A good deed intended to reward military veterans with the Colorado hunting experience of a lifetime has left donors feeling duped and a possible felon in possession of a hunting rifle donated by the National Rifle Association.
Jason Andrew Truitt, a self-proclaimed Navy SEAL who participated in this years Hunt for Heroes, led by local outfitter Bob Luna, apparently is a fraud.
Truitt reportedly said he was a Navy SEAL who had completed seven tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, was wounded several times, was missing in action for several months and was detained as a prisoner of war. Navy SEAL watchdogs say none of those claims is true, and there is no record of him in a database listing of SEAL Team members back to 1962 and predecessor units dating back to 1943.
Furthermore, a man with the same name served prison time for a felony conviction in California.
According to a Kern County, Calif., sheriffs department spokesperson, Jason Truitt, of Bakersfield, Calif., spent 16 months in Wasco State Prison on drug and vehicle-theft charges, at the same time Truitt claimed to be on active duty as a SEAL.
Federal and state laws in both Colorado and California prohibit convicted felons from possessing firearms, including the Wetherby .300 magnum hunting rifle presented to Truitt by the National Rifle Association for the Colorado hunt.
According to Mark King, who is from Norwood, Colo. and currently works for the Kern County Sheriffs Office, the rifle is now in the possession of the NRA.
Truitt may also be in trouble for fraudulently receiving the services associated with the hunt and the elk that was donated to him.
His claims to be a SEAL also may not go unpunished. The Stolen Valor Act of 2005 prohibits individuals from falsely representing themselves as having received any U.S. military decoration or medal. Violations are federal misdemeanors, punishable by incarceration.
Luna, a co-founder of the Hunt for Heroes, had no hint that Truitt was not who he had claimed to be until angry comments began arriving in response to a Journal story published Jan. 28.
Luna said he had given Truitt $800 to cover travel expenses after being moved by his story.
Luna said Hunt for Heroes would seek to recover its expenses and might file a civil case against Truitt.
Were going to go for ... the money and the gun, he said Monday.
Luna currently is out of town.
This is our program. Bob and I started this five years ago. This year we got slammed, said Marc Steinke, an NRA representative and cofounder of the local Hunt for Heroes.
Steinke said Truitt was brought to the NRAs attention to participate in the Colorado hunt by another veterans hunting organization called the LC National Sportsmen Foundation, based in Arvin, Calif., which is approximately 15 miles from Bakersfield.
Loran Cowan, founder and chief executive officer of the foundation, did not return calls from the Journal, but Steinke said he spoke to Cowan, who had been unaware of Truitts false claim.
The simple answer is that hes a good con artist. In the future there will be safeguards in place, Steinke said about evaluating Hunt for Heroes candidates.
Steinke added that the situation has prompted the NRA to establish better communications to avoid future problems.
Weve got solid groups in place that can communicate, so this will never happen again, he said.
Sadder but wiser, Luna agreed that new safeguards should be instituted.
You cant be too safe these days, he said.
Attempts to reach Truitt for comment were not successful.
Reach Brandon Mathis at [email protected].
