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Marine faker admits deception in TV interview

A former rising star in Colorado politics admitted Wednesday to faking service in the Marine Corps, saying in a television interview that “hopefully the people I hurt can in some way gain closure” from the possible criminal charges he faces.

Speaking on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360,” Rick Strandlof, 32, said he was suffering from “serious under-diagnosed mental illness” when he began his deception and was “caught up in the moment of an election and being surrounded by people who were passionate and loved what they did.”

Members of the veterans organization Strandlof led exposed him as a faker in May. In disbanding, the membership of the Colorado Veterans Alliance said their leader, using the name Rick Duncan, pretended to be a three-tour Iraq veteran and a wounded warrior. In reality, he never served a day, they said.

Wednesday night, Cooper confronted Strandlof about his claims on air.

“For the record, you had said you served two and a half tours in Iraq with the Marines,” Cooper asked. “In fact, you were never a Marine; you were never in Iraq. Correct?”

“That is correct, Anderson,” Strandlof responded.

Responding to follow-up questions, Strandlof admitted he had never gone to the Naval Academy and was not in the Pentagon when terrorists flew an airliner into it on Sept. 11, 2001, despite telling dramatic stories to that effect.

“I was in San Jose, California, watching it in horror on TV with a few other people,” Strandlof said of the 9/11 attacks.

“Were you in a hospital?” Cooper asked in a follow up question.

“No, not a mental hospital,” Strandlof said. “It was a homeless shelter.”

Strandlof also said he doesn’t think he is a pathological liar and that he did not embezzle money from the Colorado Veterans Alliance, which he started.

“We did not take money to use on non-veterans projects,” he said. “I did not enrich myself on this. I did not gain any money from this.”

Using the name Rick Duncan, Strandlof first appeared on the scene in Colorado in 2007, using his bogus identity as a wounded warrior and former Marine captain to push everything from protecting the rights of homeless vets to stopping the war in Iraq. He appeared in political commercials for candidates for Congress, announced he was suing contractors KBR and Halliburton for allegedly exposing U.S. troops to toxic smoke from burn pits and eventually became a go-to source for Colorado media, regularly weighing in on veterans issues.

The veterans alliance’s membership started to raise questions about Strandlof’s identity after it began compiling documents needed to become a formal nonprofit organization and meeting with the office of Sen. Mark Udall, D.-Colo., said former Army Staff Sgt. Dan Warvi, a spokesman for the group. After notifying authorities, the group agreed to set up a May 12 meeting with Strandlof and FBI agents, who Strandlof did not know would be attending.

At the meeting, an FBI agent identified himself and asked Strandlof whether his name was Duncan or Strandlof, Warvi said. His answer: “Both,” according to a statement released by CVA.

Strandlof was led away for questioning, Warvi said. By the end of the week, the group decided to disband.

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