Retired colonel charged with forgery, falsifying document

[krustyrl]

A colonel, just out of the military, has been charged by military police with forgery and falsifying a document.

Retired Col. W.J. Lewis was charged Thursday under the National Defence Act for allegedly altering an annual physical fitness evaluation form, according to military police.

Read more: http://www.canada.com/news/Retired+colonel+charged+with+forgery+falsifying+document/5582672/story.html#ixzz1bN4crilI

More on link....


http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Retired+colonel+charged+with+forgery+falsifying+document/5582672/story.html

 

[The Bread Guy]

A reminder:  The Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and Canada's constitution, guarantees the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty. From the CF news release:

The Canadian Forces National Investigation Service (CFNIS) charged a retired Canadian Forces colonel today with offences under the National Defence Act and the Criminal Code.

Colonel (Ret’d) W.J. (Bill) Lewis now faces the following two charges and two alternate charges:

• One count of FORGERY, contrary to section 130 of the National Defence Act and section 367 of the Criminal Code. In the alternate, one count of WITH INTENT TO DECEIVE, ALTERED A DOCUMENT MADE FOR DEPARTMENTAL PURPOSE, contrary to subsection 125(c) of the National Defence Act.
• One count of UTTERING A FORGED DOCUMENT, contrary to section 130 of the National Defence Act and subsection 368(1) of the Criminal Code. In the alternate, one count of MAKING A FALSE STATEMENT IN A DOCUMENT, contrary to subsection 125(a) of the National Defence Act.

The document in question was form DND 279, the annual CF physical fitness evaluation form.

The case will now proceed through the military justice system ....

Coincidentally, the CF is also sharing this backgrounder on Physical Fitness Standards.

 

[FlyingDutchman]

The majority (97.3%) of CF Regular Force personnel who undergo the CF EXPRES test pass the evaluation. Those who fail and those who do not complete the evaluation are considered non-deployable and may face career restrictions.

He did the forgery in April and retired in July, how much of a restriction would apply?

EDIT: Typo.

 

[a78jumper]

My roommate and fellow platoon member on basic training, a fellow classmate at RMC and my late bro in law's eulogist so I know him more than casually. If guilty what a stupid way end a 34 year career. Bill always was shaped like a fireplug....like me. Big deal get on with the program on lose some weight and work out if that is what it takes to remain in the military. I can not imagine why with only months to go in a career but perhaps there were earlier instances as well......being very objective why should a full bull Colonel perhaps 75 lbs overweight be allowed to falsify fitness docs when the career Cpl in a similar situation could be released.

 

[krustyrl]

why should a full bull Colonel perhaps 75 lbs overweight be allowed to falsify fitness docs when the career Cpl in a similar situation could be released.

Being a former member of 8AMS and served while Bill Lewis held tenure as CO, this truly comes as a shocker as he was one of the most personable leaders I have ever met.
During that time, with 8AMS being a rather large Squadron, there were many NCMs on Remedial , C+P and RW and some were released for those reasons.

I know there are some former Sqn members following this developing story.....

 

[a78jumper]

My sentiments exactly.

 

[dogger1936]

Awesome. Glad this made the media; nothing like some feel good stories of leadership in the CF.

 

[OldSolduer]

In order to maintain credibility with the Canadian public, we MUST share the not so good news with the good news. Years ago, this would never have seen the light of day.

My :2c:

Pro rated for my inflated ego. :raven:

 

[a78jumper]

Jim, known the man for 34.5 years and I agree with you 100%, especially given the senior rank level involved here. Seen too much "stuff" swept under the carpet by virtue of rank ( and how rank it was) over my career!

 

[CBH99]

I have a slightly different take on the matter.

I know we are an organization that must be held accountable for our actions, and members must be held to a high standard.

However, in this case, I really do disagree with dragging the man's name through the mud before anything has been proven.  He's obviously been in for a long time, and he's retired now so he wouldn't be deployable anyway.

I agree that if true, it was a lapse in judgement.  But by the same token, why pursue the matter??  He's retired - as in, is no longer an active member of the CF.  The incident in question occurred prior to him retiring - so why pursue it now, months after the fact and when he isn't even in anymore??

Maybe I'm missing something, but we're not talking about something super serious.  We're not talking about fraud, or sweeping anything important under the rug.  A retired gentleman MAY have manipulated his fitness test prior to him before retired....sooooooooooooooooooooo????  Is it really worth ruining someone's reputation over, especially if it goes nowhere??

 

[Gunner98]

What is good/bad for one is good/bad for all.  There are two issues you must consider:

1.  The investigation likely started before he was released.

2.  When the accused is a Cpl and the document is a claim, we prosecute. So why does the fact that he is a retired Col make a difference - it just happens to be more noteworthy for the media.

 

[jollyjacktar]

Justice must not only be done, it must be seen to be done.  I have too have seen too many lower ranks fry and higher ranks fly over the years.  Nice to see some accountability to the upper echelons, there is more of this lately ie. Menard.  About time.

 

[The Bread Guy]

In order to maintain credibility with the Canadian public, we MUST share the not so good news with the good news. Years ago, this would never have seen the light of day.

My :2c:

Not to mention letting the troops know publicly that this sort of thing is not on.

 

[OldSolduer]

A similar subject came up two weekis ago. A young captain (not my unit) sought our advice about how he should proceed with a WO who attempted the same thing......

 

[Edward Campbell]

I have do difficulty with the publication of the charge etc for all the reasons outlined here. I have a problem with the officer's perceived "need" to falsify the document. If he was unable to complete his physical fitness tests then, surely - and someone please correct me of I'm wrong - he would have been given medical tests and a regime to help him achieve the requires standard and time in which to do that.

Why on earth would he want to forge a report? And I guess I can understand why a lower rank person with more time to earn a full pension might be tempted, but not a colonel at or near full pension. Help (and time if he really didn't want help) must be available. At that rank level he would receive a sympathetic hearing from a military medical community, officers of about his rank, that is worried about too much sedentary work, too little exercise, bad eating habits, etc.

Am I missing something?

 

[GAP]

I would guess that is precisely why everyone is shaking their heads.....there simply was little need for this, especially for someone who had a host of other options available to him....

 

[OldSolduer]

IAm I missing something?

Maybe a vendetta against him?  :Tin-Foil-Hat: 

Not trying to be funny, but these things do happen.

 

[rmc_wannabe]

I think everyone needs to remember you need to answer the "If" before you answer the "why."

As it was said earlier, this is all speculative and could just be an administrative error on his or someone else's part. Paperwork can make a mountain out of a molehill if its incorrectly completed, misplaced, not handed in on time etc.

I would like to give the Col. the benefit of the doubt until the proof has been presented.

Just my  :2c:

 

[Sig_Des]

I agree that if true, it was a lapse in judgement.  But by the same token, why pursue the matter??  He's retired - as in, is no longer an active member of the CF.  The incident in question occurred prior to him retiring - so why pursue it now, months after the fact and when he isn't even in anymore??

The fact that he's retired shouldn't play into it. He was in when he's accused of committing the act, and that should be enough. I would hate to see a mentality of "well, I'm about to get my peepee slapped, but I'm getting out, so it doesn't matter". Add to that that the position that the Col held on his release was "the director of applied military science, as well as the commanding officer of postgraduate and military faculty at the Royal Military College of Canada". A position of authority in a school that instills the foundation of military discipline in future leaders.

Maybe I'm missing something, but we're not talking about something super serious.  We're not talking about fraud, or sweeping anything important under the rug.  A retired gentleman MAY have manipulated his fitness test prior to him before retired....sooooooooooooooooooooo????  Is it really worth ruining someone's reputation over, especially if it goes nowhere??

I think it's worth pursuing. Forgery. It doesn't matter what the paperwork was; It's falsifying documents. It all starts somewhere, and if a Cpl were accused of it, he'd be prosecuted, therefore the standard needs to be across the board. He'll have his day, and if he's innocent, it will hopefully also be published by the media.

I don't see anything wrong with the charge, or the announcement of the charge. My issue would be when the media runs articles like this as if they're uncovering a scandal, just trying to give us a black eye. But I didn't see much of that in this one.

 

[Rifleman62]

Truth, Duty, Valour