Noteboom The Law Firm

Nevada Seeking State Counterpart of Stolen Valor Act

June 7, 2010 - The Stolen Valor Act is a federal law that was placed on the books in 2005. Essentially, the law provides for the prosecution of those individuals impersonating military personnel. Two weeks ago, the Nevada Veterans Services Commission (NVSC) began drafting legislation providing the state the ability to prosecute individuals violating the federal Stolen Valor Act.

Nevada is not the first state to enact this type of legislation and its timing is not coincidental. In 2 months the U.S. Attorney will prosecute its first case in Nevada under the federal Stolen Valor Act. Those states that have already passed a state equivalent law and are therefore able to prosecute cases of military fraud include:

• Connecticut;
• Illinois;
• Missouri;
• California; and
• Kentucky.

There are approximately 339,000 veterans residing in Nevada and these are the people whose integrity would be protected by passing a state level Stolen Valor Act. What a veteran's job was while he was in the military is irrelevant. The focus of this legislation is that every time someone impersonates a member of the armed services, it insults the honor and integrity of all soldiers.

Given the FBI's mission handling terrorism cases, they are only investigating the most severe cases of military fraud. Unfortunately, the amount of cases of people impersonating military personnel is rising to "epidemic proportions." It is more than just impersonating soldiers, however. Most people impersonate military personnel in order to defraud either other people or to fraudulently receive benefits from the VA.

Various situations force the federal Stolen Valor Act to be selectively prosecuted. The thinking is a state law would enable more active and vigorous prosecution of such cases. Establishing a state law would remove a burden from federal authorities and would give the states more ability to go after the offenders as they should be.