing his record. He was also running for junior vice commander-in-chief of the Southern Conference of the Veterans of Foreign Wars at that time. His biography posted during his campaign on the VFW Web site reported he earned the Silver Star, Combat Action Ribbon and two Purple Hearts. Garris lost the election.
His case was investigated by the FBI, and the results of the investigation were handed off to the Justice Department this summer, but no charges have yet been filed, said FBI agent Greg Baker, who oversaw the investigation.
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2007/09/marine_faker_list_070916/
