Bogus war hero gets six-month prison sentence
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.