Perhaps something that
@The_Knight_Rider can clear up for us is the entire Stolen Valor issue, which really makes Mr. Shaner look bad if it’s true. Who cares about train pictures and whatnot, the Stolen Valor thing what I want to hear about.
I’ve been doing some “correct research” and have come up with a few questions. Perhaps Mr. Rider, since he does this sort of thing for a living, has already found the answers to these and can help us understand.
Some background: Leonard F. Shaner Jr. of Pottstown, Pennsylvania, has been accused of being a Stolen Valor on the grounds that he fabricated a character named John Simon, age 70, a highly-decorated Vietnam veteran. Bad enough on its own, but on May 25 a person named “Freddy M.,” which is believed to be a Shaner alias, posted on the Colebrookdale Railroad, America’s Most Dangerous Tourist Line? Facebook page that Mr. Simon (“one of Mr. Shaner’s friends”) had suffered a heart attack and was in the hospital. Freddy claims Simon was pushed into the attack “last Saturday” (that would be Saturday, May 23) by Robert Lowe and Matthew Lewis, due to their continued harassment. According to Freddy, Mr. Simon is supposed to live in the Philadelphia area.
In the course my research (“correct research” I might add – I’m not half-assing this. No sir!), I checked all hospitals within 75 miles of Philadelphia, including those in surrounding states (New York, Maryland, etc.). Just to be on the safe side, I also checked for patients admitted two days before and two days after May 23, in case the date was slightly off. I understand that “John” is a middle name, and not a first name, so I checked all patients with BOTH first or middle names John, Jonathan, Johnny, etc… (in fact, any name that started with J) and with the last name Simon (or variations thereof: Simen, Simmens, Simonsen, etc..) . I also checked all heart patients admitted in the 65-75 age range. I especially concentrated on Veteran’s hospitals, due to Mr. Simon’s past Military history.
During all of this I wore a ratty suit with a rain coat, and smoked a cheap cigar. Made me feel like Columbo. Or at least a less-slutty version of Erica R. Stone.
Here’s what found:
Thomas Jefferson University Hospital – one heart patient with last name Simon admitted on May 24. No military history; age 90+
VA Medical Center- Lebanon – one heart patient with the last name Simon admitted on May 25. Female. 50 years old.
Those are the only records I found at all hospitals within 75 miles of Philly. Just two “Simons” admitted and neither one can be military vet John Simon. I had the records notarized and am sending copies to the Pottstown police department.
@The_Knight_Rider, will you please present this information to Mr. Shaner for me? I would be interested to hear his explanation. It would appear that Mr. Simon is a fabrication. Accusing someone of Stolen Valor is very serious…when you have proof (which we do, now that we know John Simon is a faker faker troublemaker). This does not look good for Len. Maybe he can get a plea bargain or something. I doubt he wants to be in the middle of another sexcapade with four husky males at the Clinton Correctional Facility (although for the first sixty minutes or so, it would be Hot.).
Note that after he was accused of being a Stolen Valor himself, Lenny made two revenge Facebook pages accusing other people of Stolen Valor, including Mr. Bob Lowe, a former friend of Leonard’s and an engineer at Colebrookdale Railroad. I don’t know Mr. Lowe personally, but after reading through Leonard’s Facebook pages, Mr. Lowe 1. Appears to be the victim of some sort of conspiracy smear campaign by Lenny, and 2. Is on the receiving end of Mr. Shaner’s bullshit, rather than the other way around, as so often Shaner claims.
How does my research hold up? Am I on the right track (so to speak)?