Chinese man forms fake US army unit

[Sima Yi]

Chinese man forms fake US army unit

A Chinese national was arrested and charged Tuesday in a U.S. Army recruiting scam in which he convinced 100 others to enlist with the promise that it was a path to U.S. citizenship, authorities said.

Yupeng Deng, also known as David Deng, gave himself the title of "Supreme Commander" of an unauthorized military unit he called the U.S. Army/Military Special Forces Reserve unit, prosecutors said. The 51-year-old El Monte man allegedly recruited other Chinese nationals, primarily in the San Gabriel Valley, to join.

He is accused of providing recruits with phony U.S. Army uniforms, fake documents and military ID cards and charging them initiation fees ranging from US$300 to US$450, with renewal fees set at US$120 a year.

The recruits were instructed to report to Deng's office in Temple City, which was decorated to look like an official military recruiting center, to undergo military training and indoctrination, the Los Angeles County district attorney's office said. They marched in a parade in Monterey Park and took a tour of the U.S. Midway Museum in San Diego, all in uniform.

Deng was charged with 13 counts of theft by false pretenses, manufacturing deceptive government documents and counterfeit of an official government seal, prosecutors said. He faces more than eight years in state prison if convicted.

It was not known whether Deng had retained an attorney. An e-mail sent after-hours Tuesday to the district attorney's office was not immediately returned.

Deng was arrested by agents with the FBI and U.S. Department of Defense on a felony complaint filed Monday, Deputy District Attorney Richard Ceballos said. He was being held on US$500,000 bail and scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday.

Federal investigators began looking into Deng more than two years ago when they received reports from police who recovered counterfeit military IDs from some of Deng's recruits during traffic stops, FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said.

When Deng sent his recruits renewal forms for their bogus military IDs, some showed up at Army facilities to pay them, she said.

Deng also has been charged with one count of possession of child pornography stemming from a search warrant executed at his home. Authorities investigating the Army fraud case say they found child pornography on his home computer.

He was scheduled to be arraigned in that case on April 18, and faces up to three years in state prison if convicted. - AP

 

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[Sima Yi]

Chinese man accused of creating fake U.S. Army unit

Thu, Apr 14 2011

LOS ANGELES | Thu Apr 14, 2011 3:45pm EDT

(Reuters) - A Chinese man was arrested for creating a fake U.S. Army unit and convincing immigrants that joining the squad was a path to citizenship, authorities said.

Yupeng Deng, 51, allegedly gave his recruits military uniforms, had them parade in a Los Angeles suburb and took them to the decommissioned USS Midway aircraft carrier, which is a museum in San Diego.

Deng charged more than 100 fellow Chinese nationals a fee of between $300 and $450 to join the fake Army unit, according to the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office.

He called his bogus squad the U.S. Army/Military Special Forces Reserve unit, or MSFR for short, and he gave himself the lofty title of supreme commander, prosecutors said.

Aside from telling recruits that belonging to the unit was a path to U.S. citizenship, Deng also urged them to pay him cash for higher military rank, according to prosecutors.

He also allegedly provided them with fake documents and phony military identification cards.

Deng, a resident of the Los Angeles suburb of El Monte, was arrested on Tuesday by sheriff's deputies.

He was charged with theft by false pretenses, manufacturing deceptive government documents and counterfeit of an official government seal.

Deng faces up to eight years in prison if convicted. He is scheduled to be arraigned on Wednesday, and is being held on $500,000 bail.

Jane Robison, a spokeswoman for the District Attorney's Office, declined to comment on how Deng was caught.

"All the details and evidence will come out in a preliminary hearing," she said.

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis: Editing by Peter Bohan)