- The jury is still out on David L. Silbergeld of Luangola
Lake, PA. His story is that he joined the Navy in 1962 and became a Frogman
with UDT-11, then he managed to serve three 'tours' in Vietnam with SEAL
Team One out of Coronado. During his service in country with SEAL One,
he was leading a group of ARVN troops who were not very motivated and managed
to get into a firefight with some NVA or VC. Silbergeld killed 11 of them
in hand to hand combat and 'took out' a three man mortar position. For
this action, of course, he was awarded a couple purple hearts for wounds
received. After all, most everybody I have ever know who killed 11 motivated
VC or NVA in hand to hand got a couple scratches, at least. Gimme a break!
-
- So when Davie got back to the States, of course he signed
up with the Special Forces Reserves in upstate New York. Somehow, with
all his education he had gleaned during his time before, during and after
the Navy, he managed to get a degree in business. So being a former SEAL,
he was able to join the SF Reserves as an officer. By the time he was promoted
up to Captain, the Navy finally came through with the Silver Star for his
heroism in that horrible fight with those motivated VC that he killed all
by himself. The Unit pinned it on him in an awards ceremony in front of
God and everybody.
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- By the time 1979 rolled around, according to his attorney,
Ronald Fischetti, Silbergeld was charged for drawing unemployment for a
period of time while he was working.
-
- In 1982 he was caught in New York with 610 pounds of
cocaine a fully automatic weapon, and a number of hand grenades in his
possession. The judge decided perhaps a change of scenery would do this
boy some good, so according to the Bureau of Prisons, he was sent to Allenwood
Federal Correctional Institution for a sentence of three to fifteen years,
and was placed on lifetime parole.
-
- Allegedly, while in prison, he managed to get his Ph.D.
from Columbia Pacific University, a non-accredited diploma mail order operation
out of CA.
-
- After he 'graduated' from Federal Prison and armed with
his new Ph.D., he started teaching history at Luzerne County Community
College in Luzerne, PA.
-
- His new company called Nite Optics, sold NVG equipment
to the U.S. Government. Once again greed got the better of him (if there
IS any better of him) and he forged documents and shafted Uncle Sam in
his dealings. Once again he was before a judge, charged with fraud. He
had managed to get an extra $60,000 in dealings with the government, and
created documents (much like those in his forged service jacket) to cover
this up.
-
- During his sentencing, in September 1993, Silbergeld
impressed upon the judge that he was a veteran of combat in Vietnam with
Underwater Demolition Team Eleven and SEAL Team One. The judge, who could
have really put him away this time because of his lifetime parole, cut
him some slack and only gave him 15 months on this charge.
-
- When he was released in 1995, he continued to teach at
Luzerne County Community College. By now he had become a member of the
prestigious National Defense Industrial Association and wrote many 'authoritative'
papers on military subjects. The leadership of the organization accepted
him because of his 'extensive' military background and involvement with
the SEALs and Special Forces.
-
- The house of cards started to crumble around him when
he was slated to give a speech and the advance information announced the
he was a 'former SEAL. Steve Morelli, a reporter for the Times Leader newspaper
in Wilkes Barre, PA, knew of my work exposing fake SEALs and called me
on the phone to ask if I had anybody named Silbergeld in the database.
It took about thirty seconds to confirm this guy was a total fraud. Jokingly,
I asked him if he had a Ph.D. from Columbia Pacific and a criminal record.
Steve said he'd get back to me.
-
- You guessed it, both his Master's and Ph.D. were from
CPU, and he claimed a degree from the University of Buffalo, NY. A phone
call by Steve to that school got stonewalled and they would not tell him
anything, but a couple more calls gathered the facts that Silbergeld had
signed up for classes by never attended. This degree was what he had put
on his résumé. Once it was established that he didn't have
a degree from Buffalo U, he started claiming he had one from Niagara University.
A few phone calls to them managed to break through the squelch and they
claimed he had attended Niagara U from September 1961 and received a Bachelor's
degree in May of 1964. I asked if he had attended school the entire time.
They said that he had.
-
- There is still something wrong with this picture. He
was IN FACT in the Navy as a Personnelman Striker (E-3 designated to become
a Personnelman) from December 1962 until December 1964. He was a reservist
on the two by four program. Two years active duty and four years reserve
to fulfill the service obligation of those days. He was stationed at Beachmaster
Unit in Coronado, across the street from the SEAL Team and UDT Teams on
the Silver Strand.
-
- As more and more truth oozed out of this entire story,
I made a few phone calls to my friends in the Veterans' Administration
and determined that David L. Silbergeld was drawing the full amount of
$2367 a month, which represents 100% disability. A source close to the
V.A. advised this amount was being paid for 'wounds received, and unemployability
due to PTSD.' That's pretty good, considering he never served a day in
Vietnam, was not a SEAL, or frogman, and was never qualified to be a Special
Forces Officer, although he claimed he was a Master Parachutist, got the
Silver Star, Bronze Star, PUC, NUC, two Purple Hearts, and even an Expeditionary
Medal. He was holding down a job while drawing money for being unemployable.
This smacks of a more pathetic version of the unemployment scam of his
younger years.
-
- Needless to say, in spite of their seeming reluctance
to discharge such a pillar of the community and a bright light as Silbergeld,
he was finally let go at LCCC. The Executive Director of the UDT/SEAL Association,
Captain Robert Rieve, USN, Ret. (SEAL) wrote Silbergeld and advised him
to send his membership card in the Association back to them as he had lied
to join. He had claimed to have graduated in UDT/R (BUD/S) Class 31 West
Coast. At this writing, I am sure that the Special Forces Association has
also booted him out. He joined that by claiming to be a former SEAL and
backing it up with forged documents.
-
- Speaking of forged documents, two letters that we obtained
from the FOIA request to the Navy Archives in MO, came back bearing a Commander
Thomas Steffens' signature. I recognized the name. Tom is now a Rear Admiral
and still a SEAL on active duty. A quick phone call from to Tom, after
he had received the two letters by fax, confirmed my suspicions. These
letters were written and Tom's signature had been cut off another letter
and affixed to these, then the letters were photocopied. This appears to
be fraud from where I sit.
-
- At the present time, the Navy and the Army, as well as
the Veterans' Administration are focusing on how all these fraudulent documents
managed to get into the archives. The investigation into the illegal drawing
of disability pay from the V.A. is not over, and is expected not only to
indict Silbergeld, but also flush out a number of others who are doing
this same thing.
-
- My friend Jug Burkett, author of STOLEN VALOR, was quoted
as saying, "The Department of Veterans Affairs is rife with abuse.
There are thousands defrauding the VA out of billions of dollars. The far
reaching fraud is more extensive than any other in the federal government."
-
- Jug believes the fraud has grown since his appearance
on ABC's 20/20 show in 2000.
-
- "They talk among themselves and tell each other
how easy it is to do it," Jug states. "The doctors never go to
get military records to see if there is one ounce of truth in what they're
telling them."
-
- Let me close by saying the ONLY way we nailed this puke
was his claim of being a former SEAL. Otherwise it could have gone on until
his death. Even then, he may have been buried with 'military honors' for
his heroic non-deeds in that ferocious hand to hand fighting in Vietnam.
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- Steven L. Waterman P.O. Box 188 South Thomaston, ME 04858
207.594.4000 http://www.justasailor.com
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- http://www.sftt.org/article04242002a.html
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