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Man warned to stop impersonating veteran
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A man who prosecutors say was never in the military has been warned not to pass himself off as a war hero after he was convicted of passing multiple worthless checks.The defendant, James Michael Whitworth, reported to jail this weekend to begin serving his 10-day sentence on eight counts of theft. He will remain on probation for three years, during which time he has been warned not to wear military items nor pass himself off as a veteran.Whitworth entered guilty pleas before Circuit Court Judge Bart Stanley to the numerous misdemeanor counts and was also ordered to make restitution to his victims, an amount that will be over $1,000.Whitworth was hit with the multiple theft counts for passing worthless checks, leaving several people and businesses holding the bag. The issue was made worse, according to prosecutors, when they learned Whitworth had claimed he was a wounded war veteran at some of the places, thereby helping him pass the worthless checks.“There was something wrong there,” said prosecutor Matt Colvard regarding Whitworth’s military decorations and outfit.The prosecutor found his hunch was right when he contacted the government record office and learned Whitworth was never in the U.S. Marines as he claimed nor was he wounded during war.“There’s no record he ever served,” said Colvard.Given his apparent misrepresentation, prosecutors added the ban on representing himself as a veteran to his list of rules during probation.