A former rising star in Colorado politics admitted Wednesday to faking service in the Marine Corps, saying in a television interview that “hopefully the people I hurt can in some way gain closure” from the possible criminal charges he faces.
Speaking on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360,” Rick Strandlof, 32, said he was suffering from “serious under-diagnosed mental illness” when he began his deception and was “caught up in the moment of an election and being surrounded by people who were passionate and loved what they did.”
Members of the veterans organization Strandlof led exposed him as a faker in May. In disbanding, the membership of the Colorado Veterans Alliance said their leader, using the name Rick Duncan, pretended to be a three-tour Iraq veteran and a wounded warrior. In reality, he never served a day, they said.
Wednesday night, Cooper confronted Strandlof about his claims on air.
“For the record, you had said you served two and a half tours in Iraq with the Marines,” Cooper asked. “In fact, you were never a Marine; you were never in Iraq. Correct?”
“That is correct, Anderson,” Strandlof responded.
Responding to follow-up questions, Strandlof admitted he had never gone to the Naval Academy and was not in the Pentagon when terrorists flew an airliner into it on Sept. 11, 2001, despite telling dramatic stories to that effect.
“I was in San Jose, California, watching it in horror on TV with a few other people,” Strandlof said of the 9/11 attacks.
“Were you in a hospital?” Cooper asked in a follow up question.
“No, not a mental hospital,” Strandlof said. “It was a homeless shelter.”
Strandlof also said he doesn’t think he is a pathological liar and that he did not embezzle money from the Colorado Veterans Alliance, which he started.
There may be a former Marine or two in the prison where this guy ends up.
I hope they get to know him.
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