Prosecutors say a North Texas man who falsely portrayed himself as a decorated Navy SEAL in 2014 must serve more than four years behind bars.
Carlos Felipe Luna-Gonzalez of Granbury was sentenced Monday in Weatherford after pleading guilty to theft, failure to appear and bail jumping.
Luna-Gonzalez was arrested in 2014 after a tip led Texas Ranger Anthony Bradford of the Texas Department of Public Safety to doubt his claims of being a wounded Navy officer.
According to a statement released from the county Tuesday, "Luna-Gonzalez had falsely represented himself as an active-duty Navy SEAL officer on a social media outlet, displaying portraits of himself wearing a U.S. Navy dress uniform, while dining at a local coffee shop. The photographs of Gonzalez showed him wearing the uniform containing a Lieutenant Junior Grade Rank, displaying a Navy SEAL Trident, Jump Wings and other various awards which were affixed to his uniform."
"Gonzalez had even gone as far as misrepresenting himself by deceiving a group of law enforcement officers from the county where he lives, telling them he was currently but temporarily stationed at NAS Carswell, while awaiting a medical discharge for injuries he supposedly suffered while stationed in Africa during a Navy SEAL Operation," the county said.
During the investigation, officials learned Luna-Gonzalez was given an early discharge as an enlisted seaman apprentice — not a commissioned officer, a Navy SEAL or a purple heart recipient.
Bradford then concocted a ruse operation with the owner of Lone Star Guns to present Luna-Gonzalez with a LWRC assault rifle valued at $2,300 as a thank you for his service to his country.
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Officials said Luna-Gonzalez arrived to accept the weapon wearing "a dress blue Navy uniform with an officer's insignia, the Navy SEAL Trident and a Purple Heart, and repeated his fraudulent story of how he was shot in combat" before accepting the gun.
When he accepted the weapon under false pretenses, he was arrested and charged with theft, tampering with a government document and for fraudulent or fictitious military record.
He bonded out after paying $18,500, but then fled to Puerto Rico. He was later extradited and additionally charged with bail jumping and failure to appear.
Gonzalez pleaded guilty to the theft charge and was sentenced to a 16-month State Jail sentence. Gonzalez also was sentenced to an additional three years at Texas Department of Corrections for the failure to appear and bail jumping charges.
