Fake Army ranger Jesus Garcia arrested, say Conn. police

(CBS/AP) NEW HAVEN, Conn. - For more than a year, Jesus Garcia claimed he was an Army Ranger, wounded while serving four tours of duty in Afghanistan. His cover was finally blown when he was arrested last week after he gave a false name and date of birth, Connecticut police said Monday.

Garcia ,20, had an Army Ranger tattoo on his shoulder, claimed a facial scar was from shrapnel and posed in a military uniform, authorities said. He had convinced his mother, girlfriend and friends he was in the military, and had been planning to speak at a New Haven-area Memorial Day ceremony before he was caught.

"I would say he's a scoundrel," said Lt. Kraig Gray, a police spokesman. "He is perpetrating a life-altering fraud. He's living this lie."

Garcia apologized to veterans during an interview Monday with The Associated Press.

"I know what I did was dumb," Garcia said.

Garcia is charged with larceny, fraudulent representation of an Armed Forces uniform, fraudulent use of military insignia and interfering with an officer.

He claimed that he dreamed of being in the military since he was a kid, but failed the test to get into the Army.

He obtained the uniform online and wore it on the train to New York several times, getting free rides as a result.

"I did it just to actually feel like I was somebody in life," Garcia said.

Capt. James Heavey, a veteran, spoke to Garcia before Heavey talked on Memorial Day and quickly realized that Garcia was a fraud after noticing his uniform didn't quite look right, police said.

Police then asked for Garcia's military I.D. and he didn't have one. He claimed he was going to admit to the fraud during his Memorial Day talk, but never got the chance.

Non-ranger Garcia was released on $2,500 bond and is scheduled to return Friday to Stamford Superior Court.