A 39-year-old Columbia man has been sentenced to 10 days behind bars for posing as a wounded, decorated Navy SEAL veteran.
Chad Chan Dieu also must perform 100 hours of community service within six months and will spend one year on probation with mental health treatment, a federal judge in Greenbelt ruled. Dieu was convicted under the Stolen Valor Act, which outlaws the buying and wearing of military medals, badges, or decorations without authority.
In the summer of 2009, Dieu pretended to be a volunteer at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, prosecutors said. But instead of helping wounded troops, he posed a member of the Navy so he could order and then purchase medals and insignia at the Navy Exchange Uniform Shop located inside the medical center.
At some point between July 15 and Aug. 3, a service member spotted Dieu wearing ribbons that didn’t match up and reported Dieu to the police, court documents said. The witness reportedly told authorities that Dieu was wearing a Navy SEAL badge, a Defense Distinguished Service Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, a Navy Distinguished Service Medal, a Silver Star, a Purple Heart and other ribbons.
The Distinguished Service Medal is given to only the most senior officers and the oak leaf cluster implies the recipient has been awarded more than one from the president. The Silver Star is awarded to any service member who shows gallantry in the face of an enemy and the Purple Heart is designated for those who have been wounded or killed in a combat zone.
On July 23, base police received a tip that Dieu was in the uniform shop and they escorted him to the station to verify his identity, court documents said. Dieu was wearing a Navy uniform at the time and was released by base police after he told them he was a Navy SEAL. It wasn’t until he was gone that authorities determined that Dieu was not — and never had been — a member of any branch of military service. But Dieu returned to the uniform shop on Aug. 3 to pick up medals he had ordered and was arrested after he picked up two Silver Star ribbons, two Unit Combat Action ribbons, a Navy Good Conduct ribbon, and three stars. Additional decorations and medals were found in Dieu’s car.
