Phony Veteran extends court case, upsets those who believed in him

Benjamin Terril was a no-show in court today.

The former Buchtel High science teacher, whom the government says masqueraded as a war hero, let his attorney do the talking. (See my posts below for the original stories)

Thanks to his legal representative, Terril's next court date is a suppression hearing set for Dec. 10. Defense attorneys plan to fight the seizure of drugs and other things that police took following Terril's Sept. 1 arrest for pointing a loaded gun at another man's head. He's facing several felony charges and serious jail time if convicted.

In the meantime, I'll let you in on a number of background stories that are now materializing:

• Many claims that Terril has been wearing a military uniform among real soldiers as recently as a few months ago to include presenting himself as a winner of two Silver Stars, the award just below the Medal of Honor.
• Multiple people tell me that Terril often spoke of dead or ailing relatives to gain sympathy -- relatives many now doubt ever existed.
• Stories from those who knew Terril 30 years ago and claim that he was playing make-believe with war stories and ghost relatives as far back as his college days.

I'll have an updated story on the air soon, but right now hardly a day goes by that I don't get a call or email from yet another person, including former Buchtel students, who knew Ben Terril and was completely fooled by his stories.

Clearly, this man has influenced a lot of local lives, and a great many of them -- young and old -- now feel let down.

Stay tuned ... Eric

Teacher's fake resume was only the beginning

Part two of our series aired tonight ... watch it now:



Tonight .. I've spoken with some folks closer to Terril, and I'm learning that his levels of deception show no barrier he was unwilling to cross. I'm floored at what he was able to pull off even outside of his military masquerade.

One veteran told me today that he hopes others in uniform will pack the courtroom when this guy goes before a judge. We'll see what happens.

More to come .. Eric

Teacher who faked military career draws variety of comments

I'm still wading through all of the voicemails and emails after last night's story. Part 1 is drawing a slew of responses .. in case you missed it, here ya go:




School leaders were shocked by our findings. Hear their reaction tonight in Part 2 on Channel 3 News at 6.

Phony veteran highlights loopholes in system

I'm really proud of the reporting that went into tonight's story about a local teacher who were exposing as a fake war hero. Not that I did anything special by using public records to expose an actor posing as a veteran, but that our story will illuminate a bigger issue: we as a society need better oversight of just who is teaching our children.

The basics:

Benjamin Terril was arrested on Labor Day for pointing a loaded gun at another man's head in South Akron. Terril teaches Science at Buchtel High School, so his arrest became newsworthy. Police found drugs, dozens of guns and even some grenades in Terril's home, which begged the question of "just who is this guy?"

So a few days after his arrest, I began to dissect Terril's employment history, and here's what I discovered:

In 1996, Benjamin Terril applied for a teaching job with the Akron Public Schools. He submitted a resume claiming he served in the 82nd Airborne Division from 1975-1991 and included a letter of reference with claims he was wounded in Desert Storm. If true, that would qualify Terril for the purple heart.

What's awful is that none of it is true, and the Akron Public Schools NEVER verified his resume before hiring him.

The district also didn't verify another job Terril put on his resume (a range officer with Broward County, FL) that we also found to be false.

In both cases, I used public records and phone calls to determine that Terril's resume was bogus, so why didn't APS?

Additionally, I used public records to determine that Terril lied about having a clean criminal history. He has prior arrests and convictions, including a felony conviction, that no knew about until I checked it out.

To the credit of APS, the laws in 1996 only mandated a local background check (Summit County) which came back clean. Terril was able to hide his criminal past because his crimes included an arrest in Stark County (misdemeanor conviction for DUI) and another in Florida (Felony conviction for Carrying a Concealed Weapon).

Since he had a verifiable teaching degree from the U. of Akron with strong recommendations from his student teaching assignments, I can only guess that the folks who did the hiring assumed that Terril was worth the investment and didn't check out the rest of his resume before hiring him.

If true, that's a bad reason for cutting corners.

For what it's worth, the employment file indicates that human resources did ask Terril for a copy of his DD214, which is the form that verifies military service. There's no evidence that Terril ever provided any evidence nor is there anything to indicate the the district followed up with its initial request for more info.

Military fakes burn real veterans to the core

I had a chance to sit down with a local man who served in the real 82nd Airborne in Desert Storm, and he put Terril's make-believe war service into perspective.

He told me that phonies don't discredit the military as much as they discredit the person who is living a double life. How can they ever be trusted again?

As a soldier and veteran, it bothers me when others misrepresent themselves, but it really burns when someone goes to the lengths that Terril did. Some troops will embellish what they actually did on the field of battle; even the military has been guilty of stretching the truth to make a story sound better than it is (Jessica Lynch, Pat Tillman, etc.). Yet, when someone like Terril goes the extra steps to use the military as a job reference and then add the extra chest-thumping details of serving in the 82nd Airborne -- to include being wounded in combat -- that's hard for many in uniform to fathom.

Under the Stolen Valor Act signed by President Bush a few years ago, anyone who misrepresents themselves as a veteran can be charged with a misdemeanor and serve up to one year in prison.

I was skeptical from the moment I looked at Terril's resume. If he lied about his criminal history, why wouldn't he lie about his work history?

When I saw his resume indicated that he worked with the "Eighty Second Airborne" I suspected it was fake. Rarely does anyone affiliated with the military ever spell it out like that. It's nearly always "82nd Airborne". How could this guy spend 15+ years in the military and not know that?

Also, rarely does anyone leave the military voluntarily at 15+ years. If you serve 20 years of active service, you're eligible for a military pension. So his separation date was also a red flag to me.

School district oversight

Superintendent David James is at least in a position where he can blame the previous administration for hiring Terril and promise to do a better job of screening future teachers. The district is also conducting new, mandatory FBI checks on all employees. Terril's new check was set for the fall of 2009 to coincide with his teaching license being up for renewal. The district believes that at the very least, a new background check would have uncovered Terril's past convictions.

Within Terril's teaching file was a reprimand for threatening to bring a shotgun to school and kill a student. Several teachers heard him and reported it.

Anyone surprised that a statement like that didn't warrant a stronger penalty? or at least a transfer to another school?

I feel like I could write about this all day ... but we'll let the story -- and Terril -- speak for themselves. Still, I'd like your initial thoughts.

Part 1 is tonight on Channel 3 at 6. Part 2 airs Tuesday night at 6.

Eric

Coming Tonight -- a local fake is exposed!

Teacher who pointed loaded gun at man's head is released from jail

Let me get this straight.

Benjamin Terril -- the Buchtel High Science teacher who pointed a loaded gun at another man's head and whose home was called a "personal arsenal" by police -- is back on the streets after spending just hours behind bars.

According to jail records, Terril was booked in to custody on the evening of Sept. 1 charged with three felonies. He posted $1,000 bond 36 hours later and was released on Sept. 3rd.

36 hours? $1,000 bond? That's it?

Consider this:

• Police say Terril took a loaded handgun and pointed it at the head of another man on Terril's front porch.


• In front of terrified neighbors, Terril made the man walk a line and threatened to blow his head off.


• Police say Terril was heavily intoxicated and also possessed marijuana.


• Investigators seized more than two dozen weapons from Terril's home, including some believed to be illegal, while leaving behind all of the ammunition.


• Terril was charged with three felonies, including carrying a concealed weapon.


• Terril's record includes convictions for Carrying a Concealed Weapon and also an arrest for assaulting a police officer in another state, local police said.

The supervised release sheet (you can view it on-line) that Terril signed before leaving jail states that he must have weekly visits with the county's supervised release office .. and that he also agree to random drug and alcohol testing.

No home incarceration or ankle monitoring.

Additionally .. what's odd to me is that the info about staying away from potential victims in the case was not checked by the judge. In other words, the court -- while releasing Terril -- did not order him to stay away from the man who faced Terril's gun just two nights prior.

How well would you sleep if you were that guy?

$1,000 and 36 hours in jail .. and now he's back on the streets?

Realizing suspects are innocent until proven guilty, is anyone else really, really surprised by how quickly someone charged with this type of crime is out?

I'd really like some community thoughts here ... Eric