A man convicted of posing as a U.S. Marine is no longer welcome at Red Deer’s Royal Canadian Legion.
Legion president Bev Hanes said Peter Toth has not returned calls from the Legion to discuss his actions.
“We are in the process now of revoking his membership,” Hanes said on Wednesday.
Last week Toth, 59, was given an 18-month suspended sentence, and he must complete up to 200 hours of community service after pleading guilty to unlawfully wearing military decorations and unlawfully possessing a military identity card or other similar documents.
A charge of unlawfully wearing a military uniform was withdrawn.
Toth went to a St. Francis Assisi Middle School Remembrance Day ceremony in 2017 in the guise of a U.S. Marine. He wore several medals, including a Purple Heart awarded to wounded soldiers.
“Medals should be worn by those who earn them,” Hanes said.
Related:
Man posing as U.S. marine sentenced
She said Toth received a stiffer sentence than a man who posed as a Canadian veteran at the national Remembrance Day ceremony in Ottawa in 2014.
Franck Gervais pleaded guilty to the unlawful use of military uniforms and unlawful use of military decoration while dressed as a military sergeant. He received a suspended sentence of 12 months probation and 50 hours of community service.
She said Toth also had a veterans’ licence plate issued by the government and a likely stolen veterans’ parking placard.
“To be honest he was quite a cheerful fellow. Chipping in to help and stuff so it came as a very sad surprise,” she said about Toth’s deception.
“It’s unfortunate that people feel that they have to do that to either get attention, or whatever they’re looking for, I don’t know.”
She said Toth provided what appeared to be a military discharge document when he joined the Legion.
“It looked like regular military discharge paper to us. Ninety-nine per cent of the time there’s not going to be a problem.”
Hanes said the Privacy Act is an obstacle when it comes to verifying records. Even the Legion’s dominion office could not get all the details and verification as easily as the organization Stolen Valour that helped expose Toth.
In this day and age it also helps that once things are on social media people will spot fakes, she said.
“I’ve contacted our dominion office, and I think (imposters) will probably come up at our dominion conference at the end of August in Winnipeg.”
szielinski@reddeeradvocate.com
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