# Delray officer turns himself in over allegedly faked call to active duty in Iraq



## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

By Stephanie Slater
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

DELRAY BEACH - Delray Beach police officer Vincent Balestrieri turned himself in to the Palm Beach County Jail shortly before 9 a.m. today on charges he schemed the police department out of nearly $10,000 by faking military papers that said he had been called to active duty.
When Police Chief Larry Schroeder added officer Vincent Balestrieri's name to a national prayer list of military personnel fighting in Iraq, Balestrieri was living safely in the Tampa area, working as a Lockheed Martin contractor while hauling in part of his police salary.










Balestrieri

Balestrieri, 36, reportedly faked U.S. Navy documents that said he had been called back to active duty in January, a month after buying a $220,000 home in Riverview near the Lockheed Martin Information Technology center, where he was hired Jan. 3.
Believing the apparently phony military orders, the police department continued to pay Balestrieri the difference between his salary and his income as a U.S. Navy reservist.
The eight-month deception cost the city $8,769.87, police said.
"To find out that not only did he do it us, but he planned to do it to us... my only words to him is 'crucify him,' " Schroeder, a Marine Corps veteran, said Wednesday. "I'd like to see him rot in jail."
Balestrieri was expected to turn himself in to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office late Wednesday, police said. He was to be charged with felony organized scheme to defraud and grand theft.
He has been on unpaid administrative leave from the police department since Sept. 1.
It is unlikely Balestrieri will serve jail time because it's his first arrest, police spokesman Jeff Messer said, adding that the department will fight to get its money back.
Police also are looking into the bereavement and sick leave Balestrieri used from Dec. 31 through Jan. 5 - around the time he was hired by Lockheed Martin. He told the department that his mother died, but detectives have been unable to confirm that, Messer said.
Lockheed Martin spokesman Joe Wagovich said Balestrieri was hired as a civilian contractor and is still an employee.
"We are familiar with the matter, and we are cooperating to the fullest with authorities," Wagovich said.
When Balestrieri was hired in June 2005, he appeared to be an ideal candidate, Schroeder said.
Police confirmed that he served 13 years with the New York Police Department and had just finished a one-year stint as an intelligence officer for the Department of Homeland Security. He joined the Navy Reserve in 1998 and is an intelligence specialist as a first-class petty officer attached to U.S. Central Command at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Navy spokeswoman Diane Perry said. He trains there one weekend a month.
Perry said the Navy "will wait until the civilian process has taken its course" before taking any action against Balestrieri.
"The U.S. Navy doesn't condone this type of behavior for any of our sailors," Perry said. "His security clearance is under review."
Balestrieri's attorney, Stephen James Binhak of Miami, said his client will plead not guilty.
"He looks forward to addressing this situation in court," Binhak said.
The police department learned of Balestrieri's alleged actions by accident this month when, Schroeder said, he spoke with a police chief from an out-of-state department about a job candidate with the same name.
Hearing the name prompted Schroeder to ask his officers to check on Balestrieri and his family. They found him in Tampa.
"We'd taken a man who brought us papers that appeared authentic, and we took him for his word," Messer said. "We're unified in our disgust in this guy's actions."
Balestrieri was a field training officer in January when he gave supervisors a copy of what he said were his "Official Recall to Active Duty Orders," which identified him as a senior chief petty officer and required him to report to the Naval Air Station in Jacksonville by 8 a.m. Jan. 14.
The orders belonged to another reservist, Navy officials said. Balestrieri is alleged to have copied the orders and pasted his information on them.
"Balestrieri was not mobilized in support of Operation Enduring Freedom from January 2006 to the present," said Lt. Mark Moreno, executive officer at the Navy Operational Support Center at MacDill. 
During the time Balestrieri has claimed to be fighting in the war, 508 U.S. troops have died in Iraq.
"There isn't a single person in this building who feels sorry for Vinny," Messer said. "It's disgraceful."


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