Fakers ordered to copy vets’ obituaries

A Montana judge has sentenced two men who lied about their military service to get resources and preferential treatment from a veterans court to copy over in longhand 40 obituaries of soldiers from Montana if they expect to be paroled.

Ryan Patrick Morris, 28, and Troy Allan Nelson, 33, apologized before being sentenced for separate crimes by Cascade County District Judge Greg Pinski.

Morris received 10 years in prison for violating probation after a felony burglary and falsely claimed that he was injured by a roadside bomb during one of seven combat tours. Nelson was sentenced to five years for drug possession and enrolled in a veterans court before it was discovered that he isn’t a veteran at all.

During a hearing last week, the judge said their claims were “abhorrent to the men and women who have actually served our country,” the Great Falls Tribune reported.

Morris must serve seven years and Nelson must serve three. They are eligible for parole part of the way through if they meet certain conditions, county attorney Joshua Racki said.

To qualify, both must hand-write the names of all 6,756 Americans killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, along with the obituaries of the 40 Montana soldiers in that group.

And, while on probation, they must wear placards on Memorial Day and Veterans Day outside the Montana Veterans Memorial with a sign that reads: “I am a liar. I am not a veteran. I stole valor. I have dishonored all veterans.”

AP/ROGELIO V. SOLIS Mississippi Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves, a Republican candidate for governor, casts his ballot Tuesday in Flowood, Miss., during the state’s runoff elections. Reeves has won the nomination and will face Democratic Attorney General Jim Hood and two other candidates in November.