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Topic starter
Quite a title for a new subject, eh?
But this is a cautionary note for (of course) felons, escapists or liars who think that by coming here they can leave all their troubles behind by relocating to "The American Paradise."
Felons - you can get by for a while but you will eventually be caught, Escapists - your personal problems won't miraculously disappear. The issues which motivated you to come here will continue to be with you.
Liars?
Ah, this is what prompted me to write...
Over the years I've come across a few of them but none so much as the last one. On island for just a few weeks, he started to come into my place. Well-spoken,in his late 40's, he was very chatty with people and his main thrust was that he had lost two sons in Iraq on the same day in the same firefight. He also claimed to be an ex-Marine sniper with 37 kills. Of course we all empathized with him about the deaths of his sons - what an awful tragedy!
And then there were a couple of people who just happened to question his talking about an assault versus a sniper firearm. A duh there!
To cut a long story short, it turns out that the story about his two sons being killed in Iraq on the same day in the same firefight is totally untrue - a fantasy. Thank goodness for the Internet which can squash such nonsense. I finally got to a CNN website which lists every American soldier to date who's been killed in Iraq. His kids weren't here.
The last time I questioned him about it, he said that his sons had taken on his ex-wife's maiden name and, "its true, and they're both buried in Arlington."
Well, guess what? The maiden name of his ex-wife failed to register with Iraq casualties and a further search of Arlington National Cemetery's website fails to show any record of any burials under either his name or the alleged name of his sons. Yikes!
Frankly, I find this not only offensive but truly obscene. Whoever on island contributes to this forum, please pass around the word on this sorry soul.
Thanks so much.
Posted : April 18, 2005 4:38 am
This happens on a daily basis. You need to figure out what is right from wrong. I see them myself. The most recent one said he was wounded in desert storm. He continues to lie about himself hee in St. Thomas. Feel sorry for the restaurant he works at. Has caused quite a stir there as well! Wonder if we are talking about the same guy? My guy says he is in in thirties and he stands about 5 foot 4. Originally from CA.
Ronnie
Posted : April 18, 2005 11:18 am
Topic starter
Hey Ronnie,
Not the same guy - but how about we get the two of them together, toss them into a snakepit and let them squirm away together in their morass of lies! It's just so horrible that these sickies blatantly solicit sympathy based on lies when so many have given their lives for their country, Cheers.
Posted : April 18, 2005 2:31 pm
I think I met one of these men also he was talking about his sons and how he worked 18 hours of construction and was now very rich. It's interesting how moving to a new place makes people feel that they can create a new life, one that has never existed. It is very sad that a person feels that they have to create sympathy to evaluate themselves. It seems to happen a lot so just be aware of outrageous stories.
Posted : April 22, 2005 4:03 am
Topic starter
Heyheyhey: Yes, you've indeed met him and I've also recently spoken to a bunch of people who've come across him at various bars. He hasn't been back to my place so far and I rather think he knows the gig is up here. The island grapevine is apparently doing its job - YEAH!
Posted : April 22, 2005 2:26 pm
To attempt to elicit sympathy by using the deaths of American servicemen is truly low and not forgivable. To further claim that your own child has died in combat is just despicable.
I encountered someone similar to this in San Diego when our family initially moved here. It seems when certain people move to any new city, they feel that they can "reinvent" themselves and tell any story that comes to mind.
Unfortunately San Diego is a very large city and we didn't have the benefit of the small town grapevine/internet to keep us safe from these types of predators.
I really feel they are predators too. This is not too harsh a word. They simply prey on your emotions rather than some other motivation. Sick.
This guy should be shunned and anyone attempting something similar should be "voted off the island".
Posted : April 22, 2005 3:41 pm
Maybe they are not welcome, but these folks seem to flock here. This is a short list of VI sayings I heard when I first moved here:
"Most of the stateside men are running from something."
"He's/She's a black sheep in a white family."
"No last names- I'm in the witness protection program."
"The odds are good, but the goods are odd."
"There is a warrant out for him in FL/NY/GA."
"We're here because we're not all there."
Granted, these are supposed to be humorous, but there seems to be a grain of truth. Part of the prejudice against newcomers that islanders have built up over the years.
Posted : April 22, 2005 9:08 pm
This is just too weird. I'm new here and was at Shipwreck tonight and someone was talking about this guy and said that he'd heard something about something on this forum about this guy. It clicked with me because one of my cousins was killed in Iraq.
Is this for real? Is this guy still here? I'll research too. Do you have last names, STT resident and can you give me the websires you went to? Thanks for any info.
Posted : May 1, 2005 4:00 am
Topic starter
Dear Dania,
I'm glad that the word is getting around about this man. Albeit initially reluctant to give his name on an open forum, I've decided to simply let go in light of your post. His name is Craig Peterson. The website I first went to was:
www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2003/iraq/forces/casualties/page6.html
...it's a very sobering website and you'll find your cousin there.
Craig said his sons took their mother's name which was ACOCK (which he spelled out for me) and that it was true and they were buried in Arlington National Cemetery. If you google on Arlington National Cemetery you can quickly access their database and find that nobody of that name is buried there.
Needless to say, Craig hasn't been in my place again. The gig was up here at least and he knew that. Which leads me to believe that he's not a sorry mentally-disabled veteran but a scam artist...
I'm so sorry that you lost a cousin In Iraq and my sympathy and empathy are wth you and yours. Take care!
Posted : May 2, 2005 4:22 am
Topic starter
Too bad that there has to be an update on this guy but, although I've seen neither hide nor hair of him since he realized that the gig was up where my place is concerned, the young man with whom he last came in here was in about a month ago. I really didn't recognize him but then he reminded me that he was in here with, "Craig who lost his two sons in Iraq?"
I told him it was BS and that he could research as did I. But apparently Craig still lives in the same place and is still here.
Just tonight, good friends came in and had a hilarious - albeit sad - tale to tell. When they'd received my email about this, they immediately realized that they'd met him at Tickles where he was spinning the same yarn. They bought him a drink and then they too became a little sceptical about his story.
They told MY story to a friend of theirs who had apparently befriended Craig and the friend didn't want to hear it. When they saw him much later on, the friend was still "with" Craig where his story was concerned and told them that Craig had been involved in such deep dark covert dealings where the "Special" Marines were concerned that his name would never appear anywhere under any format - and that anybody who blew his cover would be killed.
The last time Craig was in here and I finally questioned him about his sons, he said, "Well, don't even bother to look up MY name or records because everything I did has been erased and NOBODY can find my records!"
Good newbies, be aware. Craig's a real classic but I've seen an abundance of them who drift in and drift out. Some linger for many years preying on people, and I urge you to simply be cautious when you come across someone with a rather tall tale to tell! Cheers!
Posted : July 30, 2005 4:39 am
I wonder what does he gain from this? Free drinks?
Posted : August 1, 2005 2:38 pm
...and a reaction of some sort, apparently.
Great story, STT Resident! This guy sounds priceless. 😉
Best,
LR
Posted : August 2, 2005 2:53 pm
Lordy Lordy, this story seems to have no ending and has become quite bizarre as of the last couple of days, taking a real twist that "gob-smacked" me bigtime.
To those unfamiliar with English terminology, being "gob-smacked" means that you're confronted with information which puts you off balance bigtime and leaves you with your mouth ("gob") hanging down to your chest.
This really has a lot to do with this relocation forum and my intial post. However, rather than going into deep water, if anyone on this forum who has followed this post wants to know what's now going on, then please PM me and I'll tell you the latest. Yikes and cheers!
Posted : September 26, 2005 4:02 am
Oh, now... you can't leave us all hanging....
Is the guy still around and still declaring it everyone's patriotic duty to buy him a drink? Or does the story get even more sinister?
Posted : September 26, 2005 3:39 pm
Tell you what - since this really is an "island story" I'll save it for the St. Thomas get-together on Tuesday October 25th. Suffice it to say that we met his wife the other night. She's been on island for less than a year, met him while she was working at a local bar, thought he was an a****** and then discovered his truly wonderful caring side, believes absolutely everything he says to be the truth and married him last week after "dating" him for a couple of months. Seemed from talking to her that he spun some yarn to her about how he and I had some sort of a "falling out" (totally untrue, of course, because he just never came back after I asked him about the names of his sons.)
This should be interesting...
Posted : September 26, 2005 11:07 pm
Just heard tonight that he's apparently found a (for now) "safe haven" at a local East End bar where he's still parlaying his sorry tale ad nauseum and has the attention of the bartender who thinks he's just great.
Anybody who's even remotely interested in continuing the "outing" of this creep can PM me and I'll be more than happy to pass on to you the CNN website which lists every US soldier killed to date in Iraq and the address for the Arlington National cemetery database. Cheers!
Posted : October 23, 2005 6:10 am
STT Resident,
He sure is. I met him the other night. Before he even opened his mouth, he skeeved me out. Then he started in with the "dead sons" routine, and even bragged that he was such a talented sniper that he could "take out" someone on St. John while he was sitting on St. Thomas.
As soon as he started talking, we put two and two together and realized he was who you posted about. This was further confirmed by people at the bar--one of whom actually *is* a Marine and served overseas and was wounded in the line of duty.
I am as appalled as the rest of you at his brazen and malicious false story about his sons. What a nasty fake!
Thanks for the heads up, STT Resident.
Hopefully as the word gets around, fewer and fewer people will tolerate this guy-- and no more time or free drinks will be wasted on him!
Best,
LR
PS Wonder how much an ad in the Daily News "outing" him would cost?? 😉
Posted : October 23, 2005 4:02 pm
Dear Loyal Reader,
The local grapevine works well but your point in asking about a Daily News ad is worth looking into. I'm not sure how "kosher" that might be. And. unfortunately, a whole bunch of people here don't read the local newspapers (or read, period..)
Of course you saw from my posts that he's both still around, got married here. I'll post the relevant websites as soon as I am able..
Posted : October 24, 2005 4:06 am
Forget the outing, I can't believe this a**hole hasn't had the s**t beaten out of him. Most vets wouldn't put up with a piece of crap like this.
Maybe I have to meet him when I get down there in June, hmmmm.
Posted : October 24, 2005 2:48 pm
The cnn website which lists all those killed in Iraq to date is:
www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2003/iraq/forces/casualties/
No "Acock" is listed and only one Peterson who was a female soldier.
Posted : October 24, 2005 4:19 pm
my husband and I ran into him at a marina bar on St Thomas last week when we came over to collect our boat and bring her back to St Croix - I hadn't read all this stuff about him, but it was easy to spot he was a fake almost immediately! his age wasn't right for Vietnam service - he came here for his "sons", then all of a sudden they were both killed in Iraq!
He then claimed to have patented a machining process in NE - got millions for his business etc. His shoes did seem remarkably filthy for such a high powered gent!
The guy was an immediately obvious drunken loser - just laugh at the richness and diversity of life and move on!
He claims to be a machinist at a business next to the Compass Point Marina (he was in the bar there) and he said he lived up in Smith bay (between the 2 speed bumps). He even gave me a card - Caribbean Machine Metals and Design - just in case we needed machine work done!!
I wouldn't waste a minute more on this guy - caveat emptor! or socializat (sic) emptor especially in bars!
Posted : October 24, 2005 4:23 pm
What a piece of garbage. And I'd call him that to his face. He should be called out on this crap since it tarnishes those did serve in Viet Nam and those who serve today in Iraq.
It's tough to have been in Viet Nam if you are anywhere under the age of 50 y.o. Since we started to draw down in 1972.
What a piece of crap this guy is.
Posted : October 24, 2005 5:32 pm
My husband served as a marine medic in vietnam and he didn't say a word to this guy - i asked him about it later and he just felt that this guy was such a pitiful twit that he didn't have the power to 'tarnish' anything.
I must admit that I started screwing with him for fun - asking for details etc of "nam" and his sons and his machining invention and then asking increasingly more stupid questions - in the end he took his bottle of vodka and went home. Best Possible outcome!
Posted : October 24, 2005 6:42 pm
Jane, you're hubby must be a much nicer guy than I am, LOL. And I guess if you've been there done that it must be pretty fun or as you say pitiful to listen to him.
Posted : October 24, 2005 11:47 pm
Sounds like maybe his name describes him "Acock" = A Cock. Please accept my humble apology if I have offended anyone!
There are all kinds on these islands. Whether they flock here or we just find them because of the small proximity of being on an island...
Posted : October 26, 2005 4:05 am
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