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| Prank call tells husband wife killed in Iraq | |
| 2004-03-05 | |
| Hat tip PW. A phone call to Eddie Valentin saying that his wife, a U.S. Army Reserve sergeant, had been killed in an explosion in Iraq turned out to be a hoax. What asshole would DO such a thing!? But it took him nearly 24 hours to find out that the report of Sgt. Betsy Valentin’s death was false. ``I went crazy. I banged my head against the wall,’’ Eddie Valentin said Thursday. The caller Wednesday claimed to be a colonel with the U.S. Department of Defense and knew personal information about Betsy Valentin, including her Social Security number, her husband said. Eep! On Thursday afternoon, another call to Eddie Valentin cleared things up. It was his 37-year-old wife telling him that there had been no explosion and no injuries. Her call was prompted by an e-mail message to her from a reporter for the Republican-American who had interviewed her when she was home on leave last month. The reporter sent the message after being unable to confirm the report of her death with military officials. A reply came four hours later. She wrote that she was fine and had spent the day packing up gear she no longer needed. She followed that up with the call to her husband. Police were at the Valentin home when the sergeant’s call came in. ``There are a lot of sick people in this world,’’ Eddie Valentin told his wife. No kidding. After talking to the military, police said Friday they are sure the call was a cruel prank, and they are pursuing a criminal investigation. ``The military was definitive. That is not how they notify next of kin when there has been a casualty,’’ said police Sgt. Scott Stevenson. Army officials said next of kin normally are notified in person by a soldier in uniform. Next of kin are only notified by telephone in rare cases, such as when the military wants to tell a family member before the name is released in the news media, they said. ``No one in the Army has placed this call,’’ said Tesia Williams, spokeswoman for the U.S. Army human resources command. She said there have been at least two other similar hoaxes. Ouch. Police executed a search warrant Friday to obtain cell phone records to determine where the call came from, Stevenson said. Potential charges would include harassment and criminal impersonation, Stevenson said. ``The husband, he was just incredulous,’’ Stevenson said. ``He could not comprehend who would make a phone call like that.’’
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| Posted by:Steve from Relto |
| #15 Well that pisses me off! |
| Posted by: Lil Dhimmi 2004-3-5 5:05:09 PM |
| #14 Google "Betsy Valentin". Police inspected the phone records and found out he was lying about the whole thing. She's seeking a divorce. |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2004-3-5 4:44:22 PM |
| #13 'We Were Soldiers' was not right. A soldier of equal or higher rank and a Chaplain come to the door. When they find this IDIOT they should make sure EVERYONE in the city/county/state knows their name. I also like the idea of sending him to Iraq! If you need a guard for him I have experience and am willing to travel. |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge (VRWC CA Chapter) 2004-3-5 4:04:13 PM |
| #12 Tibor - no. As OP said - every notification that I am aware of was always conducted in person. |
| Posted by: Doc8404 2004-3-5 2:49:41 PM |
| #11 Was "We Were Soldiers" inaccurate when it had a taxi cab driver delivering telegrams to newly widowed women? |
| Posted by: Tibor 2004-3-5 2:23:15 PM |
| #10 There were dozens of cases such as this during the Vietnam War. Quite a number of them were perpetrated by Vietnam Veterans Against the War. My wife got one such call five minutes after I'd hung up with her on a MARS call. If I remember correctly, about a dozen people were prosecuted for this kind of behavior in the 1970's, and several of them got a year or more in prison. The military has a policy that the notification of the death of a soldier/sailor/airman/marine is ALWAYS done in person, usually by an officer AND a chaplain. When it's a non-combat death, it's usually done by the unit commander and First Sergeant, along with a local chaplain. The sickos that make telephone calls like this deserve to be locked away for the remainder of their short, brutal lives in an unheated jail cell in central Alaska. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2004-3-5 12:48:28 PM |
| #9 Isn't is Army policy that when a soldier dies, an officer pays a personal visit to the family to break the news? That always seemed to be the case. Anyone with friend or family in Iraq would be wise to get clarification on this from the proper officials just in case some Moby-like asshole tries this crap on other people. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2004-3-5 12:34:00 PM |
| #8 so did kerry's team have a few down moments free - since according to kerry american soldiers are monsters. |
| Posted by: Dan 2004-3-5 12:06:09 PM |
| #7 Maybe it was Moby who called. He has admitted that he is willing to lie and deceive people to get rid of Bush. For the record, I agree with SW's approach. |
| Posted by: Tibor 2004-3-5 11:24:13 AM |
| #6 Isn't is Army policy that when a soldier dies, an officer pays a personal visit to the family to break the news? |
| Posted by: growler 2004-3-5 11:10:16 AM |
| #5 Barbara, I like the "no contact with his family" part of what you said. Maybe from time to time someone can approach him and say "Sorry to break this to you, but there was a car accident the other day...". Or would that be to cruel? |
| Posted by: Lil Dhimmi 2004-3-5 11:08:20 AM |
| #4 This has happened before. The services need to do a better job of communicating their policies regarding notice of kin, so that a$$hole lefties can't prey on family members. |
| Posted by: BH 2004-3-5 11:07:00 AM |
| #3 When they catch and convict the bastard who did this, his sentence should be to go to Iraq and clean toilets for the U.S. Forces for a month. And no contact with his own family (assuming he even has one) during the time he's gone. Or hang him up by his balls - his choice. |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2004-3-5 11:03:34 AM |
| #2 My first thought was that the law should find this joker and deal with him. Then I thought, nah, just figure out who he is and let the First Sargeant of this woman's unit know. He'll know how to take care of it. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2004-3-5 11:02:59 AM |
| #1 I sort of recall more than two of these incidents. It doesn't surprise me that some anti-war anti-Bush shithead would screw with people's heads like that. |
| Posted by: growler 2004-3-5 11:00:25 AM |