Bogus war hero gets six-month prison sentence

Bogus war hero gets six-month prison sentence
Lafayette Keaton is confront by KATU News reporter Dan Tilkin last March about his military record. Under questioning, Keaton admitted he had lied.

PORTLAND, Ore. - The local war veteran who was exposed as a fraud was sentenced to six months in prison Monday for stealing his dead brother’s identity to get Social Security payments.

Lafayette Keaton, 81, who was the focus of a KATU News investigation last March, was also ordered to home confinement for six months.

Earlier in the year, Keaton pled guilty to the charges and was ordered Monday to repay the $139,000 in Social Security, food stamps and Medicare benefits he obtained illegally.

Judge Garr M. King sentenced Keaton to the low end of the possible 12 to 18 month sentence because of his health.

Before being exposed as a fraud by the KATU News investigation, Keaton was honored around the state and country as a war hero. He gave lectures to school children about his valiant acts. Additionally, local and national veterans groups praised him for years.

But military records showed discrepancies in the dates Keaton claimed to join the service, and when confronted with them he admitted he was never in combat and did not win the Silver Star as he had claimed.

Under more questioning from a KATU News reporter, Keaton also admitted that he was never in Vietnam and wasn’t a Ranger even though he wore the Ranger patch on his uniform.

In 1960 he was convicted of endangering a child. In 1972 he was convicted of kidnapping a toddler he fathered, but he got that conviction expunged.

In the 1980s, he was sent to prison for taking thousands of dollars from the state for creating a fictitious foster home. Up until that time he worked as a juvenile parole officer.

During KATU’s investigation, Keaton was asked why he had lied for so long. He responded: “Once it starts it doesn’t stop.”

KATU investigative reporter Dan Tilkin contributed to this report.