Bill Hillar News Articles
August 24, 1986, United Press International, Watergate Figure Also Has Real-Life "A-Team" : New Liddy Academy Teaches Counterterrorism, by Bill Lohmann,
February 1, 1996, The Spokesman-Review (Spokane, WA), OFFICIAL RECORDS, SPOKANE COUNTY, Bankruptcy Petitions, William G. Hillar, 2923 W. 18th, debts of $161,000.
March 21, 2003, The World, [Coos County Oregon], Dr. Paul Michael Hillar,
January 31, 2006, Spero Forum, David Race Bannon: The spy who never was, David Race Bannon, who claims to have worked for Interpol as a hit man, was arrested for criminal impersonation - after for years possibly serving as an expert witness in courts and on news channels, By Robert Duncan,
September 9, 2010, [Updated: September 8, 2011], ElonUniversity.edu, Elon honors "Hometown Heroes" in annual ceremony, by Eric Townsend,
October 1, 2010, abs-cbn.com, 'Sex traffickers using Facebook to spot targets' by David Dizon,
October 7, 2010, The World, [Coos County Oregon], Zonta tackles human trafficking,
October 13, 2010, The World, [Coos County Oregon ] Zonta workshop puts figures on worldwide impact of illegal trade, Talk puts spotlight on human trafficking, by Jessica Musicar,
November 19, 2010, Monterey Herald, MIIS probes lecturer's credentials [Original Source] by Larry Parsons, Page: A1, Document ID: 19734497
November 19, 2010, Central Coast News KION46 / FOX35, Monterey Instructor Accused of Fraud, Claims to be Action Movie Inspiration,
November 20, 2010, Monterey Herald, War Stories 'Didn't Add Up': MIIS students questioned instructor's credentials, by Larry Parsons,
November 20, 2010, Monterey County Weekly, MIIS IMPOSTOR, MIIS concludes instructor Bill Hillar lied about his academic record. by Robin Urevich,
November 20, 2010, Central Coast News KION46 / FOX35, Monterey Institute Reviews Former Instructors Credentials,
November 20, 2010, mgx.com Blog, Coos Bay victim of human trafficking fraudster?!
November 21, 2010, Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal, Credentials mess at Monterey Institute,
November 23, 2010, Monterey Herald, MIIS confirms instructor lied about credentials, Background checks to be mandatory, by Jane Lee,
November 23, 2010, Los Angeles Times, Monterey Institute instructor's credentials subject of FBI fraud investigation, by Larry Gordon,
November 23, 2010, Los Angeles Times, Monterey instructor's resume sparks students' suspicions, by Larry Gordon,
November 24, 2010, Central Coast News KION46 / FOX35, MIIS Duped By Former Instructor,
November 24, 2010, Central Coast News KION46 / FOX35, Retired Green Berets Call Hillar Imposter,
November 24, 2010, The Associated Press, Army claims of terrorism instructor examined,
November 24, 2010, Central Coast News KION46 / FOX35, STATEMENT OF FINDINGS REGARDING BILL HILLAR, by Kiki Jones,
November 25, 2010, Monterey County Herald, The (CA), Lawmen probe bogus instructor, by Larry Parsons, Page: A1, Document ID: 19795016 [Law Enforcement Involved in Probe of Bogus Monterey Institute Instructor,]
November 25, 2010, Monterey Herald, Law Enforcement Involved in Probe of Bogus Monterey Institute Instructor, By Larry Parsons,
November 25, 2010, mgx.com blog, Multnomah County Sheriff opens investigation into Bill Hillar
November 28, 2010, Uncoverage.net, [at www.socnet.com] Not a War Hero, Is He Lying About Daughter’s Death? by Jane Jamison,
November 30, 2010, The Oregon Daily Emerald, FBI investigates past University adjunct instructor for fraud, by Stefan Verbano,
December 22, 2010, Military.com, Alleged Phony SF Colonel Investigated, by Bryant Jordan,
January 18, 2011, The Pendulum, University award recipient under investigation for fraud, by Caitlin O'Donnell,
January 25, 2011, Los Angeles Times, Former counterterrorism instructor charged with fraud, lying about credentials,
January 25, 2011, The Baltimore Sun, FBI: Maryland man's military life is a lie, by Tricia Bishop,
January 25, 2011, Monterey County Herald, FBI arrests former lecturer at Monterey Institute of International Studies, by Larry Parsons,
January 25, 2011, Monterey County Weekly, MIIS Fabulist Hillar Arrested in Maryland, by Mary Dunn,
January 25, 2011, The Associated Press, Prosecutors say Army faker was CG reservist,
January 25, 2011, Central Coast News KION46 / FOX35, Local Man Claiming to Be Movie Inspiration Arrested by the FBI,
January 25, 2011, Washington Post, Man charged with offering services as military tactics expert based on fabricated resume, by Maria Glod,
January 25, 2011, Military.com, FBI Arrests Alleged Phony SF Colonel, by Bryant Jordan,
January 25, 2011m TBD.com, Bill Hillar arrested on fraud charges by FBI, by Brad Bell, Covering cops and criminals in the Washington region,
January 25, 2011, TBD.com, Hillar criminal complaint alleges fraud of California institute (documents) by Sarah Larimer, Covering cops and criminals in the Washington region,
January 25, 2011, States News Service, Millersville Man Charged in Fraud Scheme: Allegedly Lied About Special Forces and Terrorism Experience in Order to Gain Teaching Employment,
January 25, 2011, CBS Baltimore, Md. Man Charged With Lying About Credentials,
January 26, 2011, Washington Post, Man charged with profiting from fabricated military resume, By Maria Glod,
January 26, 2011, Los Angeles Times, Former Monterey Institute instructor arrested after allegedly lying about his credentials, William G. Hillar lectured on counterterrorism and said he was a retired colonel in the Army's Special Forces, by Larry Gordon,
January 26, 2011, Monterey County Herald, The (CA), FBI arrests MIIS lecturer, by Larry Parsons, Page: A1, Document ID: 20356393
January 26, 2011, FoxNews.com, Maryland Man Arrested for Allegedly Lying About Military Service,
January 26, 2011, KOIN CBS 6, Fradulent advocate Bill Hillar arrested,
January 26, 2011, UPI, FBI arrests Md. man for fraudulent claims,
January 27, 2011, The Associated Press / OregonLive.com, Man accused of credentials fraud taught seminars at UO,
January 27, 2011, OregonianAtHeart Blog, Bill Hillar: who is the man behind the mask? Posted by Victoria Davila,
January 27, 2011, The Register-Guard [Oregon] Former UO instructor accused of swindling clients, The FBI says he lied about his background to get jobs teaching, lecturing and conducting training sessions, by Jack Moran,
January 27, 2010, KMTR.com [Oregon] Former University instructor arrested for false identity, Reported by: Angela Brauer,
January 27, 2011; The Register Guard (Eugene, OR), Former UO instructor accused of swindling clients, The FBI says he lied about his background to get jobs teaching, lecturing and conducting training sessions), by Jack Moran, The Register-Guard,
January 27, 2011, The Spokesman Review, FBI says motivational speaker built business on lies, by John Stucke,
January 27, 2011 , TBD .com, Covering cops and criminals in the Washington region, Bill Hillar case: Credit for the military fraud arrest should go to website, too, by Sarah Larimer,
January 27, 2011, The Oregon Daily Emerald, Details surrounding arrest of former University professor revealed, by Stefan Verbano,
January 27, 2011, mgx.com blog, Bill Hillar, one time keynote speaker in Coos Bay arrested in Maryland,
January 31, 2011, Army Times, Alleged faker faces mail fraud charges, Claimed he was Green Beret colonel, counter-terrorism expert, by Joe Gould - Staff writer,
January 2001, Washington Examiner, Prosecutors: Md. 'expert' duped law enforcement, colleges, by Emily Babay,
February 1, 2011, THE PENDULUM, Elon University's Student Newspaper, Elon award recipient arrested, by Caitlin O'Donnell,
March, 17, 2011, Central Coast News KION46 / FOX35, More Charges Added To Man Who Claimed to be Army Colonel, by Kiki Jones,
March 17, 2011, Monterey County Herald, More trouble for bogus Green Beret suspect, by Larry Parsons, [or More charges for MIIS lecturer accused of being bogus Green Beret: Feds seek to block access to $180K] by Larry Parsons.
March 29, 2011, Monterey County Weekly, Fake Bad-Ass Pleads Guilty, by Joel Ede,
Mar 29, 2011, Central Coast News KION46 / FOX35, Former MIIS Teacher Plead Guilty To Posing As Army Colonel,
March 29, 2011, The Baltimore Sun, Millersville man admits he lied about military experience, Also pleads guilty to wire fraud, by Tricia Bishop,
March 29, 2011, The Associated Press / Army Times, Md. faker pleads guilty to lying about service,
March 30, 2011, Chicago Examiner, Man lies about military service, earns $171K in consulting fees, gets busted, by Richard Webster,
March 30, 2011, Military.com, Phony SF Colonel Takes Guilty Plea, by Bryant Jordan,
March 30, 2011, Monterey County Herald, The (CA), Ex-MIIS instructor pleads guilty to fraud, by Larry Parsons,
March 30, 2011 The Christian Science Monitor, Man who posed as former Special Forces colonel pleads guilty, by Warren Richey,
March 31, 2011; US Fed News Service, Including US State News; MILLERSVILLE MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO POSING AS A RETIRED ARMY SPECIAL FORCES COLONEL,
April 9, 2011, Army Times, Reputed counter-terrorism expert pleads guilty, by Joe Gould - Staff writer,
April 13 2011, Military Officers Association of America Blogs Stolen Valor, Fabricated Career,
April 13, 2011, HVNews, World’s Worst Résumé Padder, Inspiration for “Taken” Pleads Guilty to Fraud,
May 11, 2011, Associated Press, SEAL Sleuths Expose Those Who've Faked Service,
May 24, 2011, Military.com, Security Expert’s SF Record Questioned, by Bryant Jordan,
August 30, 2011, Monterey Herald, Longtime Monterey lecturer on counterterrorism, human trafficking was a fraud, sentenced to 21 months in prison, by Larry Parsons,
August 30, 2011, The Baltimore Sun, Teacher who faked military service sentenced to 21 months, Suspect exploited wars, terrorism for money, prosecutors say, by Peter Hermann,
August 30, 2011, States News Service, MILLERSVILLE MAN SENTENCED FOR POSING AS A RETIRED ARMY SPECIAL FORCES COLONEL,
August 30, 2011, Central Coast News KION46 / FOX35, Man Who Pretended to Be a War Hero To Teach in Monterey Sentenced,
August 30, 2011, Washington Post, Man who profited from fabricated military career gets 21-month sentence, by Ruben Castaneda,
August 30, 2011, The Associated Press, Army Green Beret Impersonator in Maryland Gets 21 Months in Prison, By Sarah Brumfield,
August 30, 2010, Christian Science Monitor, How A Special Ops Impersonator Duped The FBI For A Decade,
August 30, 2011, The Daily Record (Baltimore), Special Forces impostor gets jail time: Federal judge rejects community service, gives Hillar 21 months, by Andy Marso,
August 30, 2011, Military.com, Phony Green Beret Gets 21 Months in Jail, by Bryant Jordan,
August 31, 2011, Examiner (Washington, D.C.), Special Forces fraud sentenced to 21 months, by Scott McCabe,
August 31, 2011, TheWarReportOnline, Stolen Valor: Con Artist Sent To Jail, Posted By Richard Sisk,
August 31, 2010, Monterey Herald, MIIS lecturer gets prison for lying about military service, daughter's abduction, by Larry Parsons,
August 31, 2011; The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, VA), New Jersey man pleads guilty to five killings in 1978 cold case,
August 31, 2011, US Fed News Service, Including US State News, MILLERSVILLE MAN SENTENCED FOR POSING AS RETIRED ARMY SPECIAL FORCES COLONEL,
August 31, 2010, Government Security Newsletter, Anti-terror instructor sentenced for lying about military experience, by Mark Rockwell,
August 31, 2011, Chicago Examiner, Self proclaimed expert taught Chicago's FBI and Illinois State Police, by Cynthia Hodges, Homeland Security
August 31, 2011, Fayetteville Observer, Man who impersonated Green Beret sentenced to nearly 2 years for military fraud, by Drew Brooks,
August 31, 2011, The [UK] Daily Mail, U.S. Special Forces fake who was paid to teach police given 21 months in jail,
September 1, 2011, Chicago Examiner, Man imprisoned for posing as retired Army special forces colonel, by Jim Kouri, Public Safety Examiner,
September 2, 2011, The Daily Record, Former student recalls Hillar, by Andy Marso,
October 14, 2011, Military.com, 'Deadliest Warrior' Host Quits Over Green Beret Claim, by Bryant Jordan
August 24, 1986, United Press International, Watergate Figure Also Has Real-Life "A-Team" : New Liddy Academy Teaches Counterterrorism, by Bill Lohmann,
At the G. Gordon Liddy Academy of Corporate Security and Private Investigation, the teachers are ex-commandos and the tuition includes ammunition but not room and board.
Like its namesake, the Liddy Academy, which made its debut recently in Miami with 10 students paying $2,700 apiece, is an original.
"It's the only thing of its kind that exists," said Liddy, the former Nixon aide who spent more than four years in prison for his role in the Watergate break-in.
Now Teaching Others
Now the tight-lipped mastermind of that fiasco is teaching others how to fend off such intrusions and assorted similar deeds.
"There isn't any other real security training in this country," Liddy said in a telephone interview from his Maryland home. "There are some companies which make an attempt to train their own people, but they don't have the facilities or instructors.
"The only way to get similar training would be to become an FBI agent or work for the CIA."
Only the First Act
The three-week course in Miami is only the first act of a show that Liddy plans to take on the road to other U.S. cities.
The New York leg of the tour, scheduled for August, was pushed back to September by "an enormous response," said Jack Sague, a spokesman for G. Gordon Liddy and Associates Inc. in Miami, a polygraph testing company and a private investigation firm, and the parent company for the school,
"We need more time to process the applications," Sague said.
The 10 students in the Miami course, who range from corporate security employees to private investigators, spent their first days of study learning proper investigative techniques, lie detection and surveillance methods.
Counterterrorism Tactics
The exciting part of the curriculum, featuring field exercises at undisclosed locations in Miami, includes hand-to-hand combat, electronic eavesdropping, weapons training, hostage negotiations and counterterrorism tactics.
The faculty includes former Israeli commandos, former Drug Enforcement Agency investigators, security experts and Liddy himself.
The academy had dozens of inquiries, from corporations and individuals, but turned down more prospective students than were accepted.
Criminal Types Not Wanted
"We had to turn down numerous people (who applied) because they had previous criminal records," Sague said. "We wouldn't want a criminal type who could use this knowledge to their advantage."
To some, the idea of Liddy running a security school is ironic. To others, it is fitting.
"It is somewhat ironic," said Olaf Rankis, vice president of G. Gordon Liddy and Associates and an intelligence consultant. "But I don't think there's another man in the country with more experience."
The academy is not the only new Liddy endeavor raising curiosity across the nation. There also is his "Hurricane Force," a real-life "A-Team," that is available for hire immediately.
The 10-man strike force--including former Israeli, British and Cuban commandos--is billed as the only private anti-terrorist team of its kind. The unit will go anywhere in the world and do just about anything: deliver ransoms, rescue kidnap victims and coach executives stationed abroad in techniques to avoid abduction.
The fee is between $500,000 and $1 million--depending on the equipment needed and the risk involved.
'We Are Set Up'
"American businesses are operating all over the world, and right now there is a terrorism problem throughout the world," Liddy said. "We are set up to handle the problem as you wish."
Liddy said the "Hurricane Force" will be careful not to embarrass any law enforcement agency but also will not "call the government every time we get involved in anything."
Liddy said the feedback to the counterterrorism outfit has been positive, but warned that the group is not simply a do-anything-for-money outfit.
"I don't think we'd be inclined to rescue a drug dealer who has been imprisoned in Mexico by Mexican authorities," he said. "They would have the need and the money, but we wouldn't be interested in helping. We want to help legitimate people who have been victimized."
March 21, 2003, The World, [Coos County Oregon], Dr. Paul Michael Hillar,
Posted: Friday, 12:00 am,
June 17, 1919 - March 10, 2003
A memorial service for Dr. Paul Michael Hillar, 83, of Modesto, Calif., has been held in Modesto.
He was born June 17, 1919, in Empire, to Walter H. and Sylvia J. (Kibby) Hillar. He died March 10, 2003, in Modesto due to complications from a massive stroke.
In 1937, he graduated from North Bend High School. He received a bachelor of science degree and master of science degree from the University of Oregon and a doctoral degree from Stanford University. From 1944 to 1946, he served in the U.S. Navy and in the U.S. Naval Reserve until 1951. He married Eleanor Forrest and they raised six children.
He moved to Modesto in 1952, to work for the county Office of Education. He became assistant county superintendent in 1968 and administrative assistant to the superintendent in 1978. Mr. Hillar was instrumental in developing the county's master plan for special education, and he initiated the outdoor science and education program that continue to this day. He designed mobile vision and heart screening units, worked on projects dealing with drug abuse and smoking and helped devise a Modesto Irrigation District plan for canal and water safety.
In the 1960s, he put together countywide clinics where people received the Sabin oral vaccine for polio. He also worked on school-related civil defense projects. His interest in health extended beyond schools. He was active in the American Heart Association at the national, state, regional and county levels, receiving a Gold Heart and two Silver Heart awards. He was a member of the Stanislaus County Emergency Medical Care Committee and also served on state and regional hypertension panels. He was chairman of a task force for the mass instruction of cardiopulmonary resuscitation in Stanislaus County. Previously, he served on county boards for the American Cancer Society, March of Dimes, Crippled Children's Society, Tuberculosis and Health Association, and Visiting Nurse Association. In 1960, he served on the health committee during President Kennedy's Youth Fitness Conference, which led to the President's Council on Physical Fitness. He was a past president of the California Association for Health, Physical Education and Recreation.
He belonged to the Rotary Club and was a certified member of the National Panel of Consumer Arbiters for the Better Business Bureau.
He enjoyed backpacking, photography, lapidary, woodworking and travel.
He is survived by his children, William G. Hillar of Richland, Wash., Nalani Strauman of Ashland, Margaret Hillar Brown of Cloverdale, Calif., Eliner Shields of Turlock, Calif., and John Hillar of Modesto; brother, James Hillar of Coos Bay; sisters, Rose Mickelson of Coos Bay and Marie McCurdy of Louisiana; 15 grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by his wife, Eleanor "Elle" Hillar; and daughter, Aileen Johnson.
"the Jim Hillar family of Coos Bay;"
January 31, 2006, Spero Forum, David Race Bannon: The spy who never was, David Race Bannon, who claims to have worked for Interpol as a hit man, was arrested for criminal impersonation - after for years possibly serving as an expert witness in courts and on news channels, By Robert Duncan,
Call him the spy who never came in from the cold - or better yet, the spy who never was.
David Race Bannon, 42, of Charlotte, North Carolina, claims to have worked for Interpol as a hit man, was arrested Friday, Jan. 27, in Boulder, Colo. for criminal impersonation. Various websites (including a cached version of his website) claim that Bannon has served as an expert witness in U.S. federal appellate court, and appeared on the Discovery Channel, Fox News Channel, A&E, The History Channel, TechTV and National Public Radio.
Jefferson County district attorney spokesman Carl Blesch said in a statement that Bannon didn't resist his arrest Friday at a Boulder restaurant. According to the Rocky Mountain News, Bannon was in Colorado "meeting with a group that was sponsoring his planned appearance today in Boulder."
That same article said CBI agents described Bannon as "'dumbfounded' when he was taken into custody."
Bannon is scheduled for his first district court appearance on Feb. 2. Bond was set at $5,000.
Bannon is the author of "Race Against Evil -- The Secret Missions of the Interpol Agent Who Tracked the World's Most Sinister Criminals."
A press statement for Bannon's "Race Against Evil" book, claims that "at age 18, the American youth is recruited by Interpol after he is caught in a deadly riot in South Korea. Over the next 15 years, Bannon is trained to work in the darkest regions of humanity, to deny societal inhibitors against killing and embrace the agency's role as deliverer of grim justice to evildoers beyond the reach of the law. His missions take him from investigating the bombing of KAL 858 and infiltrating prisons in Korea to the disappearance of London's most notorious child pornographer and searching out terrorists and criminals in the United States."
It appears even Bannon's name is in question.
"The former David Wayne Dilley changed his name to Bannon in Spokane, Washington, in 1990, choosing the name because of the character Race Bannon in the classic Hanna-Barbera adventure cartoon 'Jonny Quest,'" according to the Mainichi Daily News.
Despite the similarity between Bannon's name and that of a cartoon character fromJohnny Quest - specifically the trusty friend of Dr. Quest is called Race Bannon - his book has received support from some fringe groups.
"I wish more people would bring this tragic occurance to light. As a mother and a youth leader, I had no idea how much of this was going on in the world. I knew about child abduction and child abuse and have tryed educating parents and teens about safety," reads one reviewer, while another at the same website wrote "This is a fascinating, hair-raising, sometimes hilarious and sometimes tragic account of the brave men and women who went behind the lines in child sex slavery rings." Both those reviewers were anonymous.
But as far back as 2004 Interpol has been saying that Bannon's history is fiction.
Working in collaboration with the U.S. National Central Bureau of Interpol, the Interpol General Secretariat (Lyon, France), and other Interpol member countries, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation said Bannon's credentials are bogus and his efforts to profit from the deception to be illegal. He is charged with criminal impersonation, computer crime and attempted theft.
"Interpol's General Secretariat in Lyon has no record of David Race Bannon having been employed and no knowledge of individuals mentioned in Mr. Bannon's book. Interpol exists to facilitate the exchange.
Robert Steven Duncan is a consultant and a widely published foreign correspondent who lives in Spain. Besides having articles appearing in WSJ, Barron's, Smart Money, Newsweek, the National Catholic Register and many other places, he has held various leadership posts in the communication sector. He publishes the "RSD Report" at http://www.robertstevenduncan.com
September 9, 2010, [Updated: September 8, 2011], ElonUniversity.edu, Elon honors "Hometown Heroes" in annual ceremony, by Eric Townsend, Staff,
Three people who make a difference in the lives of others were honored Monday by Elon University in the 17th annual “Hometown Heroes” awards ceremony on campus. Freshmen class officers selected the honorees for “making a positive difference by touching lives and strengthening their home communities” in a program sponsored by the Truitt Center for Religious and Spiritual Life.
From left: Bill Hillar, Mark Watros and Meaghan Murphy.
This year's honorees include:
Bill Hillar, Millersville, Maryland
Nominated and introduced by Savannah Chaisson in connection with Rex Water’s Elon 101 class
Award presented by Kyrstin Wallach, Secretary
Bill Hillar is an activist who speaks to all who will listen about his personal experiences concerning the atrocities of human trafficking. Hillar says that In 1988, while traveling with school mates, his daughter was abducted and forced into the sex industry. Despite an exhaustive, multi-country search, Hillar says he was unable to save his daughter from the fate that ultimately took her life. According to Hillar, the movie "Taken" with Liam Neeson is partially based on his personal story. Rather than allow the loss of his daughter to devastate him for the rest of his life, Hillar says he has dedicated his life to educating people on the largely overlooked problem of human trafficking.
Meaghan Murphy, Lexington, Massachusetts
Nominated and introduced by Alyssa Kendall in connection with Chet Denlinger’s Elon 101 class
Award presented by Natalie Cuzmenco, Treasurer
Currently a first year student at High Point University, Meaghan Murphy is an example of how young people can truly make a difference in their communities, regardless of their age.Murphy was instrumental in organizing a fundraiser, “Volley for Molly,” to raise money for Molly Eisenberg, a teammate who was diagnosed with ovarian cancer shortly after beginning her first year at college. This fundraiser went on to garner an attendance of over 1,000 people and raised significant funds for ovarian cancer research. The program has become an annual event in Lexington, and has been replicated in other communities to raise awareness of ovarian cancer in memory of Molly.
Mark Watros, Greenwich, Connecticut
Nominated and introduced by Peter Fox in connection with Janis Baughman’s Elon 101 class
Award presented by Alexandra Briggs, Senator
Upon his eighteenth birthday, Mark Watros enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corp. While serving his third and final tour of duty during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2006, Watros redirected a vehicle loaded with an explosive device. Despite being seriously injured during the interception, he continued protecting his fellow Marines until he was medically evacuated. The USMC awarded Mark a Purple Heart, and the Combat Distinguishing Device which exemplifies valor, bravery and heroic actions while facing an enemy in combat. After rehabilitating from his injuries, Watros personally requested to rejoin his unit and served the remainder of his tour. He is currently a student at Ferris State University while pursuing his dream of becoming a professional golfer.
October 1, 2010, abs-cbn.com, 'Sex traffickers using Facebook to spot targets' by David Dizon,
Posted at 10/01/2010 2:02 AM | Updated as of 10/01/2010 2:02 AM
MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines is ranked 4th in the world in number of child prostitutes with over 100,000, and many of them are also victims of sex trafficking, an advocacy group said Thursday.
Dr. Cyndi Romine, president of Compassion To One Philippines (www.compassion2one.org), said the country has become a primary source of sexually trafficked children behind nations such as India, Thailand and Cambodia. Worldwide, she said an average of 1.2 million children are sexually trafficked every year.
"I didn't understand the problem was this big when I started, 100,000 children a year. They are being flown out, they are being shipped out. Borneo is so close, Malaysia's so close. It's a huge money-making situation," she told ANC's "Headstart" anchor Karen Davila.
She said places where children are most likely to be trafficked are Metro Manila, Cebu, Cotabato and Davao.
"Cebu has a horrible problem, Cotabato, Davao...Of course, any place that has a port where they can just take them out. It's so easy when you just put them on a boat. No papers, nothing," she said
Romine said traffickers usually approach parents of impoverished families and entice them with money, fame or even a better life just to let the kids go with them.
She also noted that 50% of all pimps are women, which makes profiling of traffickers even harder. "A well-dressed Filipina will come to you and say, 'We'll make your child a star.' This is poverty driven. These are minors, little tiny ones," she said.
Once the child goes with the trafficker, Romine said the child could end up in a number of countries such as the Arab states, Japan, Thailand and Cambodia. She said that in some places, an "exotic" child prostitute who is still a virgin could be "sold" for up to $10,000.
Facebook as source?
Romine said the problem of sex trafficking has become bigger because drug syndicates are now going into forced prostitution. She noted that drugs can be sold only once but a prostitute can be "sold" again and again every day.
She said prevention of sex trafficking should start at the barangay level and should be complemented by tighter immigration control.
"It really boils down a lot to immigration because of airports and ports. It also falls on barangay officials and local government. Why are they not stopping people they don't know and asking them 'Who are you? You are not taking our babies,'" she said.
She added: "I think we need to get a passion, a fire burning. Let them be mad at this situation and say, 'You are not taking our children. You are not taking our kids.'"
Romine said parents who are approached by suspected traffickers should also know how to discern if the person approaching them is a trafficker.
"They can say they want to marry you, give your kids an education, make your kids a star. They will promise you the world. Check out the agent. How long have you been in business? Check out the POEA [Philippine Overseas Employment Administration] if the business is legitimate," she said.
She also advised parents to monitor their children's online activities since many traffickers are now scouring social media sites such as Facebook to check out potential victims. She said some kids routinely post pictures of themselves while in school uniform, not knowing that they could be targeted by traffickers.
Liam Neeson movie based on true story
Romine also revealed that the hit movie "Taken" starring Hollywood actor Liam Neeson is actually based on a true story. The movie, based on a script by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen, portrayed Neeson as a retired special ops agent who rescues his daughter from Albanian slave traders in Europe.
Romine said the story of retired US Army Special Forces Colonel William Hillar is actually similar to the one in the movie.
Hillar's daughter was kidnapped along with two friends while taking a train out of Bangkok. Within 24 hours, the girls were already in Kuala Lumpur and forced to become sex slaves.
After finding out about the kidnapping, Hillar took his friends and tracked his daughter for the next 6 months. The search took him to Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Macau, the Philippines and finally in a warehouse in Borneo with 32 girls inside.
"He goes in and finds one of the friends and asks: 'Where's my baby?' She said: 'Oh sir, a week ago she escaped and found a policeman and he brought her back here. She was tortured to death as an example to the other girls.' He got there a week late," Romine recounted.
Romine describes Hillar as a big, tall, muscular guy who is still suffering from guilt about the fate of his daughter.
"He suffers from guilt. Why couldn't I be there? Why couldn't I protect her? That's why I feel bad for the parents in the Philippines who think they are giving their child something wonderful. They're letting their child go into the worse possible scenario. The average age of a prostitute worldwide is 14 years old, and they service men and women 40 times a day," she said.
October 7, 2010, The World, [Coos County Oregon], Zonta tackles human trafficking,
Oregon has a dirty little secret:
It preys on runaway teenagers and illegal laborers.
But a local group has taken up arms against this sea of troubles by holding the Zonta Club of the Coos Bay Area's second annual Human Trafficking Conference next week.
It will train and educate citizens, local law enforcement officers, and social workers how to recognize signs of modern slavery.
'You have no idea how close things are," said Jan Delimont, the Coos Bay Zonta's chairwoman of the legislative advocacy and awareness committee.
Coos County in particular could be a hotbed for human trafficking because its population of homeless children and teens is vulnerable to kidnapping and recruitment into the sex trade.
Delimont emphasized that sex trafficking, which often involves teens, isn't the same as prostitution. Victims don't sell their bodies of their own free will.
'When they're under 18, they don't have the cognitive ability to make that choice," she explained.
Human trafficking defined
According to the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, human trafficking is the use of coercion, deception or force to enslave men, women and children or to place them into slavery-like conditions. It's typically divided into two categories:
• The first, labor trafficking, typically involves victims who are forced to work in conditions of involuntary servitude though force, fraud or coercion. Many are foreigners who are limited by language barriers.
• Sex trafficking deals with commercial sex acts not limited to prostitution, exotic dancing and pornography.
Local examples
In one recent incident, Delimont said two Coos County parents had tried to sell their daughter at a local bar.
In another, a Chinese woman -- who had allegedly been purchased by a Coquille man -- went to the Women's Safety & Resource Center because he beat her.
'She didn't speak English and she didn't know what had happened to her," Delimont said.
Made possible through a collaboration between Coos Bay Zonta, the Coos Commission on Children and Families, and Oregonians Against Trafficking Humans, the conference and training event begins at 1 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 12, at The Mill Casino-Hotel. It is expected to run to 4:30 p.m.
Inspirational speaker
Open to the public, social service workers and law enforcement for a $10 registration fee, the first event features keynote speaker Bill Hillar, an expert on the topic and retired U.S. Army Special Forces colonel.
He also became the inspiration for the 2008 film 'Taken," starring Liam Neeson, in which a man's daughter is forced into the slave trade.
Keith Bickford, a Multnomah County sheriff's deputy, along with Julie Samples of the Oregon Legal Services Farmworkers Program and Wynne Wakkila, the director of Oregonians Against Trafficking Humans, also are scheduled to speak.
U.S. Senator Ron Wyden is expected to attend.
The International Labor Organization estimates 12.3 million adults and children are in forced labor, bonded labor, and commercial sexual servitude, a Zonta press release said. The training will explore these issues.
These are 'people who are brought to the United states and a promised a job and then exploited," said Genelle Hanken, a co-chairwoman for the conference.
'They're not paid; they're kept in bad conditions."
Zonta's fight
A second event that will feature Hillar will start at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 12 in the Coos Bay Public Library's Myrtlewood Room. Free, it is expected to be a more informal presentation.
Finally, on Wednesday, Oct. 13, the Coos Bay Police Department will host a training event for law enforcement.
Hanken and Delimont said the issue has been part of a larger project through Zonta International, but Coos Bay members took up the fight because they found human trafficking often involved young people, and came too close to home.
'I'm excited to hear what Bill Hillar has to say, and hopefully it gets us all fired up so we know what to do," Hanken said.
She said the club hopes to open a chapter of Oregonians against Trafficking Humans in the area.
Pre-registration for the conference is encouraged, but entry can be purchased on the day of the event. Registration can be made online at www.zontacoosbay.org. For more information, contact Terri Turi at 541-297-4403.
Reporter Jessica Musicar can be reached at 541-269-1222, ext. 240; or at jmusicar@theworldlink.com.
World Photo by Jessica Musicar Bill Hillar, the keynote speaker at Zonta of the Coos Bay Area's Human Trafficking Conference, tells a crowd of about 85 on Tuesday about the horrors of the modern-day sex and labor slave trade. He said two ways to fight the crime are through education and informing legislators of the need to change laws to prosecute pimps and employers, rather than the victims.
October 13, 2010, The World, [Coos County Oregon ] Zonta workshop puts figures on worldwide impact of illegal trade, Talk puts spotlight on human trafficking, by Jessica Musicar, Staff Writer, Posted: Wednesday, 11:00 am
NORTH BEND -- 'Last night, while we were sleeping, about 27,000 kids died of starvation, and most of you don't give a damn," Bill Hillar told a crowd of about 85 people Tuesday.
The keynote speaker for Zonta of the Coos Bay Area went on to say that many in the room probably were more upset by the accusation than the fact.
Just as many probably turn their heads to other harsh realities, he said, such as the modern-day sex and slave labor trade when they don't come close to home.
Until his own daughter was kidnapped from a train between Bangkok and Singapore and sold into the sex trade in 1988, he didn't think about it either.
Since that time, he has made it his mission to spread awareness of human trafficking as an epidemic that has snaked its way into Oregon and Coos County.
'All of us are affected whether you want to believe it or not," he said at the Human Trafficking Conference at The Mill Casino-Hotel.
The second annual conference was held to inform residents, social workers and law enforcement officers about human trafficking so they may recognize victims when they meet them. It was presented through a partnership with the local Zonta chapter, the Coos Commission on Children & Families, and Oregonians Against Trafficking Humans.
Made an example
Hillar, a retired U.S. Army Special Forces colonel who now provides training and consultation to law enforcement, was the inspiration for the film 'Taken," about a man's efforts to rescue his daughter following her abduction.
But unlike the movie, Hillar's daughter didn't survive.
A classmate, who had also been abducted, told him that his daughter escaped but was brought back to the warehouse where she'd been imprisoned. She became an example for the other girls -- through rape, sodomy and torture -- before she was hacked apart by machetes and thrown into the sea.
Sex trade
Hillar isn't alone.
Human trafficking, which includes forced labor, is the world's second largest criminal enterprise in the world, just behind the drug trade. It's a $44 billion a year industry, Hillar said.
'The way the world works is this," Hillar said, rubbing imaginary coins between his fingers.
According to the International Labor Organization, an estimated 12.3 million adults and children are forced into labor, bonded labor and commercial sexual servitude.
The crime is so lucrative, Hillar said, that drug cartels are switching to selling women.
Hillar explained that someone can buy or sell a quantity of drugs or a weapon only once, 'but I can buy a female over and over and over again."
The average age of sex slaves is 12, although in some foreign countries even infants are for sale.
Too close
It's happening is western European countries, as well as in our own.
During the World Cup in Berlin, politicians rescinded a prostitution law and imported nearly 30,000 prostitutes.
The United States, he contended, brought slaves to satisfy peace-keepers in Bosnia.
Even worse, slaves as well as customers abound in the United States.
'Where do the 80,000 pedophiles come from?" Hillar asked.
'They come from this country."
This said, victims often are prosecuted when they have run-ins with the law. Hillar said it's a problem because they aren't prostitutes -- they're victims. Prostitution indicates choice.
Modern-day slavery
The other side of the coin is forced labor.
Julie Samples, who is involved with the Northwest Farm Workers Project, said some labor camps in Oregon don't meet health standards, and force foreign laborers to work for less than promised.
Women workers sometimes are coerced into having sex with their bosses.
Samples said many speak indigenous languages in South America other than Spanish, and so are limited in reporting problems.
Educate yourself
The best way to battle human trafficking is to research it and talk to legislators on how to change the laws.
According to a letter from U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, he introduced Senate Bill 2925, 'The Trafficking Deterrence and Victims Support Act," to take a comprehensive approach to addressing domestic sex trafficking of minors.
'It would provide training and funding for law enforcement officers and prosecutors, and establish much-needed shelters to provide sex trafficking victims with the services they need."
To learn more about human trafficking or to report an incident, contact the National Human Trafficking Hotline, 888-3737-888, or visit nhtrc.polarisproject.org.
Reporter Jessica Musicar can be reached at 541-269-1222, ext. 240; or at jmusicar@theworldlink.com.
November 19, 2010, Monterey Herald, MIIS probes lecturer's credentials [Original Source] by Larry Parsons, Posted: 19 Nov 2010 01:51 AM PST
The Monterey Institute of International Studies is investigating the background of a lecturer whose credentials as a retired Green Beret officer and human trafficking expert have come under question.
The check on Bill Hillar's background was prompted by questions that arose last week among students and a Web chat site about Hillar's military service record, MIIS spokesman Jason Warburg said Thursday.
A profile page about Hillar, which has been removed from the institute's website, described Hillar as a retired colonel of Army Special Forces who served in Asia, the Middle East, and Central and South America. It said Hillar has a doctorate in health education and has advised foreign governments and military organizations.
"The situation is that questions have been raised about his military credentials, in particular, and we're looking into them," Warburg said.
Phone messages to Hillar, who has a Carmel post office box, were not returned Thursday.
Hillar taught a MIIS workshop this fall in human trafficking, Warburg said. He has taught counterterrorism workshops during the past five years.
"He typically was brought in to teach a course or two," Warburg said.
On several websites, Hillar is linked to the 2008 film "Taken," which starred Liam Neeson as a spy whose daughter is kidnapped and sold into the Asian sex industry.
Hillar, an advocate against human sex trafficking, this month won an award from Elon University in North Carolina for hiswork against the female sex slave trade, the university newspaper said. The school paper said "Taken" was loosely based on Hillar's life and the 1988 kidnapping abroad of a 16-year-old daughter.
Questions about the accuracy of Hillar's military record were raised on a Web chat site called Professional Soldiers, which describes itself as being owned and operated by "quiet professionals and ... dedicated to the Special Services soldier."
The University of Oregon, where Hillar had been an instructor for about eight years, is checking his background, a university spokesman said Thursday.
The school is looking into assertions that Hillar had a doctorate from the university.
"Our records show he didn't receive the degree" after being in a doctoral program in health from 1970 to 1973, said university spokesman Joe Mosley.
A website for Bill Hillar Training was down Thursday, but a client list downloaded earlier from the site contained two pages of federal, state and private agencies, schools and other organizations. The site said Hillar's training services included "consulting and training for high-risk occupations and speaking on leadership, ethics, stress and creativity."
On Monday, MIIS President Sunder Ramaswamy sent an e-mail to staff, faculty and students announcing its "research on the issues" raised about Hillar's "military and professional credentials."
The MIIS spokesman said Hillar's profile page was removed from the school's website because he was neither a full professor nor an adjunct professor, but an independent contractor.
"His profile shouldn't have been posted," Warburg said. "It was removed around the same time those questions came up."
Warburg said MIIS will do a thorough and diligent investigation and "arrive at a judgment when we have all the facts."
He said the school has made an inquiry to the military about Hillar and his ties to the Special Forces, but hasn't received a response.
He said the school has tried to contact Hillar, but "we have not had any response to date."
Larry Parsons can be reached at 646-4379 or lparsons@montereyherald.com.
Nov 19, 2010 at 9:20 PM, Central Coast News KION46 / FOX35, Monterey Instructor Accused of Fraud, Claims to be Action Movie Inspiration,
MONTEREY, Calif.- Bill Hillar claimed to serve across the globe, as a green beret. He taught at major institutions, across the country. Friday, a local student is calling him a fraud saying Hillar has tricked people for years.
Bill Hillar lectured at the Monterey Institute of International Studies. Students say, he even claims the movie TAKEN is loosely based on his life.
Students here at MIIS were excited to be taking a sex trafficking course from a renowned expert, a special forces army colonel, but they said all they got were a bunch of lies, and they have the proof to back it up.
"I heard nothing but good things about him, everybody raved about his courses, he was in special forces, teaches a course on tactical counter terrorism and he tells the most amazing stories," said Brian Hubbs.
But that's just it, now Hubbs is coming forward for the first time saying his one time instructor Bill Hillar was telling stories that never happened. For instance, Hubbs says Hillar claimed to be inspiration for the film TAKEN where a former government operative's daughter is kidnapped and forced into sex trafficking.
Hubbs says for students in one class, "The dominant story he mentioned that she was murdered in Bornio, but in the human trafficking class that I took he said she was murdered in Mexico City...He seemed very passionate there were times when he was tearing up in class," said Hubbs.
When the students researched the movie's writer they say they learned TAKEN was based on a Paris police officer. Bill Hillar wasn't mentioned.
The movie inconsistency wasn't the only thing that caused Hubbs and a handful of students to start researching Hillar's claims.
Hubbs, a former Marine vet, said what bothered him the most were the stories about Hillar being high atop the army's chain of command.
"He specifically said I'm retired army colonel, special forces, Delta Force took part in all these operations," saiod Hubbs.
Hubbs tracked down documentation that shows Hillar was in the Coast Guard reserves, but there is no record of him in the army or any type of special forces.
"It just became more clear that things weren't adding up, things weren't right, but the only problem is he only teaches one class in the spring one in the fall, so he's not around."
Hubbs and the other students took their concerns to the school's administration.
"We take it very seriously. We want to be diligent and thorough in the research we are doing to understand the facts," said Jason Warburg, the Communications Director at MIIS.
The next question you may be asking: What is the protocol for a background check? The school says Hillar was a contracted instructor.
"It's a different process. A more informal process," said Warburg.
So what is Hillar saying about all this? That's the problem. Hubbs and the school both say they've tried to contact him. So far, the only thing they can track down is the P.O. Box office he has in Carmel, a shutdown website, and voicemail from the man who they say was once their trusted instructor.
Central Coast News has also reached out to Hillar, but has yet to hear from him. Check back on www.kionrightnow.com for updates.
Submitted by Central Coast News reporter Brooke Holmquist.
November 20, 2010, Monterey Herald, War Stories 'Didn't Add Up': MIIS students questioned instructor's credentials, by Larry Parsons, Herald Staff Writer
Posted: 11/20/2010 01:38:26 AM PST, Updated: 11/20/2010 01:38:26 AM PST
The stories were good, full of commando drama and globe-trotting derring-do in very dangerous climes.
They were so good that, ultimately, they didn't ring true with a few students at the Monterey Institute of International Studies.
They began comparing notes on what they heard in workshops on human trafficking and counterterrorism from instructor Bill Hillar.
They had believed the big man in his 60s with the close-cropped, military-style haircut was a retired colonel with Army Special Forces, a veteran of the elite Green Berets.
"I believe it had a lot to do with his gravity. It had a certain amount of weight to it," said Brian Hubbs, a second-year student at MIIS.
Hubbs, 29, a Marine veteran, and a few fellow students with military backgrounds began questioning the accuracy of Hillar's accounts.
Their doubts grew as they researched the man who taught workshops at MIIS for five years, held training sessions for law enforcement groups and spoke to audiences around the country on the horrors of human trafficking.
Some of the stories, they found, had been told in books, and they featured people other than Hillar.
They came to the conclusion that Hillar, who had peppered his lectures with accounts of gun battles in Borneo and undercover missions in Iran, wasn't all he claimed to be.
This week, MIIS officials said the school was mounting an investigation into Hillar's background because of questions raised by students and a website dedicated to the military's special forces. The website alleges that Hillar never served in the Army, but was a Coast Guard reservist.
"We did our research," said website owner Jeff Hinton, who identifies himself as a retired Special Forces master sergeant, in an e-mail.
Hillar didn't answer calls this week to a number that was picked up by an answering machine, which played a message by a man identifying himself as Bill Hillar.
Hillar hasn't been in contact with MIIS either, a spokesman said.
Hubbs said he and his fellow students tracked Hillar through public records, talked to military investigators and to many of the groups and agencies advertised as clients on Hillar's recently shut down website.
"One of the greatest mysteries is how he was able to do this for years," Hubbs said.
A common response from Hillar's clients, he said, was "they took his word. They had heard he was a good speaker, so they invited him. They had no reason to question him."
Among the dramatic claims that Hillar made during workshops, Hubbs said, were that:
· He was asked to go to Afghanistan by the CIA on Sept. 12, 2001, the day after the terror attacks on Washington, D.C., and New York City.
· He has known retired Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, former U.S. commander in Afghanistan, for "a hundred years."
· He entered Tehran disguised as a German tourist in advance of the failed helicopter rescue mission during the 1979-81 embassy hostage crisis.
"The questions didn't add up," said Hubbs, ascribing his and his fellow students' curiosity to their own military service.
Veterans "hear these things and it triggers things that don't make sense," he said.
Hubbs said there are a number of recent veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan enrolled at MIIS. "I think that is why he got caught at our school," he said.
Hubbs said the episode has upset students, and he questions why MIIS officials didn't check Hillar's credentials more carefully.
"They are in a complete defense mode," he said. "They need to call a meeting and explain to students."
The school should give refunds to students who took Hillar's workshops, which were worth a unit of academic credit, he said.
MIIS spokesman Jason Warburg said faculty and staff members responded immediately when issues were raised by students about Hillar.
"We are anxious to conclude this process as well, and are moving as expeditiously as possible," he said in an e-mail.
Warburg said the school is proud of the students' actions and deeply understands "the strong feelings that some of our students who are military veterans have about the issues."
Larry Parsons can be reached at 646-4487 or lparsons@montereyherald.com.
November 20, 2010, Monterey County Weekly, MIIS IMPOSTOR, MIIS concludes instructor Bill Hillar lied about his academic record, by Robin Urevich,
The Monterey Institute of International Studies has concluded that Bill Hillar, a popular instructor who has given workshops on human trafficking since 2005, misrepresented his academic credentials.
The Weekly has learned that his military credentials also appear to be falsified.
Hillar, who has claimed to be a retired Special Forces Colonel, told a wild tale of international intrigue in his popular one-credit workshops, claiming that his own 17-year old daughter was kidnapped by traffickers in Southeast Asia, and was killed by them. He has said that he personally tracked her abductors, and claimed that the 2008 Liam Neeson film, Taken, is based on his exploits.
In fact, the United States Army Special Operations Command has no record that William G. Hillar ever took part in special operations education and training, which are standard for special forces personnel.
According to the National Archives and Records Administration, a William Gibb Hillar did serve in the United States Coast Guard Reserve from 1962 to 1970.
Furthermore, Hillar claimed to have a PhD from the University of Oregon in a health field. But, university spokesman Joe Mosley says Hillar didn't earn a doctoral degree.
A Nov. 20 statement from MIIS notes it will now require independent contract instructors like Hillar to submit to the same pre-employment background checks that faculty undergo.
MIIS will allow students who received credit for Hillar's workshop to take a one-credit course free of charge if they want the credit for Hillar's course removed from their records.
Hillar also gave workshops at the University of Oregon's substance abuse education program, offered training for firefighters and law enforcement personnel across the country, and has been a frequent speaker at events aimed at raising awareness of human trafficking.
Hillar's website has been taken down, and he has not returned phone calls.
November 20, 2010, Central Coast News KION46 / FOX35, Monterey Institute Reviews Former Instructors Credentials,
Monterey Institute Review Finds Workshop Leader Misrepresented His Academic Credentials, MIIS Has Been Cooperating with Other Affected Organizations and Law Enforcement,
Monterey, CA – The Monterey Institute of International Studies announced today that it has concluded its review of issues regarding former workshop instructor Bill Hillar with the finding that Hillar misrepresented his academic credentials to the Institute.
Hillar, who over the past decade has been contracted by government and non-profit agencies, as well as educational institutions across the country to lecture and lead workshops, claimed in a resume and biographical sketch submitted to the Institute to be "a retired colonel of the U.S. Army Special Forces" and to have earned a Ph.D. at the University of Oregon.
The Institute's review found that Mr. Hillar had not earned a Ph.D. at the University of Oregon, and the Institute has been unable to obtain any military records that substantiate Hillar's claims regarding his military service. Hillar has not responded to requests from the Institute to provide supporting documentation for the credentials claimed on his resume.
Hillar was initially contracted with to lead a 15-hour, three-day, one-credit workshop at the Institute in spring 2005, and has led one workshop per semester since then. He most recently led a workshop on human trafficking on October 8th through 10th. Because Hillar never applied for a position as a faculty member at the Institute, serving only as an independent contractor retained to lead a single three-day workshop per semester, he was not subject to the pre-employment background checks that the Institute requires of all employees, including all faculty and adjunct faculty.
Workshop instructors who are independent contractors typically come to the attention of the academic administration through recommendations from students or faculty, and a resume, proposed syllabus, and a list of references would generally be considered sufficient for retention of an independent contractor. The Institute believes this is a fairly typical process among higher education institutions across the country when retaining instructors on very short-term contracts to lead two- or three-day workshops.
However, as a result of this incident, the Institute has extended the requirement for a full pre-engagement background check to any person who provides classroom instruction for academic credit at the Monterey Institute, regardless of their employment status. This change in policy is effective immediately.
In addition, the Institute will offer to every student who has taken a workshop led by Hillar at the Monterey Institute two options. Affected students who met the academic requirements of the workshop may choose to allow the credit to stand on their academic record. Alternatively, they may request that the credit from the workshop be removed from their academic record, in which case they will be offered the opportunity to enroll in another one-credit workshop offered by the Institute at no additional cost. The Institute is in the process of identifying a qualified instructor to lead a human trafficking workshop in the spring 2011 semester, and will work to make this workshop available both on-site and online.
"For the past two weeks we have been engaged in a proactive, intensive effort to look into this matter," said Monterey Institute President Sunder Ramaswamy. "We believed it was essential to gather as much information as possible in order to get at the truth before arriving at any conclusions publicly. We have been engaged in extensive research and information-sharing with similarly affected institutions, and active cooperation with law enforcement and other appropriate agencies."
The public record suggests that a substantial number of agencies and institutions across the country, including law enforcement and other government agencies, non-profits, and educational institutions, have been similarly affected by Mr. Hillar's actions.
"Nonetheless," stated Ramaswamy, "The ultimate responsibility for the quality and integrity of the instruction received at the Monterey Institute rests with us. We deeply regret this incident and offer our sincere apologies to the students, alumni, faculty, and staff who have been affected by it. We also want to express our profound gratitude to the students who brought these issues to the administration's attention. We are very proud of the integrity they have displayed through their actions."
The Institute's 11 degree programs include master's degrees in international policy studies and nonproliferation and terrorism studies, as well as international business, international environmental policy, and language translation, interpretation, and teaching. Most regular courses at the Institute are worth four credits and last through a full 15-week semester. Workshops are one-credit, 15-hour electives that are typically completed over a single weekend, and are not normally required in order to complete a degree. Currently, most workshops at the Institute are led by regular or adjunct faculty.
November 20, 2010, mgx.com Blog, Coos Bay victim of human trafficking fraudster?!
Was human trafficking expert, Bill Hillar a fraud? Speaking at The Mill Casino last month, Hillar, claimed to have been the inspiration for the move Taken, claiming his own daughter was sold into slavery in 1988. None of it is true.
Students attending a lecture at the Monterey Institute of International Studies detected inconsistencies in his story and discovered Hillar, who claimed he was in Special Forces, misrepresented his service to our country.
When the students researched the movie’s writer they say they learned TAKEN was based on a Paris police officer. Bill Hillar wasn’t mentioned.
The movie inconsistency wasn’t the only thing that caused Hubbs and a handful of students to start researching Hillar’s claims.
Hubbs, a former Marine vet, said what bothered him the most were the stories about Hillar being high atop the army’s chain of command.
"He specifically said I’m retired army colonel, special forces, Delta Force took part in all these operations," said Hubbs.
Hubbs tracked down documentation that shows Hillar was in the Coast Guard reserves, but there is no record of him in the army or any type of special forces.
According to The World, 85 people attended the lecture for Zonta of the Coos Bay Area’s Human Trafficking Conference duping sympathetic citizens and police alike. Hillar’s claims were printed as fact in The World newspaper.
(hat tip/themguys)
UPDATE: Hillar also claimed a PhD in Health Education at the University of Oregon where he has been teaching for seven years. The University says he was never awarded the degree.
November 21, 2010, Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal, Credentials mess at Monterey Institute
Date: Sunday, 5:50pm PST
The Monterey Institute of International Studies said over the weekend that it has concluded that a lecturer there made false claims about his academic credentials.
The institute said that it has concluded that, contrary to claims in a resume and bio, lecturer Bill Hillar lied about both his military and academic background.
It said Hillar claimed to be "a retired colonel of the U.S. Army Special Forces" and to have earned a Ph.D. at the University of Oregon, neither of which it was able to verify.
Hillar taught workshops at the institute over the past five years in human trafficking and counterterrorism. He has also been hired by various other educational, nonprofit and law enforcement agencies.
"We deeply regret this incident and offer our sincere apologies to the students, alumni, faculty, and staff who have been affected by it," Monterey Institute President Sunder Ramaswamy said in a prepared release.
As a result, the institute said it will begin requiring a full background check on any person who provides classroom instruction for academic credit there.
Students who took Hillar's workshops are being given two options, to keep the academic credit on their records or have it removed with the option of attending another workshop at no additional cost.
Written by Cromwell Schubarth. Contact him at 408.299.1823 or cschubarth@bizjournals.com.
November 23, 2010, Los Angeles Times, Monterey instructor's resume sparks students' suspicions,
Bill Hillar's students had doubts about his claims of dangerous exploits as a Special Forces. Officials at the Monterey Institute of International Studies say the students' doubts have merit, By Larry Gordon, Los Angeles Times,
Bill Hillar, a part-time instructor at the Monterey Institute of International Studies, told students enrolled in his workshops on terrorism and human trafficking about what he described as his own dangerous exploits as a former colonel in the U.S. Army's Special Forces.
He also boasted, they recalled, that the 2008 action movie "Taken," starring Liam Neeson, was based on his life and his daughter's kidnapping by men who wanted to enslave her.
Such claims, along with incidents in which Hillar seemed to borrow material from other people's books, raised suspicions among some of his graduate students about Hillar's resume and background. "He didn't seem to act like a veteran or someone who served so highly in the military," recalled Brian Hubbs, a graduate student and Marine veteran.
So this fall, Hubbs and several other veterans attending the graduate institute began investigating Hillar's resume. And the school now says their suspicions had merit.
Monterey Institute officials said Hillar, who has taught workshops twice yearly at the school since 2005, had claimed to hold a doctorate from the University of Oregon, but a check showed that he had only attended classes there. The institute, which is well-regarded for its foreign language and international relations courses, has been unable to confirm the instructor's claims of military rank and service, officials said.
Hillar, who has also been an expert speaker on security and leadership at other colleges and police agencies across the country, did not respond to messages left Monday at the phone number and e-mail address listed on his class syllabus.
Monterey Institute spokesman Jason Warburg said Hillar has not responded to the school's requests for a meeting and documents to verify his background.
The 750-student institute, a graduate school of Middlebury College in Vermont, has issued a public apology that it did not check Hillar's resume more thoroughly before engaging him to teach his three-day workshops. It promised that it would extend to part-time workshop instructors the background check required of all other faculty. And the school's president, Sunder Ramaswamy, has praised Hubbs and the other students for "the integrity they have displayed."
The institute is offering students replacement workshops and a chance to erase Hillar's courses from their academic records. But that does not fully satisfy Hubbs, who contends the school treated Hillar "like a superstar" for years and that the institute and other schools and agencies that hired him should have vetted him earlier.
"One of the mysteries of the whole incident is how could a guy like this go on for years," Hubbs said in an interview Monday.
An early clue, Hubbs said, came when Hillar told an October workshop a story about how he had counseled a student about creativity. The story sounded familiar and students said they tracked it down, attributed to others, in the book "Chicken Soup for the College Soul: Inspiring and Humorous Stories About College."
The Monterey students then used the Internet to research other of the instructor's claims and contacted a national veterans' group for help.
In his promotional material as a speaker on leadership and ethics, Hillar said he had provided "training for high-risk occupations" and listed more than 30 local, state and federal agencies and schools as clients. Among them was the Federal Executive Board of Greater Los Angeles, which coordinates efficiency and emergency planning for federal agencies in California, Arizona and Nevada.
The board's executive director, Kathrene Hansen, confirmed Monday that Hillar had been a speaker for several of the group's annual meetings, most recently in July. "He was very well received, very inspirational," Hansen said in a telephone interview. She said she had never heard of anything problematic in Hillar's background.
The University of Portland hosted a conference on human trafficking this month, where Hillar was scheduled to be a keynote speaker. Advance material described him as a retired special forces colonel "whose personal story inspired the movie "Taken." A university spokesman said Monday that Hillar did not appear at the conference. The spokesman referred questions to the conference organizers, who did not return phone calls.
In "Taken," Neeson plays a former CIA operative who saves his teenage daughter from slave traders. In interviews at the time of its release, its director and writers did not mention Hillar.
larry.gordon@latimes.com Copyright © 2010, Los Angeles Times
November 23, 2010, Los Angeles Times, Monterey Institute instructor's credentials subject of FBI fraud investigation, by Larry Gordon, Posted at 4:12 pm
The FBI and the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office in Portland, Ore., have opened a fraud investigation of Bill Hillar, a college instructor and professional speaker whose claims to be a high-ranking military officer and terrorism expert are being challenged.
Lt. Jose Martinez of the sheriff's office said Tuesday that "We have assigned an investigator and we have joined the investigation [of Hillar] with the FBI," he said.
Hillar had been scheduled earlier this month to be a keynote speaker at a University of Portland conference on human trafficking but did not show up, according to the school.
Along with frequent speeches to law enforcement groups across the country, Hillar has taught workshops on human trafficking and terrorism at the Monterey Institute of International Studies twice a year since 2005, most recently last month. Students at the institute recently challenged what Hillar said were his credentials as a retired colonel in U.S. Army Special Forces who had earned a doctorate from the University of Oregon.
The Monterey school this week said it could not confirm Hillar's resume and had severed ties with the instructor. The school also publicly apologized for not verifying Hillar's credentials before hiring him.
FBI spokesmen said Tuesday that their policy was not to discuss any ongoing investigations.
In his classes and speeches, Hillar presented himself as the inspiration for the lead character in the 2008 film "Taken," starring Liam Neeson as a former CIA operative whose daughter is kidnapped by men who want to enslave her. In numerous interviews about the movie, its director and writers never mentioned Hillar.
Deputy Keith Bickford, who heads the human trafficking unit of the Multnomah sheriff's agency and is helping in the investigation, said he had heard Hillar speak twice at conferences and emotionally recount the supposed kidnapping and murder of his daughter.
"The story that he told was very sad and he did a very good job in making everybody feel horrible," said Bickford, who did not initially suspect Hillar's credentials. "If he is a fraud, he's hurt a lot of people and taken advantage of a horrible, horrible crime," he said, referring to trafficking.
Hillar could not be reached for comment at the phone number and e-mail address he listed on a syllabus for his Monterey Institute class
-- Larry Gordon
November 23, 2010, Monterey Herald, MIIS confirms instructor lied about credentials, Background checks to be mandatory, by Jane Lee, Staff Writer,
Posted: 11/23/2010 01:37:29 AM PST
Updated: 11/23/2010 08:47:57 AM PST
Bill Hillar Instructor did not receive a doctorate from the University of Oregon.
After confirming that workshop instructor Bill Hillar misrepresented his academic credentials, the Monterey Institute of International Studies said it is taking steps to ensure something similar does not happen again.
Hillar, who taught workshops on human trafficking and counterterrorism, was categorized as an independent contractor for MIIS, so he was not subject to the background checks required of all employees, MIIS officials said in a news release.
But the incident has prompted them to change that policy. Effective immediately, anyone who teaches a course for credit will undergo a background check.
Questions about Hillar's credentials first came to light in early November, MIIS spokesman Jason Warburg said Monday. Two students brought their suspicions about Hillar's military experience to a faculty member, who alerted MIIS officials.
"The key issue was did he or did he not misrepresent his credentials," said Warburg.
After conducting its review, MIIS found that Hillar, who is not a permanent part of the teaching staff, did not graduate from the University of Oregon with a doctorate, Warburg said, even though the résumé Hillar submitted to MIIS stated he had.
MIIS officials looked into Hillar's military credentials, Warburg said, but were unable to substantiate his military record in the 2½ weeks of the review. He said the Freedom of Information Act request the school submitted has not been fulfilled.
MIIS officials gave Hillar the opportunity to respond to the issues brought up during their review, but Warburg said Hillar has not contacted them.
Hillar received positive comments on his student evaluations, Warburg said.
"People, at this point, are just absorbing what's been sent out," he said, adding that some people have expressed surprise at the situation.
Students who took Hillar's workshops can choose whether to keep the credit. If they choose to have it removed, they will be able to enroll in another one-credit workshop at MIIS at no extra cost
The school is trying to find a qualified instructor for its spring Human Trafficking workshop. MIIS will try to make the class available on campus and online.
"We deeply regret this incident and offer our sincere apologies to the students, alumni, faculty and staff who have been affected by it," MIIS President Sunder Ramaswamy said in the news release.
"We also want to express our profound gratitude to the students who brought these issues to the administration's attention. We are very proud of the integrity they have displayed through their actions."
Because Hillar was not a member of the institution, Warburg said, the incident likely will not damage the school's standing.
Jane Lee can be reached at 648-1188 or jlee@montereyherald.com.
November 24, 2010, Central Coast News KION46 / FOX35, MIIS Duped By Former Instructor
Posted: 2:21 PM EST Updated: Jan 25, 2011 1:09 PM EST,
MONTEREY, Calif.- Tuesday, the Monterey Institute of International Studies said it's one of several schools duped by a man who claims to be a decorated Green Beret.
It's focused on repairing a bruised reputation, and making good on its promises.
It's a story Central Coast News first told you about on Friday, "It's the ultimate kick in the stomach feeling...Everyone has been potentially taken for a ride," said President Sunder Ramaswamy.
Brian Hubbs and other students brought their research on Bill Hillar to President Ramaswamy's attention, he said at first the school was careful with the accusations, "If you look at the casual research of the web he is all over the place...figuring out what the quote, unquote truth was."
He became a believer in the students, "They deserve an enormous amount of credit, " and a disbeliever in Hillar, once the University of Oregon confirmed Hillar never received a PH.D there, "That's a big deal in academia," said Ramaswamy.
"We had tried to contact Mr. Hillar by UPS receipt mail so we know someone had received it, and we said here are some questions without impuning anything can you provide your side of the story and we gave him a time deadline and we haven't heard back from Mr. Hillar at all," said Ramaswamy.
Central Coast News has also tried calling Hillar several times, and Ramaswamy is not sure if anyone will ever hear from Hillar again, but said he's more worried about the students who have already taken his workshops.
"We will offer another workshop on site and also online, and we wont charge...And maybe not everybody wants to, as I said some people felt they got turned on to the topic, they can ignore the fact that he was an alleged charlatan," said Ramaswamy.
But Ramaswamy's biggest goal is to make sure this new piece of school history, doesn't repeat itself.
"We will do everything we can that the people were putting in front of you in the classroom live up to what they claim," said Ramaswamy.
The school said it changed policies to do background checks on all instructors, no matter how long they teach there.
About 800 students attend the school including military veterans and civilians.
Nov 24, 2010, Central Coast News KION46 / FOX35, STATEMENT OF FINDINGS REGARDING BILL HILLAR, by Kiki Jones,
7:11 PM,
1. After a process of intensive research and consultation, the Monterey Institute of International Studies has concluded that Bill Hillar, a lecturer contracted to lead one workshop session per semester for the past several years, misrepresented his academic credentials to the Institute.
2. On the resume he submitted to the Monterey Institute, Mr. Hillar claimed to have earned a Ph.D. from the University of Oregon. The University of Oregon has confirmed that he did not in fact earn this degree.
3. On a biographical sketch Mr. Hillar provided to the Institute, and on the professional Web site formerly located at billhillartraining.com, Mr. Hillar claimed to be "a retired colonel of the U.S. Army Special Forces." Similar claims have been repeated in multiple news articles, and witnessed by multiple Monterey Institute students and faculty. The Institute has been unable to obtain any military records that substantiate this claim.
4. The Institute has attempted to contact Mr. Hillar directly by multiple means with the request that he provide evidence in support of the academic and military credentials he has claimed. Mr. Hillar has not responded to any attempts the Institute has made to communicate with him since the Institute began its formal research process.
5. Because Mr. Hillar never applied for a position as an employee of the Institute, serving only as an independent contractor retained to lead one one-credit workshop per semester, he was not subject to the pre-employment background check that the Institute requires of all regular employees, a category that includes all faculty and adjunct faculty.
6. The Institute was contacted by law enforcement regarding this matter and immediately offered its full cooperation.
As a result of these findings, the Institute will take the following specific steps going forward:
• The Institute will not contract for services with Bill Hillar.
• The Institute will require a full background check for any person who performs classroom instruction for academic credit at the Institute, regardless of the individual's employment status, effective immediately. Background checks for contracted workshop instructors will be carried out by the same third-party agency that currently conducts them for all regular and adjunct faculty hires at the Institute.
The Institute will offer to every student who has taken a workshop led by Mr. Hillar at the Monterey Institute two options. Affected students who met the academic requirements of the workshop may choose to allow the credit to stand on their academic record. Alternatively, they may request that the credit from the workshop be removed from their academic record, in which case they will be offered the opportunity to enroll in another one-credit workshop offered by the Institute at no additional cost. The Institute is in the process of identifying a qualified instructor to lead a human trafficking workshop in the spring 2011 semester, and will work to make this workshop available both on-site and online.
STEPS TO BE TAKEN
November 24, 2010, Central Coast News KION46 / FOX35, Retired Green Berets Call Hillar Imposter,
Updated: Nov 24, 2010 7:04 PM MST
MONTEREY, Calif.- It's a story Central Coast News broke last week, now it's gaining national attention from the LA Times.
Wednesday, a special forces group said it spent the past year tracking Bill Hillar.
Central Coast News learned what the group found out, when it looked into the man, claiming to be a Green Beret.
"We don't go after the people that tell somebody at a bar 'I'm a Green Beret,' we go after people like Hillar that make themselves public figures," said Jeff Hinton.
And go after Hillar, the retired Green Berets did.
"...Expose these people for the frauds they are so they're not using our title and our reputation, a title we earned and a reputation we paid for in blood," said Hinton.
They aren't out for blood like some may think. Hinton said it's all about doing their homework on potential frauds like Hillar and letting the truth be known.
"You got to remember how small we are and to not know a colonel with special forces? No one knew him."
"The nail in the coffin was the Freedom of Information Act from Army operations Command...I mean this is a Full Bird Colonel and no record on him? It's like that's it!"
Hillar has been posted as a fraud for over a year on the website Jeff Hinton started, professional soldiers.com. A place for special forces to network with each other. It was there that Brian Hubbs and the other students at the Monterey Institute of International Studies found more evidence to back up their research on Hillar.
A client list from Hillar's now defunct website shows a lot of people believed his stories for a long time, "It's because he's never run across a real Green Beret... They read just enough or watch just enough movies to pass themselves off," said Hinton.
The question is, where is he now? "You got me! He's probably hiding under a rock...if I were him I'd leave the country," said Hinton laughing.
November 24, 2010, The Associated Press, Army claims of terrorism instructor examined,
Posted: Wednesday 11:04:32 EST
MONTEREY, Calif. — The FBI is investigating a Monterey Institute instructor's claims that he's a retired Army colonel and terrorism expert.
Bill Hillar, who has taught workshops on human trafficking and terrorism at the Monterey Institute of International Studies and claims to be a former U.S. Army Special Forces officer, also claims he's the inspiration for the lead character in the 2008 Liam Neeson movie "Taken."
The Los Angeles Times says the film's director and writers aren't aware of Hillar.
Besides the FBI, the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office in Portland, Ore., has opened a fraud investigation. Hillar had been scheduled this month to be a keynote speaker at a University of Portland conference on human trafficking but he did not show up.
Hillar hasn't responded to telephone and e-mail messages.
November 25, 2010, Monterey County Herald, The (CA), Lawmen probe bogus instructor, by Larry Parsons, Page: A1, Document ID: 19795016 [Law Enforcement Involved in Probe of Bogus Monterey Institute Instructor,]
First, a few students, then a veterans group looked into claims by a former Monterey Institute of International Studies instructor who claimed to be a retired Green Beret colonel and an expert on human trafficking. Now, law enforcement agencies are looking into Bill Hillar, the workshop instructor with whom MIIS severed ties last week after concluding he misrepresented his credentials.
"We have had conversations with law enforcement about this entire matter," MIIS spokesman Jason Warburg said Wednesday. "We can't comment on any details of our cooperation, but certainly we have been in regular communication."
The FBI and Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office in Portland, Ore., have opened a fraud investigation into Hillar, who gave lectures and conducted workshops for several years for schools, civic groups and law enforcement agencies across the nation.
"It's really an issue all over the country," Warburg said.
Warburg declined to identify which law enforcement agencies contacted the Monterey school about Hillar, who dropped from sight after questions arose about his background.
Multnomah County sheriff's spokesman Lt. Jose Martinez said his agency joined with the FBI in looking at Hillar after a detective who works human trafficking cases became aware of news reports about Hillar's credential problems.
"The investigation is in a preliminary stage," Martinez said.
Warburg said MIIS paid about $32,500 to Hillar over the past five years for two annual weekend workshops he gave about trafficking and counterterrorism issues.
He said the school hasn't filed a complaint with a police agency, but he didn't rule out the possibility.
"We're not going to comment on any future actions we might take until law enforcement has completed its investigation," he said.
The Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday that authorities in Portland were investigating Hillar. The paper said Hillar was scheduled to be a keynote speaker at the University of Portland for a conference on human trafficking, but didn’t appear.
Hillar claimed to have a doctorate degree from the University of Oregon. The school last week said he attended classes in the early 1970s but never completed a doctoral program. Warburg said MIIS has been contacted by several organizations "in a similar situation with Mr. Hillar" and has shared information with them.
While some students criticized MIIS for employing Hillar without carefully vetting his credentials, Warburg predicted the graduate school will weather the fallout.
"Obviously it's a concern and something we deeply regret," Warburg said. He noted that the school, which is part of Middlebury College in Vermont, apologized to students, faculty, staff and alumni.
"I would say many … have expressed satisfaction with the approach we have taken and the apology that was made," he said. "Certainly some students remain concerned."
Larry Parsons can be reached at 646-4379 or lparsons@montereyherald.com.
November 25, 2010, Monterey Herald, Law Enforcement Involved in Probe of Bogus Monterey Institute Instructor, By Larry Parsons,
First, a few students, then a veterans group looked into claims by a former Monterey Institute of International Studies instructor who claimed to be a retired Green Beret colonel and an expert on human trafficking.
Now, law enforcement agencies are looking into Bill Hillar, the workshop instructor with whom MIIS severed ties last week after concluding he misrepresented his credentials.
"We have had conversations with law enforcement about this entire matter," MIIS spokesman Jason Warburg said Wednesday. "We can't comment on any details of our cooperation, but certainly we have been in regular communication."
The FBI and Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office in Portland, Ore., have opened a fraud investigation into Hillar, who gave lectures and conducted workshops for several years for schools, civic groups and law enforcement agencies across the nation.
"It's really an issue all over the country," Warburg said.
Warburg declined to identify which law enforcement agencies contacted the Monterey school about Hillar, who dropped from sight after questions arose about his background.
Multnomah County sheriff’s spokesman Lt. Jose Martinez said his agency joined with the FBI in looking at Hillar after a detective who works human trafficking cases became aware of news reports about Hillar’s credential problems.
"The investigation is in a preliminary stage," Martinez said.
Warburg said MIIS paid about $32,500 to Hillar over the past five years for two annual weekend workshops he gave about trafficking and counterterrorism issues.
He said the school hasn’t filed a complaint with a police agency, but he didn’t rule out the possibility.
"We're not going to comment on any future actions we might take until law enforcement has completed its investigation," he said.
The Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday that authorities in Portland were investigating Hillar. The paper said Hillar was scheduled to be a keynote speaker at the University of Portland for a conference on human trafficking, but didn’t appear.
Hillar claimed to have a doctorate degree from the University of Oregon. The school last week said he attended classes in the early 1970s but never completed a doctoral program.
Warburg said MIIS has been contacted by several organizations "in a similar situation with Mr. Hillar" and has shared information with them.
While some students criticized MIIS for employing Hillar without carefully vetting his credentials, Warburg predicted the graduate school will weather the fallout.
"Obviously it's a concern and something we deeply regret," Warburg said. He noted that the school, which is part of Middlebury College in Vermont, apologized to students, faculty, staff and alumni.
"I would say many … have expressed satisfaction with the approach we have taken and the apology that was made," he said. "Certainly some students remain concerned."
Larry Parsons can be reached at 646-4379 or lparsons@montereyherald.com.
November 25, 2010, mgx.com blog, Multnomah County Sheriff opens investigation into Bill Hillar
The FBI have opened a fraud investigation into human trafficking and counter terrorism speaker, Bill Hillar.
Besides the FBI, the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office in Portland, Ore., has opened a fraud investigation. Hillar had been scheduled this month to be a keynote speaker at a University of Portland conference on human trafficking but he did not show up.
Hillar spoke in Coos County last month as a keynote speaker for Zonta. His story began to fall apart when military veterans questioned the authenticity of his service.
…a special forces group said it spent the past year tracking Bill Hillar.
…They aren’t out for blood like some may think. Hinton said it’s all about doing their homework on potential frauds like Hillar and letting the truth be known.
"You got to remember how small we are and to not know a colonel with special forces? No one knew him."
"The nail in the coffin was the Freedom of Information Act from Army operations Command…I mean this is a Full Bird Colonel and no record on him? It’s like that’s it!"
Hillar was scheduled to speak at the University of Portland later this month.
Along with frequent speeches to law enforcement groups across the country, Hillar has taught workshops on human trafficking and terrorism at the Monterey Institute of International Studies twice a year since 2005, most recently last month. Students at the institute recently challenged what Hillar said were his credentials as a retired colonel in U.S. Army Special Forces who had earned a doctorate from the University of Oregon.
Human trafficking is a very real and very serious problem and Hillar’s alleged efforts to capitalize on society’s very real concerns should not discourage people from supporting a cause to end it.
November 28, 2010, Uncoverage.net, “Bill Hillar: Not a war hero, is he lying about his daughter’s death? Undercoverage. Nov. 28 2010.
[This web site has been retired in memory of Jane Jamison
Dell Hill will continue to write and post at:
http://dellsbottomline.blogspot.com
Rest In Peace, JJ]
November 28, 2010, Uncoverage.net, [found at www.socnet.com]
Not a War Hero, Is He Lying About Daughter’s Death? by Jane Jamison
In what has to be one of the most bizarre and despicable scams in recent memory, a Carmel, California man is accused of masquerading as a decorated military special operations veteran. Bill Hillar has been giving seminars and speeches around the country claiming that his daughter was murdered by an Asian sex-trafficking ring.
Until recently, Bill Hillar was also teaching specialized courses at the Monterrey (California) Institute for International Studies. It was there that his life “story” began to fall apart. Hillar is being sought by law enforcement agencies in two states right now, and has not been available for comment.
KCBA TV:
Students here at MIIS were excited to be taking a sex trafficking course from a renowned expert, a special forces army colonel, but they said all they got were a bunch of lies, and they have the proof to back it up.
"I heard nothing but good things about him, everybody raved about his courses, he was in special forces, teaches a course on tactical counter terrorism and he tells the most amazing stories," said [student] Brian Hubbs.
But things started unraveling at the Institute. Hubbs says one of the first giveaways that something was wrong is Hillar told one class his daughter was murdered in Borneo. He told another class she was killed in Mexico City.
Bill Hillar also claimed that the blockbuster movie "Taken" (2008) starring Liam Neeson, was based on the story of his life and his daughter’s death.
Liam Neeson starred in "Taken" in 2008--about a CIA agent trying to rescue his daughter from sex traffickers
When the students researched the movie’s writer they say they learned TAKEN was based on a Paris police officer. Bill Hillar wasn’t mentioned.
Hillar would reportedly get quite emotional during his presentations and would describe in great detail how his daughter was tortured to death by sex traffickers.
Bill Hillar was honored by Elon University as a hometown hero
The worst of Hillar’s exaggerations that can be verified is that he has lied about his military service.
Hubbs, a former Marine vet, said what bothered him the most were the stories about Hillar being high atop the army’s chain of command.
"He specifically said I’m retired army colonel, special forces, Delta Force took part in all these operations,” said Hubbs.
Hubbs tracked down documentation that shows Hillar was in the Coast Guard reserves, but there is no record of him in the army or any type of special forces.
Investigator Anthony Davis of NoTrafficking.com:
Paperwork obtained through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) shows there is “No Record” of his affiliation with the Army. (Click this link to see the Army letter). The next question is whether he has any military service. Once again, using information through FOIA records it shows he served as a U.S. Coast Guard Reservist from 1962 to 1970. (see link here.) Given that, the question continues. Did Bill Hillar actually claim these things or did someone say that he presented himself as a US Army Colonel?
Bill Hillar maintained a website (www.billhillartraining.com). Yet, around the time that people began questioning his status as either a hero or a liar, his website was taken down. Yet, once on the Internet…always on the Internet. This link is an archive of his biography from his website. Looking further, it appears that he had Elon University scammed into believing his story. On November 12th, he was honored by the university as a "Hometown Hero" by being a person that “makes a difference.” Here is a link to the Elon University story. It’s clear that Bill Hillar presented himself as someone other than who he actually is.
Over the years, Hillar developed a good business teaching and speaking. He lives in Carmel, California…not a cheap living. Here is a list of public corporations, universities, agencies and businesses that Bill Hillar claims to have as clients. These are companies with funds able to pay well for speaking and training events. (See link here.) Additionally, he lists a variety of law enforcement clients. It’s usually a bad idea to defraud anyone. Yet, when you stand before law enforcement professionals who are paid with limited public funding and defraud them…that’s really dumb. Given that these training sessions were paid for with public funds, all of us become victims as our taxes subsidized his income. (Here’s the link to law enforcement and other high risk clients.)
So…what about the murdered daughter? I know that Hillar established an essay award in the name of his dead daughter, Sale Hillar. More information about the award, including a chance to read two well-written essays by contestants are available HERE. If Hillar’s daughter was a trafficking victim, that’s a horrible thing. Yet, while I’ve not verified this, it appears that his daughter may be alive and well in North Carolina.
Hillar was a scheduled speaker at the Portland City Club in October of this year, and a sex-trafficking seminar in Portland, Oregon in early November.
The credibility and reputation of the Monterrey Institute for International studies is being called into question by the Hillar scandal. The school has no good reason why Hillar’s credentials were not better vetted.
But it goes beyond embarrassment. The San Jose Mercury News says Hillar is being sought by the FBI and the Multnomah County, Oregon district attorney. Hillar apparently did not show up for the November seminar in Portland.
It's still not clear if there really was a daughter, or if she died the way Hillar claims.
Television news stories from KCBA-TV:
November 30, 2010, The Oregon Daily Emerald, FBI investigates past University adjunct instructor for fraud, by Stefan Verbano,
The FBI, in conjunction with the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office, has commenced a fraud investigation of professional speaker Bill Hillar, a past University adjunct instructor.
Prior to the investigation, Hillar taught workshops on human trafficking and terrorism at Middlebury College’s Monterey Institute of International Studies in California, and had occasionally instructed drug trafficking, human trafficking and other University summer classes to hundreds of students through the Substance Abuse Prevention Program on campus.
This fall, student veterans taking Hillar’s class at the Monterey Institute challenged his credentials as a retired U.S. Army Special Forces colonel and recipient of a University of Oregon doctorate, saying that he did not exhibit the mannerisms of a high-ranking army officer.
Hillar had also claimed a personal relationship with human trafficking, boasting that the 2008 action movie "Taken," starring Liam Neeson, was inspired by events in his life and his daughter’s kidnapping, enslavement and murder. The movie’s directors and writers have never mentioned Hillar in interviews.
"The story that he told was very sad, and he did a very good job in making everybody feel horrible," Multnomah Sheriff’s Deputy Keith Bickford told the Los Angeles Times last week. "If he is a fraud, he's hurt a lot of people and taken advantage of a horrible, horrible crime."
The Los Angeles Times reported that the Monterey Institute has publicly apologized for not confirming Hillar's resume pre-hire, and has decided not to welcome him back to campus.
During his trips to Oregon, Hillar taught one-credit University classes as an adjunct instructor, who are typically part-time, non-salaried, non-tenure-track faculty members who are paid per class they teach and often do not need a doctorate.
"Hillar served as an adjunct instructor in the UO's Substance Abuse Prevention Program, teaching courses off-and-on for the past seven or eight years," University spokesperson Joe Mosley said via e-mail.
The resume Hillar submitted to Monterey stated he held a doctorate degree from the University. The University's Office of the Registrar confirmed Hillar was enrolled in a Ph.D. program in health from fall 1970 to fall 1973, but never earned a degree.
This discrepancy in his credentials has prompted state and federal law enforcement officials to suspect fraud.
Mosley said questions arose within the University about Hillar’s background about two weeks ago when the registrar’s office officially confirmed his lack of degree.
The University also said it does not expect Hillar to teach any upcoming classes on campus, but did not explicitly state Hillar’s absence as being a result of the ongoing investigation.
"He is not currently teaching at the UO and it is not anticipated that he will in the future," Mosley said.
According to the Office of Media Relations, the University is cooperating with investigations by the FBI and the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office.
Hillar had been expected to give a keynote speech at a University of Portland conference on human trafficking earlier this month but did not attend, according to the school.
sverbano@dailyemerald.com
December 22, 2010, Military.com, Alleged Phony SF Colonel Investigated, by Bryant Jordan
When Elon University in North Carolina honored some so-called "hometown heroes" in November, it included a retired Green Beret colonel on a mission to speak out about human trafficking.
William G. "Bill" Hillar said he knew the subject all too well. His daughter Sale was abducted in Asia in 1988 and sold into the sex-slave trade, he said. He spent a futile six months trying to find and rescue her, but she died in captivity.
It was all a lie, and now Hillar is under investigation for his claims by the FBI.
"Colonel in Special Forces -- only in his dreams," said Jeff "J.D." Hinton, a retired Army Special Forces Soldier who began investigating Hillar more than a year ago after hearing there were problems with his background. Hinton immediately began copying images of Hillar's website and other sites in which Hillar's expertise and background were featured. Using personal connections in the Army Special Forces community as well as official channels, Hinton began exposing the holes in Hillar's background on his own website, Professionalsoldiers.com, in October.
There is no record of a William G. Hillar in any Special Forces outfit -- ever -- says Hinton. In fact, a search of military personnel records turned up only one William G. Hillar, a radioman in the Coast Guard from 1962 to 1970, according to Hinton.
Military.com was not able to reach Hillar through the e-mail address and phone number previously listed on his website. Rich Wolf, a spokesman for the FBI's Maryland and Delaware division, confirmed the bureau is investigating Hillar but would not offer details.
For more than five years, Hillar promoted himself as an expert in international trafficking and counterterrorism. He has traveled the country to speak before charity groups, college students and even law enforcement organizations. He has been paid to teach classes, including at the prestigious Monterey Institute for International Studies.
On his now-defunct website, he claimed to be a retired Special Forces colonel who served in Asia, the Middle East and Central and South America. He boasted training and experience in tactical counterterrorism, service with allied forces' elite troops and advising foreign governments and militaries.
When Hillar was confronted about his military credentials by former students, he reportedly denied claiming to be a Green Beret, saying he was just an adviser to the service.
Professionalsoldier.com's Hinton -- who makes it his business to ferret out phony war heroes and spec ops wannabes on his website -- claims Hillar has "made some serious money" passing himself off as a larger-than-life hero. Some promotional material on Hillar states his claimed attempt to rescue his daughter from human traffickers was partly the basis of a 2008 Liam Neeson film called "Taken."
A report in the Monterey County Weekly last month quoted a State Department spokesman as saying there is no record of an American woman named Hillar having been kidnapped anywhere in the world in 1988. Monterey officials began looking into Hillar after the school was contacted by a reader of Hinton's website and some student veterans voiced suspicion of Hillar. When Hillar did not get back to the school with proof of his many claims, it ended its relationship with him.
Hillar's other venues began drying up, too.
The University of Oregon, where Hillar also taught his human trafficking course, quickly dropped him and reported his charade to police.
At George Mason University in Virginia, where he was booked to speak in November, the school canceled his appearance. A spokeswoman said: "If he had shown up, he would have been escorted off campus."
Hinton said fakers such as Hillar don't understand how small the special operations community is. It doesn't take long to establish whether someone is the real thing. He believes the Monterey Institute, which touted Hillar for five years as an adjunct professor, could have found him out and acted a lot sooner.
"They were showcasing this guy like a three-headed snake," he said. "Now, they're trying to say he was not an adjunct professor, but just a contractor. All they're trying to do is mitigate their liability."
To make amends to Hillar's former students, the Institute has offered to let them keep the credit they earned or remove it from their academic record and let them take a makeup course for no charge. Some students who socialized with Hillar out of the classroom don't think it's possible to make up for what happened.
"I bought this man a couple of beers at the Crown & Anchor after class," a student identified as Theresa W. wrote on a Monterey Institute website Nov. 22. "Will MIIS refund me this? I cried for his young daughter who was killed by human traffickers."
http://www.military.com/news/article...estigated.html
January 18, 2011, The Pendulum, [Elon University] University award recipient under investigation for fraud, by Caitlin O'Donnell,
Bill Hillar, a 2010 recipient of the Hometown Hero award from Elon University for his work as an advocate against human trafficking, is currently being investigated for fraud by the FBI and other law enforcement agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security.
The investigation began with the Multnomah County Sheriff's Department in Portland, Ore. and has since moved to the federal level, according to Keith Bickford, director of the Oregon Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force.
Hillar was given the Hometown Hero award, along with Meaghan Murphy and Mark Watros, after being nominated by freshman Savannah Chaisson.
"I nominated Mr. Hillar to speak at Elon after he had spoken at a church in my town last year," she said. "I did not know about any of the accusations before nominating him or even before he came to Elon."
Chaisson said she submitted an essay and an application with his contact information, including e-mail, phone number and address, to nominate Hillar to speak.
Phil Smith, university chaplain, said freshmen nominate people for the award based on their interactions with them. Freshman class officers select the final three recipients.
"In this case, not as much was known personally, but it was still someone who had an impact," he said. "Anytime you don't know someone directly, there's just less you know about them, but his story was very impactful."
Suspicions come to the surface
Concerns regarding Hillar's background were first raised a few hours before the Hometown Heroes ceremony took place on Nov. 8. Smith said the university received a vague e-mail with an anonymous tip. The tipster claimed military involvement and accused Hillar of misrepresenting his military record.
"I did consult around a little bit to find out what would be a good thing to do here," Smith said. "With some good advice, I went and met with him."
Smith said he explained to Hillar the university had received an e-mail questioning the validity of his military record. Hillar said it had happened once before.
"At that point, you've got a person you're about to give an award to, and you question whether the accusing person just didn't like them," Smith said. "You can't just not give them the award because someone said that an hour before. And it had nothing to do with the award, which was for advocacy against human trafficking."
On Oct. 28, a week before the Hometown Hero ceremony, Jeff Hinton, a retired Special Forces Master Sergeant involved with the association of Professional Soldiers, published findings questioning Hillar's military experience.
Professional Soldiers is an online forum for members of the Special Forces. According to Hinton, Special Forces alludes to only one unit, the Green Berets, of which Hillar claimed to have been a part, specifically a retired colonel of the United States Army Special Forces.
"Over a year ago, we got an e-mail asking who Bill Hillar was," Hinton said in an interview. "That e-mail, once it hit Special Forces command, went out to the 'who's who' of Green Berets."
The small unit, which has existed for 54 years, has around 2,000 members around the country at any given time, he said.
"It would have been very hard for this guy to not have been known, and it went out and no one knew who he was," Hinton said. "I made it my goal to expose this guy. Nobody wants to question someone's credentials when they are viewed as a hero, but someone has to do it and not let them continue to scam (people)."
Probing for truth
Hinton began by sending for Hillar's records at the National Personnel Records Center. All members of the United States military have a record known as a DD214, which is part of any member of the military's resume when he or she applies for a job. The record also includes when the person left the service and how he or she was discharged, whether dishonorably or honorably, and what medals the person was awarded.
"You can get any person's DD214, the records are not classified," Hinton said. "Even after finding his date of birth and social security number, I couldn't get anything."
Hinton next enlisted the help of Mary and Chuck Schantag, who also work to expose Green Beret frauds across the country, and discovered Hillar served eight years in the Coast Guard and was never a member of the Special Forces.
After more research, Hinton said he discovered Hillar had conned multiple law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and Department of Homeland Security.
"I asked the FBI how he pulled this off, and they never thought to question his credentials," Hinton said. "The thing is, we get involved because no one else is going to question this guy."
Within two to three weeks of Hinton's published accusations, Hillar's website, citing his credentials and advertising his training workshops, was removed from the Internet and Hillar had essentially gone into hiding, according to Hinton. Around that time, he confirmed with the FBI that they were on his case.
"This is not the first time we've done this," he said. "We don't go after the guy who claims it sitting at the bar. We go after the guys that make themselves public figures and say they can offer training. We don't take lightly to people using the title to scam innocent people, especially for money."
Ending the 'scam'
Claiming to have qualifications as an elite member of the military, Hinton said Hillar charged individuals and organizations for military training.
This included the Monterey Institute of International Studies in Monterey, Calif. Hillar was contracted to lead a 15-hour, three-day workshop, worth one academic credit in 2005. Since then, he has led one workshop per semester, most recently on human trafficking in October of last year, according to Jason Warburg, executive director of communications at the Institute.
In early November, a student from the workshop came to the administration, expressing concern over whether Hillar's claims about his background were true. Besides claiming involvement with Special Forces, Hillar also asserted in a resume that he held a Ph.D. from the University of Oregon. Around the same time, postings from Professional Soldiers came to the attention of the Institute, which triggered an investigation, Warburg said.
"We reviewed the information, communicated to him that we needed documentation, and there was no response," he said. "We confirmed with the University of Oregon that he did not have a Ph.D. We concluded he has misrepresented his academic credentials and issued a statement of findings."
In the statement, Monterey Institute President Sunder Ramaswamy apologized for the incident and placed responsibility on the Institute for failing to uphold the quality and integrity of the instruction received there.
According to the statement, the Institute will offer students who attended Hillar's workshops the option of either keeping the credit on their academic records or removing it and enrolling in a comparable workshop at no cost.
Though Hillar, as a workshop instructor, was not subject to the pre-employment background check typical for all employees, the Institute has since changed its policy.
"Workshop instructors ... typically come to the attention of the academic administration through recommendations and a resume, proposed syllabus and list of references would generally be considered sufficient," the statement read. "However, as a result of this incident, the institute has extended the requirement for a full pre-engagement background check to any person who provides classroom instruction for academic credit."
Attempts to contact Hillar have been unsuccessful.
Precedent for the future
According to Smith, Elon's experience with Hillar will likely have little bearing on the future of the Hometown Hero award.
"If someone has misrepresented themself, I'd hate for that to mean we have to scrutinize everyone who's nominated," he said. "We're not going to do the same level of checking you would do if you were having someone come and teach or someone offering credit."
Smith said there has never been a situation presented in which a recipient of the award would have the recognition retracted. If the officers and nominator choose to do that, Smith said it could be a potential discussion.
"I don't feel like I'm giving the award as an individual, I feel like our office is sponsoring the award and it raises the question of whose award it is to rescind," Smith said. "This is an institution of higher education and we learn something every day. I imagine we'll learn something from all of this."
January 25, 2011, Los Angeles Times, Former counterterrorism instructor charged with fraud, lying about credentials,
A former part-time anti-terrorism instructor at the Monterey Institute of International Studies and other schools was arrested Tuesday in Maryland on mail fraud charges for allegedly lying about his academic credentials and military experience.
William G. Hillar, who claimed to have been a retired colonel in the U.S. Army's Special Forces with a Ph.D. and many overseas adventures, "was living a lie and basing his entire career on experience he did not have and credentials that he did not earn," Baltimore-based U.S. Atty. Rod J. Rosenstein said in a statement. In fact, Hillar, who served in the Coast Guard reserves, was never trained in counter-terrorism and does not have a doctorate from the University of Oregon as he claimed, Rosenstein said.
The investigation into Hillar’s background and activities began last fall after students at the Monterey Institute and special forces veterans began to raise questions about Hillar’s part-time workshops on human trafficking and terrorism and what seemed to be his tendency to borrow material from real experts. Hillar also had taught at other schools and served as a professional speaker to law enforcement and human rights groups, often claiming that the 2008 action movie "Taken," starring Liam Neeson, was based on his life and his daughter's alleged kidnapping and murder.
The FBI estimates that Hillar, who lived in Maryland, has been paid more than $100,000 for his lectures by a variety of schools and law enforcement agencies over the last decade. Hillar, 66, remained in custody Tuesday after he was unable to meet the $50,000 bond and other conditions set by a federal judge, officials said. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison.
Among his clients was the Federal Executive Board of Greater Los Angeles, which coordinates emergency planning for federal agencies, and the California Fire Chiefs Assn.
Hillar led 12 workshops of 15 hours each over the past five years at the Monterey Institute, which is part of Middlebury College and specializes in language and foreign affairs graduate programs. The school cut ties with him in November after he was asked to provide proof of his credentials and did not do so, officials said. Up to that point, he had not been required to undergo a background check because he was a part-time contractor, not a regular employee. The institute has since changed that policy.
"We were glad to cooperate with law enforcement and that Mr. Hillar is going to be held accountable for his actions," said Jason Warburg, spokesman for the Monterey Institute.
Monterey Institute President Sunder Ramaswamy said in a statement Tuesday that the school is focusing "on taking positive steps moving forward -- tightening our policies, addressing the concerns of our students and alumni, and cooperating with law enforcement and similarly affected institutions and organizations."
January 25, 2011, The Baltimore Sun, FBI: Maryland man's military life is a lie, by Tricia Bishop,
Teacher charged with mail fraud
Federal agents arrested a 66-year-old Maryland man Tuesday, claiming that his life was a lie.
William G. Hillar of Millersville said he is an Army Special Forces retired colonel who's traveled the world fighting terrorism and advising foreign military organizations. He claims to have a bachelor's degree in psychology, a master's in education and a doctorate in health education.
And he frequently speaks out against human trafficking, claiming in marketing materials that his only daughter was kidnapped, forced into the sex industry and killed — a story that became the basis, he has said, for the 2008 film "Taken," starring Liam Neeson.
But authorities say they can find no evidence of a military background, other than a relatively tame stint with the Coast Guard in the 1960s, according to an FBI affidavit filed in Maryland U.S. District Court. The University of Oregon says it never awarded him a post-secondary degree, either, and others question the story about his daughter.
"This is someone that we still really don't know who he is," Maryland Assistant U.S. Attorney Leo Wise said during Hillar's initial appearance in court Tuesday afternoon.
The federal case is the second one filed this month claiming that a Maryland man has lied about military credentials. On Jan. 13, a separate criminal complaint was filed against 25-year-old Joseph Lawler for falsely claiming to have earned a U.S. military medal. Lawler is scheduled to appear in Greenbelt U.S. District Court next month.
Hillar is charged in a Jan. 21 criminal information, unsealed Tuesday, with mail fraud in connection with the scheme to lie, which he allegedly perpetrated to get teaching work.
"He was never a colonel, never served in the U.S. Army, never was deployed to exotic locales and never received training in counter-terrorism and psychological warfare while in the armed forces," Maryland U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein said in a statement.
Former members of the Special Forces brought the alleged fraud to the FBI's attention, Special Agent in Charge Richard A. McFeely said in the statement.
A Google search of "William G. Hillar" brings up a mixed bag of results on the first page, with half the hits decrying him as a fraud, and the other half describing him as a hero for speaking to audiences about his daughter's supposed kidnapping in Southeast Asia, subsequent enslavement and later death.
"He was a magnetic speaker who ruled the room," one woman wrote online after viewing his performance.
Elon University in North Carolina honored him last year as a "hometown hero" after a freshman nominated him. The university's newspaper, The Pendulum, printed a report last week, saying Hillar was under investigation for fraud.
"I nominated Mr. Hillar to speak at Elon after he had spoken at a church in my town last year," the nominating student told The Pendulum. "I did not know about any of the accusations."
According to an FBI affidavit, Hillar rents a home on the 400 block of Old Orchard Circle in Millersville and runs a business called "Bill Hiller Training," through which he claims to have advanced education degrees and significant military training.
Last year, he was paid thousands of dollars by multiple organizations for speaking and teaching engagements, including FBI divisions in Salt Lake City and Chicago, the Illinois State Police and the College of Southern Maryland.
The Monterey Institute for International Studies hired Hillar as a workshop teacher in 2005, based on his experience claims, and has paid him $32,500 through mailed checks, which are the basis for the mail fraud charge, according to the FBI affidavit. Federal agents can't find the money, however.
"Significant sums" are unaccounted for, prosecutor Wise said in court. Hillar has about $180,000 in a stock portfolio, but little else in cash.
Hillar was in Belize earlier this month and told an individual there that he owns property in Costa Rica. He has an extensive gun collection and has been married several times, telling each new wife that the "predecessor wives" were dead, Wise said, adding that Hillar has no community ties.
"We don't know what he's been doing for most of his adult life," said Wise, who plans to present the case to a federal grand jury Thursday.
He asked that Hillar be detained before his trial, but U.S. Magistrate Judge Mildred Methvin agreed to release him on $50,000 bond once certain conditions are met, including finding a third-party custodian willing to take responsibility for him.
Hillar said he plans to return to teaching once released.
tricia.bishop@baltsun.com
January 25, 2011, Monterey County Weekly, MIIS Fabulist Hillar Arrested in Maryland, by Mary Dunn,
Military fabulist Bill Hillar, a self-proclaimed human-trafficking expert who claimed his life-story formed the basis of the film Taken, was arrested Tuesday morning in Maryland and reportedly faces federal fraud charges.
The FBI took Hillar into custody this morning at Hillar’s home in Millersville, according to a report from ABC News affiliate WJLA. In the criminal complaint, Hillar faces charges of mail fraud related to a $2,145 check he received from MIIS and delivered to his Maryland address.
Hillar will make his first court appearance this afternoon. According to the complaint, Hillar collected more than $32,000 from MIIS during his time as a lecturer there.
FBI spokesman Rich Wolf of the Baltimore Field Office didn’t immediately return a phone call requesting comment. Hillar, who has claimed to be a retired colonel in the U.S. Army Special Forces, told a wild tale of international intrigue in his popular one-credit workshops at MIIS. He claimed that his own 17-year-old daughter was kidnapped by traffickers in Southeast Asia, and was killed by them. He has said that he personally tracked her abductors, and claimed that the 2008 film starring Liam Neeson is based on his exploits.
In late November, MIIS announced that Hillar misrepresented his academic credentials. The U.S. Army Special Operations Command has no record that William G. Hillar ever took part in special operations education and training, which are standard for special forces personnel.
According to the National Archives and Records Administration, a William Gibb Hillar did serve in the United States Coast Guard Reserve from 1962 to 1970
January 25, 2011, Monterey County Herald, FBI arrests former lecturer at Monterey Institute of International Studies, by Larry Parsons, Posted: 01/25/2011 05:47:54 PM PST,
Bill Hillar
A man who allegedly spun bogus tales of paramilitary derring-do for a decade to a wide range of audiences, including students at the Monterey Institute of International Studies, was arrested Tuesday by the FBI without incident at his brick ranch house in Maryland.
William G. Hillar, 66, built up a client list that included other schools and the FBI Command College by posing as a retired Green Berets colonel with wide-ranging military expertise and frontline tales. He faces a single federal count of mail fraud for payment he received from MIIS in July 2010.
Hillar appeared before a federal magistrate Tuesday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Baltimore and was ordered to be detained after he was unable to post a $50,000 bond and arrange for a third-party custodian. He was taken into custody at his Millersville, Md., home nestled below hilly woods.
"The complaint alleges that (Hillar) was living a lie and basing his entire career on experiences he did not have and credentials he did not earn," said U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein. "He was never a colonel, never served in the U.S. Army, never was deployed to exotic locales and never received training in counter-terrorism and psychological warfare."
Hillar had used the elaborate ruse for more than a decade to get work teaching, leading workshops, giving speeches and conducting training for public and private sector clients, federal officials said.
Hillar's alleged masquerade unraveled in November after several MIIS students, military veterans themselves, began to question the authenticity of things he said about his military exploits and knowledge of international human trafficking. Their questions and those raised by online veterans groups prompted the Monterey institute to ask Hillar to document his background. That never happened, and Hillar cut off communications with MIIS and apparently took down his "Bill Hillar Training" website.
"We're glad he is going to be held accountable for his actions," MIIS spokesman Jason Warburg said. "They have affected a large number of individuals and organizations across the country."
Hillar's client list included almost 40 agencies and schools across the country, ranging from FBI and Army units to local and state police agencies from Idaho to Georgia.
Hillar was hired to give two, 15-hour workshops a year in counterterrorism and human trafficking between 2005 and 2010 at MIIS, receiving a total of $32,500 for the lectures.
Federal officials said evidence indicates that Hillar was paid more than $100,000 for teaching and speaking while using his pose.
Along with MIIS, the clients Hillar received the most money from included $31,000 from the University of Oregon and $24,140 from the Federal Executive Board of Los Angeles, according to court records.
An affidavit by an FBI special agent also listed the FBI's Command College and its Salt Lake City and Chicago divisions as sources of Hillar's teaching and speaking fees.
Hillar's actual military record was a far cry from what it was billed to be.
He served in the Coast Guard from 1962 to 1970 as an enlisted sailor and reached the rank of radarman 3, FBI Special Agent David Rodski said in an affidavit.
"(He) was never deployed to any of the locations mentioned on his website - Asia, the Middle East and Central and South America," Rodski said.
Hillar faces a maximum prison sentence of 20 years if convicted, federal officials said. Immediately after Hillar became the subject of criminal investigations last fall, MIIS said it was changing its policy to require full background checks on lecturers and anyone involved in classroom teaching.
"That's the decision we have made," said Warburg, who said the school cooperated with law enforcement agencies in the investigation.
"Unfortunately this is something that is becoming somewhat common,"
Warburg said, mentioning a recent case in which an airline pilot posed as a cardiologist. "It is requiring us to do things that were unusual in the past."
Richard McFeely, FBI special agent in charge in Baltimore, said the Hillar case is an example of "the difficulty the public faces trying to verify the accuracy of information of the Internet."
Court records show investigators were still trying to determine what became of some of the money Hillar earned from teaching and lecturing.
"This is someone that we still really don't know who he is," Maryland Assistant U.S. Attorney Leo Wise said during Hillar's initial appearance in court, the Baltimore Sun reported.
"Significant sums" are unaccounted for, Wise said in court. Hillar has about $180,000 in a stock portfolio, but little else in cash.
Hillar was in Belize earlier this month and told an individual there that he owns property in Costa Rica and planned to do more traveling in the near future, court records said.
He has an extensive gun collection and has been married several times, telling each new wife that the "predecessor wives" were dead, Wise said, adding that Hillar has no community ties.
"We don't know what he's been doing for most of his adult life," said Wise, who plans to present the case to a federal grand jury Thursday.
Hillar said he plans to return to teaching once released.
On the lecture circuit, Hillar hinted that the 2008 movie starring Liam Neeson as a spy whose daughter is kidnapped into the sex industry was loosely based on exploits from his life. He was known as a staunch advocate against the international sex trade.
January 25, 2011, The Associated Press, Prosecutors say Army faker was CG reservist,
Posted : Tuesday 16:58:59 EST
BALTIMORE — Federal prosecutors say a Maryland man has been charged with mail fraud for allegedly lying about military experience and academic credentials to gain employment.
William Hillar, 66, of Millersville was charged in a criminal complaint filed Jan. 21 and unsealed Tuesday when he was arrested.
According to court documents, Hillar has been teaching, leading workshops and conducting training for 10 years, under false pretenses.
Prosecutors say according to a website that that has since been taken down, Hillar claimed to be a retired Army special forces colonel and in possession a Ph.D in health education.
Prosecutors say Hillar was an enlisted sailor in the Coast Guard reserves and had not earned a Ph.D.
January 25, 2011, Central Coast News KION46 / FOX35, Local Man Claiming to Be Movie Inspiration Arrested by the FBI,
1:02 PM
MILLERSVILLE, Md.- The man who taught at the Monterey Institute of International Studies, or MIIS, and claimed to be the inspiration for the movie "Taken" was arrested by the FBI. William "Bill" Hillar was accused of defrauding several clients, including the FBI.
Hillar claimed to serve across the globe, as a Green Beret. He taught at major institutions, including the Monterey Institute of International Studies. However it all came crashing down when a local student started calling him a fraud saying Hillar has tricked people for years.
Hillar was charged with mail fraud in connection with an alleged scheme to lie about his military experience and academic credentials in order to gain employment for teaching and training. In a copy of the criminal complaint that was filled in court Hillar is accused of committing mail fraud because the MIIS sent him a several check through the mail totaling $32,300 dollars for his lecture series.
The complaint alleges that Hillar was living a lie and basing his entire career on experience he did not have and credentials that he did not earn," said U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein. "He was never a colonel, never served in the U.S. Army, never was deployed to exotic locales and never received training in counter-terrorism and psychological warfare while in the armed forces."
Brian Hubbs, a students at MIIS, took a sex trafficking course that was taught by Hillar. According to MIIS, Hillar taught two workshops per year from 2005 to 2010. "I heard nothing but good things about him, everybody raved about his courses, he was in special forces, teaches a course on tactical counter terrorism and he tells the most amazing stories," said Hubbs.
However, students at the school started piecing Hillar's stories together and realized that they did not add up.
Hubbs says Hillar claimed to be inspiration for the film TAKEN where a former government operative's daughter is kidnapped and forced into sex trafficking. When the students researched the movie's writer they say they learned TAKEN was based on a Paris police officer. Bill Hillar wasn't mentioned.
The movie inconsistency wasn't the only thing that caused Hubbs and a handful of students to start researching Hillar's claims.
Hubbs, a former Marine vet, said what bothered him the most were the stories about Hillar being high atop the army's chain of command. "He specifically said I'm retired Army Colonel, Special Forces. Delta Force took part in all these operations," said Hubbs.
Hubbs tracked down documentation that shows Hillar was in the Coast Guard reserves, but there is no record of him in the army or any type of special forces.
Central Coast New talked to a special forces group that said they have been tracking Hillar for years. "We don't go after the people that tell somebody at a bar 'I'm a Green Beret,' we go after people like Hillar that make themselves public figures," said Jeff Hinton a retired Green Beret.
Hillar has been posted as a fraud for over a year on the website Jeff Hinton started, professional soldiers.com. A place for special forces to network with each other.
January 25, 2011, Washington Post, Man charged with offering services as military tactics expert based on fabricated resume, by Maria Glod, Staff Writer,
Tuesday, 7:17 PM
William Hillar's impressive resume landed him plenty of speaking engagements. The Maryland man billed himself as a retired U.S. Special Forces colonel who had served in Asia, the Middle East and South America. He said he was trained in tactical counter-terrorism, psychological warfare and emergency medicine.
It was all a lie, federal prosecutors in Maryland say.
Hillar, 66, of Millersville, was charged Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Baltimore with mail fraud. According to federal officials, Hillar has earned more than $100,000 giving speeches and offering training to law enforcement officers and graduate students among others.
"The complaint alleges that William G. Hillar was living a lie and basing his entire career on experience he did not have and credentials that he did not earn," Rod J. Rosenstein, U.S. attorney for Maryland, said in a statement. "He was never a colonel, never served in the U.S. Army, never was deployed to exotic locales and never received training in counter-terrorism and psychological warfare while in the armed forces."
Hillar's clients include the FBI's Command College, Salt Lake City and Chicago divisions, the Illinois State Police and the College of Southern Maryland, court papers say.
Since 2005, Hillar also has conducted workshops twice each year at the California-based Monterey Institute of International Studies, a graduate school of Middlebury College in Vermont.
But after an October workshop on human trafficking, some Monterey Institute students with military experience became suspicious about their instructor's stories, according to institute spokesman Jason Warburg. The students reported their concerns to school officials, and an investigation was launched.
FBI Special Agent David A. Rodski wrote in a criminal complaint that a search of Army records showed no sign that Hillar had served. Hillar was in the Coast Guard from 1962 to 1970, authorities said, but was never deployed to Asia, the Middle East or Central and South America.
glodm@washpost.com
January 25, 2011, Military.com, FBI Arrests Alleged Phony SF Colonel, by Bryant Jordan,
A man who claimed to be a retired Green Beret colonel and an expert in the international sex-slave trade has been arrested in Maryland by the FBI.
An FBI spokeswoman said William G. "Bill" Hillar was charged with mail fraud in connection with a scheme to use bogus military and academic credentials toward teaching and training employment.
For years Hillar allegedly scammed universities, non-profit groups and law enforcement organizations by claiming his daughter was kidnapped by human traffickers in Asia and that he spent months in a failed effort to rescue her. He parlayed his “expertise” and faux Army Special Forces career into thousands of dollars in teaching and lecture fees.
But his cover story began falling apart last year when the military veteran students Hillar was teaching in California began questioning his background and a retired Green Beret started his own investigation of Hillar’s military record.
Hillar, 66, dropped out of site sometime in November after he was cut from a speaking commitment at a Virginia university over his allegedly fraudulent background.
FBI spokeswoman Vickie LeDuc said Hillar is scheduled to be arraigned in U.S. District Court in Baltimore Jan. 25. The charge against him states he earned $32,500 from the Monterey Institute of International Studies alone.
"Some people just don't learn," said Jeff "JD" Hinton, a retired Army Special Forces master sergeant who exposed Hillar's allegedly fraudulent background on the website professionalsoldiers.net. "You don't mess with the Green Berets. Mission complete."
The indictment against Hillar says he ran his speaking and teaching operation from his home in Millersville, Md. Some promotional material on Hillar states his claimed attempt to rescue his daughter from human traffickers was partly the basis for "Taken," a 2008 film starring Liam Neeson.
According to the criminal complaint, the FBI’s investigation confirmed Hinton’s findings that Hillar never served in the Army. He was in the U.S. Coast Guard as an enlisted man.
The Justice Department says Hillar could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
January 25, 2011, TBD.com, Bill Hillar arrested on fraud charges by FBI, by Brad Bell, Covering cops and criminals in the Washington region, 09:39 am,
(Photo: ABC7 News)
MILLERSVILLE, Md. — On paper, Bill Hillar is an American hero: a decorated former special forces officer who served in hot spots around the world and went on to earn a PhD. Hollywood was so impressed with him it used the tragic tale of his daughter's kidnapping and murder for the basis of Liam Neeson's character in the film "Taken", in which an ex-CIA officer violently takes on a human trafficking ring to rescue his daughter from sex slavery.
But none of it is true, according to an affidavit filed by FBI Special Agent David A. Rodski. Hillar was never in the army, has no college degree and his daughter is alive and well and was never taken, authorities said.
FBI agents arrested William G. "Bill" Hillar at his Millersville home on Tuesday. When Hillar appeared in federal court in Baltimore later that afternoon, a prosecutor said investigators don't know who he really is.
Who he claimed to be, however is quite clear. According to the FBI affidavit, Hillar's website, now taken down, claimed extensive experience with the U.S. Army in tactical counter-terrorism, explosive ordnance, emergency medicine, psychological warfare and law enforcement ethics. He also claimed to have a bachelor's degree and doctorate from the University of Oregion.
The impressive résumé landed him several speaking engagements, training assignments for public and private workers, and a position teaching at the Monterey Institute of International Studies in Monterey, Calif.
That's where the tale began to unravel. Prompted by student compaints, the school began to investigate Hillar's claims. The FBI says Hillar's military records show he served in the Coast Guard reserves from 1962 to 1970 as a radarman, and was not deployed to Southeast Asia, the Middle East, nor Latin America as he claimed, according to the affidavit.
The University of Oregon said Hillar attended the school from 1970 to 1973, but never earned any degree, let alone a doctorate.
Hillar was paid $32,500 by the Monterey Institute, leading the FBI to charge him with executing a scheme to defraud the school.
ABC7
January 25, 2011, TBD.com, Covering cops and criminals in the Washington region, Hillar criminal complaint alleges fraud of California institute (documents) by Sarah Larimer,
1/25/11 3:37 PM
A criminal complaint alleges that Bill Hillar defrauded a California institute by lying about his military and educational background.
A criminal complaint says a man who billed himself as a former special forces officer lied about his educational and military background.
Authorities took William G. Hillar, of Millersville, Md., into custody on Tuesday morning. They say Hillar didn't earn a Ph.D. from the University of Oregon and wasn't deployed in Asia with U.S. Army Special Forces.
You can read the full complaint below.
January 25, 2011, States News Service, Millersville Man Charged in Fraud Scheme: Allegedly Lied About Special Forces and Terrorism Experience in Order to Gain Teaching Employment,
BALTIMORE, Md. -- The following information was released by the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Maryland:
William G. Hillar, age 66, of Millersville, Maryland, has been charged by criminal complaint with mail fraud in connection with an alleged scheme to lie about his military experience and academic credentials in order to gain employment for teaching and training. The complaint was filed on January 21, 2011 and unsealed today upon his arrest.
Hillar had an initial appearance today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Mildred Methvin in U.S. District Court in Baltimore. Magistrate Judge Methvin ordered that Hillar be detained after he was unable to meet the conditions set by the Judge for his release, which include having a third party custodian and a secured $50,000 bond, among other conditions.
The complaint was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Richard A. McFeely of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Special Agent in Charge Robert Craig of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service - Mid-Atlantic Field Office.
"The complaint alleges that William G. Hillar was living a lie and basing his entire career on experience he did not have and credentials that he did not earn," said U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein. "He was never a colonel, never served in the U.S. Army, never was deployed to exotic locales and never received training in counter-terrorism and psychological warfare while in the armed forces."
"The information of Mr. Hillar's alleged fraud came to the FBI's attention from concerned citizens, including former members of the Special Forces community. This investigation is an example of the difficulty the public faces trying to verify the accuracy of information on the Internet," said FBI Special Agent in Charge Richard A. McFeely.
According to the affidavits in support of the complaint and search warrant, Hillar has been teaching, leading workshops, giving speeches and conducting training for public and private sector clients for at least the past 10 years under false pretenses. Hillar allegedly conducted training through a business named "Bill Hillar Training" that lists a residence on Old Orchard Circle in Millersville as its business address. An internet search conducted on November 22, 2010 on a website used by the business revealed that that website was no longer in operation. However, archived web pages were found which allegedly included a biography of Bill Hillar, courses taught, client testimonials, training for public occupations and contact information. All information had previously been posted on Hillar's web page prior to the web site being taken down. That website allegedly contained a "Bio Info" page that stated "William G. Hillar is a retired Colonel of the U.S. Army Special Forces. He has served in Asia, the Middle East, and Central and South America, where his diverse training and experiences included tactical counter-terrorism, explosive ordnance, emergency medicine and psychological warfare." It also stated that Hillar "holds a B.A. in Psychology, and M.A. in Education, a Ph.D. in Health Education, and an honorary Doctorate in Intercultural Relations."
The supporting affidavits further allege that a search of military and civilian records for Hillar in November 2010 revealed that Hillar had not served with the U.S. Army, but rather was an enlisted sailor in the U.S. Coast Guard reserves from 1962 to 1970, achieving the rate of Radarman 3. During that time, Hillar was never deployed at the locations stated on his website, nor was Hillar given any Coast Guard training in tactical counter-terrorism, explosive ordnance, emergency medicine and psychological warfare. Hillar attended the University of Oregon from 1970 to 1973, but was not awarded a Ph.D.
The affidavits further allege that most recently, since the spring of 2005, Hillar taught 12 courses/workshops at an institute for international studies in California. One such workshop was titled "Tactical Counter Terrorism." The institute's official who hired Hillar allegedly did so based upon Hillar's purported work experience and academic credentials as falsely stated on the website. The institute paid Hillar by mailing checks totaling $32,300 to Hillar's home address in Millersville. In November 2010, the institute offered free substitute courses to all students who had taken courses taught by Hillar.
According to the affidavits, evidence indicates Hillar has been paid more than $100,000 in the course of the scheme by a variety of public and private institutions, including law enforcement agencies.
Hillar faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
A complaint is not a finding of guilt. An individual charged by complaint is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty at some later criminal proceedings.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein praised the FBI and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service for their work in the investigation. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant United States Attorney Leo Wise, who is prosecuting the case.
COPYRIGHT 1999 COMTEX News Network, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan.
January 25, 2011, CBS Baltimore, Md. Man Charged With Lying About Credentials,
BALTIMORE (WJZ) — A Maryland man has been arrested for a string of lies, including claiming a blockbuster movie was based on his life.
Derek Valcourt has details of the case.
William Hillar, 66, built a career for himself as a consultant and an expert on counterterrorism and human trafficking. In fact, he claimed to be the inspiration for the movie “Taken,” starring Liam Neeson.
He said that his own daughter was sold into sex slavery and then killed.
"They cut her body up with machetes and threw it in the South China Sea and it feels like yesterday but that was 1988," Hillar said.
His website identifies him as a retired colonel in the U.S. Army Special Forces, saying he served in Asia, the Middle East and Central and South America, but none of it is true, according to federal prosecutors in Baltimore, who filed a criminal complaint for mail fraud against him Tuesday. They describe it as an elaborate false identity case, saying countless clients were duped into paying him for speeches, lectures and training seminars from universities to local and state law enforcement—even the FBI.
Ironically, it was the FBI who arrested Hillar at his rented Millersville home Tuesday morning.
"There was all kinds of craziness going on, all kinds of crazy stories that I thought were a little strange," said neighbor Shirley Tyndall.
Tyndall said Hillar even told her he was a federal air marshal.
"Nobody's supposed to know who the air marshals are, so there was a lot of…every once in a while, I'd go, 'This is a little strange,'" she said.
In court, prosecutors called Hillar a flight risk, but he told the judge if released, he would continue his consulting work and teaching school locally and on the west coast.
He faces up to 20 years in jail for the one mail fraud charge, but it’s possible Hillar could face more charges as the FBI continues its investigation.
Bond was set for $50,000. Hillar says he has the money, but he’s being held in detention until officials find someone who will ensure he shows up for court appearances.
January 26, 2011, Monterey County Herald, The (CA), FBI arrests MIIS lecturer, by Larry Parsons,
Page: A1, Document ID: 20356393
A man who allegedly spun bogus tales of paramilitary derring-do for a decade to a wide range of audiences, including students at the Monterey Institute of International Studies, was arrested Tuesday by the FBI without incident at his brick ranch house in Maryland.
William G. Hillar, 66, built up a client list that included other schools and the FBI Command College by posing as a retired Green Berets colonel with wide-ranging military expertise and frontline tales. He faces a single federal...Click here for complete article ($2.95)
January 25, 2010, Silicon Valley Mercury News, FBI arrests former lecturer at Monterey Institute of International Studies, by Larry Parsons- Monterey County Herald,
Posted: 01/25/2011 05:47:54 PM PST
Updated: 01/25/2011 07:29:25 PM PST
A man who allegedly spun bogus tales of paramilitary derring-do for a decade to a wide range of audiences, including students at the Monterey Institute of International Studies, was arrested Tuesday by the FBI without incident at his brick ranch house in Maryland.
William G. Hillar, 66, built up a client list that included other schools and the FBI Command College by posing as a retired Green Berets colonel with wide-ranging military expertise and frontline tales. He faces a single federal count of mail fraud for payment he received from MIIS in July 2010.
Hillar appeared before a federal magistrate Tuesday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Baltimore and was ordered to be detained after he was unable to post a $50,000 bond and arrange for a third-party custodian. He was taken into custody at his Millersville, Md., home nestled below hilly woods.
"The complaint alleges that (Hillar) was living a lie and basing his entire career on experiences he did not have and credentials he did not earn," said U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein. "He was never a colonel, never served in the U.S. Army, never was deployed to exotic locales and never received training in counter-terrorism and psychological warfare."
Hillar had used the elaborate ruse for more than a decade to get work teaching, leading workshops, giving speeches and conducting training for public and private sector clients, federal officials said.
Hillar's alleged masquerade unraveled in November after several MIIS students, military veterans themselves, began to question the authenticity of things he said about his military exploits and knowledge of international human trafficking. Their questions and those raised by online veterans groups prompted the Monterey institute to ask Hillar to document his background. That never happened, and Hillar cut off communications with MIIS and apparently took down his "Bill Hillar Training" website.
"We're glad he is going to be held accountable for his actions," MIIS spokesman Jason Warburg said. "They have affected a large number of individuals and organizations across the country."
Hillar's client list included almost 40 agencies and schools across the country, ranging from FBI and Army units to local and state police agencies from Idaho to Georgia.
Hillar was hired to give two, 15-hour workshops a year in counterterrorism and human trafficking between 2005 and 2010 at MIIS, receiving a total of $32,500 for the lectures.
Federal officials said evidence indicates that Hillar was paid more than $100,000 for teaching and speaking while using his pose.
Along with MIIS, the clients Hillar received the most money from included $31,000 from the University of Oregon and $24,140 from the Federal Executive Board of Los Angeles, according to court records.
An affidavit by an FBI special agent also listed the FBI's Command College and its Salt Lake City and Chicago divisions as sources of Hillar's teaching and speaking fees.
Hillar's actual military record was a far cry from what it was billed to be.
He served in the Coast Guard from 1962 to 1970 as an enlisted sailor and reached the rank of radarman 3, FBI Special Agent David Rodski said in an affidavit.
"(He) was never deployed to any of the locations mentioned on his website - Asia, the Middle East and Central and South America," Rodski said.
Hillar faces a maximum prison sentence of 20 years if convicted, federal officials said. Immediately after Hillar became the subject of criminal investigations last fall, MIIS said it was changing its policy to require full background checks on lecturers and anyone involved in classroom teaching.
"That's the decision we have made," said Warburg, who said the school cooperated with law enforcement agencies in the investigation.
"Unfortunately this is something that is becoming somewhat common,"
Warburg said, mentioning a recent case in which an airline pilot posed as a cardiologist. "It is requiring us to do things that were unusual in the past."
Richard McFeely, FBI special agent in charge in Baltimore, said the Hillar case is an example of "the difficulty the public faces trying to verify the accuracy of information of the Internet."
Court records show investigators were still trying to determine what became of some of the money Hillar earned from teaching and lecturing.
"This is someone that we still really don't know who he is," Maryland Assistant U.S. Attorney Leo Wise said during Hillar's initial appearance in court, the Baltimore Sun reported.
"Significant sums" are unaccounted for, Wise said in court. Hillar has about $180,000 in a stock portfolio, but little else in cash.
Hillar was in Belize earlier this month and told an individual there that he owns property in Costa Rica and planned to do more traveling in the near future, court records said.
He has an extensive gun collection and has been married several times, telling each new wife that the "predecessor wives" were dead, Wise said, adding that Hillar has no community ties.
"We don't know what he's been doing for most of his adult life," said Wise, who plans to present the case to a federal grand jury Thursday.
Hillar said he plans to return to teaching once released.
On the lecture circuit, Hillar hinted that the 2008 movie starring Liam Neeson as a spy whose daughter is kidnapped into the sex industry was loosely based on exploits from his life. He was known as a staunch advocate against the international sex trade.
January 26, 2011, Washington Post, Man charged with profiting from fabricated military resume, By Maria Glod, Staff Writer, Wednesday,; B04
William Hillar's impressive resume landed him plenty of speaking engagements. The Maryland man billed himself as a retired U.S. Special Forces colonel who had served in Asia, the Middle East and South America. He said he was trained in tactical counter-terrorism, psychological warfare and emergency medicine.
It was all a lie, federal prosecutors in Maryland say.
Hillar, 66, of Millersville, was charged Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Baltimore with mail fraud. According to federal officials, Hillar has earned more than $100,000 giving speeches and offering training to law enforcement officers and graduate students among others.
"The complaint alleges that William G. Hillar was living a lie and basing his entire career on experience he did not have and credentials that he did not earn," Rod J. Rosenstein, U.S. attorney for Maryland, said in a statement. "He was never a colonel, never served in the U.S. Army, never was deployed to exotic locales and never received training in counter-terrorism and psychological warfare while in the armed forces."
Hillar's clients include the FBI's Command College, Salt Lake City and Chicago divisions, the Illinois State Police and the College of Southern Maryland, court papers say.
Since 2005, Hillar also has conducted workshops twice a year at the California-based Monterey Institute of International Studies, a graduate school of Middlebury College in Vermont.
But after an October workshop on human trafficking, some Monterey Institute students with military experience became suspicious about their instructor's stories, according to institute spokesman Jason Warburg. The students reported their concerns to school officials, and an investigation was launched.
FBI Special Agent David A. Rodski wrote in a criminal complaint that a search of Army records showed no sign that Hillar had served.
Hillar was in the Coast Guard from 1962 to 1970, authorities said, but was never deployed to Asia, the Middle East or Central and South America.
glodm@washpost.com
January 26, 2011, Los Angeles Times, Former Monterey Institute instructor arrested after allegedly lying about his credentials, William G. Hillar lectured on counterterrorism and said he was a retired colonel in the Army's Special Forces, by Larry Gordon,
A former counterterrorism instructor at the Monterey Institute of International Studies and other schools was arrested in Maryland on mail fraud charges Tuesday for allegedly lying about his academic credentials and military experience.
William G. Hillar, who claimed to be a retired colonel in the U.S. Army's Special Forces and often boasted of his overseas adventures, "was living a lie and basing his entire career on experience he did not have and credentials that he did not earn," U.S. Atty. Rod J. Rosenstein said in a statement.
In fact, Hillar, who served in the Coast Guard Reserves, was never trained in counterterrorism and does not have a doctorate from the University of Oregon as he claimed, said Rosenstein, who is based in Baltimore.
The investigation into Hillar's resume and activities began last fall when several special forces veterans and graduate students at the Monterey Institute raised questions about Hillar's workshops on human trafficking and terrorism and what seemed to be his tendency to borrow material from others, relating their writings as his own.
Students said Hillar often boasted that the 2008 action movie "Taken," starring Liam Neeson, was based on his life and his daughter's alleged kidnapping and murder, although the film's creators have denied any connection.
Hillar also taught at other schools and served as a professional speaker to law enforcement and human rights groups. Among his clients were the Federal Executive Board of Greater Los Angeles, which coordinates emergency planning for federal agencies, and the California Fire Chiefs Assn.
The FBI estimates that Hillar, 66, who lives in Maryland, has been paid more than $100,000 for his lectures by a variety of schools, law enforcement agencies and other groups over the last decade.
Hillar remained in custody Tuesday after he was unable to meet the $50,000 bond and other conditions set by a federal judge, officials said. He has not yet entered a plea in the case and officials said he has not retained an attorney. If convicted, he could face up to 20 years in prison.
Jeffrey Hinton, a retired special services officer in Arizona who was among those challenging Hillar's resume, said he was pleased about the arrest, especially because Hillar had taken money from charitable organizations. "I'm glad that he's been taken off the street," said Hinton, who runs the website professionalsoldiers.com.
Hillar led 12 workshops of 15 hours each over the last five years at the Monterey Institute, which is part of Middlebury College and specializes in language and foreign affairs graduate programs. The school severed its ties with him in November after he was asked to supply proof of his credentials and did not do so, officials said. He had not previously been required to undergo a background check because he was a part-time contractor, not a regular employee. That policy has since been changed.
"We were glad to cooperate with law enforcement, and that Mr. Hillar is going to be held accountable for his actions," said Jason Warburg, spokesman for the institute.
Brian Hubbs, a master's degree student and Marine veteran at the campus who helped investigate complaints about Hillar, said he felt vindicated by the charges. He also said he hoped the former instructor would apologize or explain his actions to the students he taught and to the agencies and anti-trafficking groups that hired him for speeches.
"I would like to see him face all those people," Hubbs said.
larry.gordon@latimes.com
January 26, 2011, KOIN CBS 6, Fradulent advocate Bill Hillar arrested,
Bill Hillar, a former University of Oregon professor, was arrested by the FBI in Maryland.
06:11 PM EST,
Clip Syndicate Video: Fradulent advocate Bill Hillar arrested
January 26, 2011, United Press International, FBI arrests Md. man for fraudulent claims,
12:39 PM
BALTIMORE, Jan. 26 (UPI) -- The FBI has arrested a Maryland man, saying his claims to be a retired Army Special Forces colonel with multiple university degrees are fabrications.
William G. Hillar of Millersville allegedly portrayed himself as a retired colonel advising foreign military organizations on terrorism, and said he holds a bachelor's degree in psychology, a master's in education and a doctorate in health education, The Baltimore Sun reported Wednesday.
Hillar, 66, has lectured on human trafficking, using marketing materials that claim his daughter was kidnapped, forced to become a sex slave and then killed, a story he claims was the inspiration of a 2008 film, "Taken," starring Liam Neeson, the newspaper said.
But officials say Hillar's only military history is a term in the U.S. Coast Guard in the 1960s, that no university acknowledges bestowing any degrees and that there are doubts about the story concerning his daughter.
"This is someone that we still really don't know who he is," Maryland Assistant U.S. Attorney Leo Wise said. "We don't know what he's been doing for most of his adult life."
Hillar, who had bond set at $50,000 after being arrested on mail fraud charges Tuesday, allegedly told the lies as part of a scheme to get teaching positions.
"He was never a colonel, never served in the U.S. Army, never was deployed to exotic locales and never received training in counter-terrorism and psychological warfare while in the armed forces," Maryland U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein said in a statement.
January 26, 2011, FoxNews.com, Maryland Man Arrested for Allegedly Lying About Military Service,
A Maryland man who the FBI says posed for years as a retired army special forces colonel and made a career lecturing law enforcement agencies about global terrorism and human trafficking across the country has been arrested.
William G. Hillar, 66, was arrested at his home Tuesday and faces a federal count of mail fraud for payment he received for lectures he gave at Monterey Institute of International Studies in California, according to court papers.
Hillar's former website, which has since been taken down, claimed that he is a retired Colonel of the U.S Army Special Forces and served in Asia, the Middle East and Central and South America, according to court papers.
Sporting this resume, Hillar apparently had no problem finding work.
His client list included dozens of schools and agencies across the country, ranging from FBI and Army units to local and state police agencies from Idaho to Georgia, reported the Herald.
The investigation found that Hillar was never a Green Beret nor did he serve in the U.S. Army. The highest rank he reached was radarman in the Coast Guard, serving from 1962 to 1970. Court papers go on to say Hillar was never deployed to the locations he stated in his biography and never underwent any documented training to support claims of knowledge in counter-terrorism, explosive ordinance, emergency medicine or psychological warfare.
"The complaint alleges that (Hillar) was living a lie and basing his entire career on experiences he did not have and credentials he did not earn," said U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein, according to the Herald.
Hillar worked as a freelance lecturer at Monterey Institute of International Studies between 2005 to 2010, receiving a total of $32, 500 for the lectures , according to the Monterey County Herald. He taught counterterrorism and human trafficking.
After students at the school raised questions about Hillar’s claims of serving in the Army's special forces, the school said it requested documentation from Hillar
Hillar did not respond to the request, so the school conducted an investigation. He allegedly claimed to hold a Doctorate from the University of Oregon, but the Monterey Institute of International Studies found that he never received the degree.
One of Hillar’s alleged victims was Mark Stone, the deputy director at the Rural Justice Training Center in Wyoming.
In August, Stone flew Hillar to Wyoming to speak about law enforcement leadership and stresses on the job after a friend raved about a lecture Hillar gave in West Yellowstone, Mont. Stone paid Hillar $2,500 for a day and a half lecture, he told FoxNews.com.
"He was great," said Stone. "He knew a lot of information and he was motivational."
Stone said Hillar kept a class of 60 students riveted by telling stories from his special forces days.
"His stories were so detailed," said Stone. "Probably things he read in a book."
Stone said he was so impressed at the time with Hillar that he planned on inviting him back to give another speech until he learned about the FBI's investigation.
"This investigation is an example of the difficulty the public faces in trying to verify the accuracy of information on the Internet," Richard McFeely, special agent in charge of the FBI's Baltimore office, said in a statement according to the Washington Examiner.
Calls to Hillar's home from FoxNews.com were not returned.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Mildred Methvin agreed to release Hillar Tuesday on $50,000 bond once certain conditions are met, reported the Baltimore Sun.
Hillar --who could face up to 20 years in prison--told the Sun he plans to return to teaching once released.
January 27, 2011,The Associated Press, OregonLive.com, Man accused of credentials fraud taught seminars at UO,
Published: Thursday, 11:59 AM, Updated: Thursday, January 27, 2011, 12:15 PM,
EUGENE -- A man charged with credentials fraud in Maryland falsely claimed to have a Ph.D. from the University of Oregon.
The Register-Guard reports the university paid William Hillar more than $33,000 between 2002 and last summer to teach seminars in Eugene in human trafficking and international drug trafficking.
Court records indicate Hillar attended the university from 1970 to 1973 but never earned a doctoral degree.
The 66-year-old Millersville, Md., man is charged in Baltimore with mail fraud and lying about military experience and academic credentials to teach and lecture. Hillar claimed to be a retired Army Special Services colonel. Prosecutors say he was a sailor in the Coast Guard.
January 27, 2011, OregnianAtHeart Blog, Bill Hillar: who is the man behind the mask?
Posted by Victoria Davila
I took two weekend long classes at the University of Oregon, UO, from Bill Hillar. Bill said he had PhD from UO. He said he was a CIA agent. He was in special forces in Vietnam. He said he was the basis for the movie Taken, after his daughter was kidnapped and taken into human trafficking. He said he had overcome so much and come out stronger for he. He was inspirational.
Hillar’s stories were unbelievable, but still people believed him. They believed the lies.
Dramatic drawn out descriptions of death and the destruction of Hillar’s life were eye opening, we thought. The way he overcame his tragedies was a triumph, we thought. But his deceit was the tragedy.
Bill Hillar lied to the numerous universities, students, public and private clients. He essentially took away opportunities to learn from real lecturers. And he did take their, our, money. I am just one of many students still paying back college loans that now include paying back money for classes taken from a fraudulent professor. The school whose students prompted the investigation, Monterey Institute of International Studies or MIIS, has already made a statement concluding that students who took Hillar’s class would be able to take another class of equal credit at no cost. The University of Oregon has made no such statement at this time.
He talked the talk of a great man, but never walked the walk. He got auditoriums full of students to tears by acting. He once said, “I began to realize, we all wear a mask of sanity.” That was in May 2010 during a class I took from him. In hindsight, his statement became red flag of his personal character.
For the students at MIIS, the tip off was his lack of military mannerisms. Students who had served in the military reportedly did not believe the con. His website was taken down soon after.
Although he claimed to have been a CIA agent and member of Delta Force, he actually only served about eight years in the Coast Guard.
He did not overcome great losses of his loved ones like he told auditoriums full of paying students and other clients. But others have.
The silent victims of Hillar’s crime are those who have actually been affected by human trafficking and military emotional trauma. After I took the class on human trafficking from Hillar, the ASUO group Slavery Still Exists kicked off their human trafficking and advocacy awareness campaign.
Hillar may serve up to 20 years if convicted. Unable to a $50,000 post bond, he remains detained. Universities are left to decide how to deal with students credits from Hillar’s classes. Students are left feeling cheated. And while his story was fake, fraud and human trafficking are real problems that people need to be aware of.
January 27, 2011, The Register-Guard [Oregon] Former UO instructor accused of swindling clients
The FBI says he lied about his background to get jobs teaching, lecturing and conducting training sessions, by Jack Moran, Appeared in print: Thursday, Jan. 27, 2011, page B1,
A former University of Oregon adjunct instructor is being held in a Maryland jail, accused by FBI officials of building a 10-year career on lies about his education and military experience.
William Hillar, 66, appeared Tuesday in a federal courtroom in Baltimore following his arrest on a charge of mail fraud. The allegation is based on a check issued to him last year by the Monterey Institute of International Studies, one of many clients he is accused of swindling during the past decade while working as a teacher and lecturer.
The FBI launched an investigation focusing on Hillar last November after questions were raised regarding his claim of being a retired U.S. Army Special Forces colonel. A review of his military records showed that he never served in the Army but spent eight years as a sailor with the U.S. Coast Guard reserves, according to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court by FBI Special Agent David Rodski.
Hillar, a Maryland resident, has spent at least 10 years teaching, leading workshops, giving speeches and conducting training for various clients, earning more than $100,000 during that period. The UO paid him more than $33,000 in recent years, court records show.
In Eugene, Hillar occasionally taught one- and two-credit seminars in human trafficking and international drug trafficking between 2002 and last summer, UO spokesman Joe Mosley said.
Court records state that Hillar falsely claimed to have earned a doctoral degree from the UO. Court records indicate he never earned that degree but did attend the university from 1970 to 1973.
Other organizations that paid Hillar to speak or teach include the Illinois State Police and the FBI’s Salt Lake City and Chicago divisions, in addition to various colleges across the country, court records show.
FBI investigators found that Hillar claimed on his website to have been deployed overseas while with the Army, and that his “diverse training and experiences included tactical counterterrorism, explosive ordnance, emergency medicine and psychological warfare.”
Investigators do not know where Hillar deposited or cashed most of the money he earned under fraudulent pretenses, Rodski wrote.
Earlier this month, Hillar traveled to Belize, where he told someone he owned property in Costa Rica and planned to travel internationally in the near future, court records show.
In a separate claim not related to his criminal case, Hillar is reported to have repeatedly said during lectures that he was the inspiration for the 2008 movie "Taken," about a spy whose daughter is kidnapped.
Hillar faces a maximum prison sentence of 20 years if convicted.
January 27, 2010, KMTR.com [Oregon] Former University instructor arrested for false identity, Reported by: Angela Brauer,
EUGENE (KMTR) – Bill Hillar was an adjunct professor for the University of Oregon for a number of years, teaching one-credit courses to about 40 to 200 students per class.
The university says Hillar was hired mostly based on his experience, as most adjunct professors are. Adjunct professors are not full-time employees, they are independent contractors and do not have full-time course loads. Independent from this case, they have adjusted their hiring practices for similar positions. For official employees of the university, extensive background checks are required.
For the last 10 years, Hillar taught, led workshops, speeches and seminars nationwide, often telling elaborate personal stories that generated a large, emotional response. At the time of hire about eight years ago, Hillar’s resume displayed he had worked with the FBI, was in the army, had obtained various degrees and more.
According to a press release, his personal website - which has been taken down - had a bio page that claimed, "William G. Hillar is a retired Colonel of the U.S. Army Special Forces. He has served in Asia, the Middle East, and Central and South America, where his diverse training and experiences included tactical counter-terrorism, explosive ordnance, emergency medicine and psychological warfare." It also stated that Hillar "holds a B.A. in Psychology, and M.A. in Education, a Ph.D. in Health Education, and an honorary Doctorate in Intercultural Relations."
U.S Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein said most, if not all of it, was under false pretenses.
"He was never a colonel, never served in the U.S. Army, never was deployed to exotic locales and never received training in counter-terrorism and psychological warfare while in the armed forces."
The university says if students are concerned with their credits, they can contact academic affairs and they will come up with a solution that fits the individual. In November 2010, they offered free, substitute courses that had been taken with Hillar.
Hillar was arrested Tuesday at his Maryland home. If convicted, he faces up to of 20 years in jail.
January 27, 2011; The Register Guard (Eugene, OR), Former UO instructor accused of swindling clients, The FBI says he lied about his background to get jobs teaching, lecturing and conducting training sessions), by Jack Moran, The Register-Guard,
A former University of Oregon adjunct instructor is being held in a Maryland jail, accused by FBI officials of building a 10-year career on lies about his education and military experience.
William Hillar, 66, appeared Tuesday in a federal courtroom in Baltimore following his arrest on a charge of mail fraud. The allegation is based on a check issued to him last year by the Monterey Institute of International Studies, one of many clients he is accused of swindling during the past decade while working as a teacher and lecturer.
The FBI launched an investigation focusing on Hillar last November after questions were raised regarding his claim of being a retired U.S. Army Special Forces colonel. A review of his military records showed that he never served in the Army but spent eight years as a sailor with the U.S. Coast Guard reserves, according to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court by FBI Special Agent David Rodski.
Hillar, a Maryland resident, has spent at least 10 years teaching, leading workshops, giving speeches and conducting training for various clients, earning more than $100,000 during that period. The UO paid him more than $33,000 in recent years, court records show.
In Eugene, Hillar occasionally taught one- and two-credit seminars in human trafficking and international drug trafficking between 2002 and last summer, UO spokesman Joe Mosley said.
Court records state that Hillar falsely claimed to have earned a doctoral degree from the UO. Court records indicate he never earned that degree but did attend the university from 1970 to 1973.
Other organizations that paid Hillar to speak or teach include the Illinois State Police and the FBI's Salt Lake City and Chicago divisions, in addition to various colleges across the country, court records show.
FBI investigators found that Hillar claimed on his website to have been deployed overseas while with the Army, and that his "diverse training and experiences included tactical counterterrorism, explosive ordnance, emergency medicine and psychological warfare."
Investigators do not know where Hillar deposited or cashed most of the money he earned under fraudulent pretenses, Rodski wrote.
Earlier this month, Hillar traveled to Belize, where he told someone he owned property in Costa Rica and planned to travel internationally in the near future, court records show.
In a separate claim not related to his criminal case, Hillar is reported to have repeatedly said during lectures that he was the inspiration for the 2008 movie "Taken," about a spy whose daughter is kidnapped.
Hillar faces a maximum prison sentence of 20 years if convicted.
This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan
January 27, 2011, The Spokesman Review, FBI says motivational speaker built business on lies, by John Stucke,
The FBI arrested a man who once worked as a clinical educator at a Spokane hospital, accusing him of fabricating his life’s story with tales of military valor and family tragedy, and then committing mail fraud by profiting on the lies.
William G. Hillar, 66, worked at Inland Northwest Health Services from September 1994 to July 1997. Before that he worked for other Spokane businesses including Metropolitan Mortgage and Securities Co.
It's what he's accused of doing afterward that earned him notoriety.
The federal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Baltimore accused Hillar, now living in Maryland, of capitalizing on his fraud to give motivational speeches and training to police and graduate students. He billed himself as a retired U.S. Special Forces colonel trained in tactical counterterrorism, explosive ordnance, emergency medicine and psychological warfare. He claimed to have served in Asia, the Middle East and Central and South America.
His business, Bill Hillar Training, offered speeches and workshops on topics such as transnational drug smuggling, human trafficking, tactical counterterrorism and transnational criminal gangs.
Hillar’s alleged ruse began to unravel last year when students at the Monterey Institute of International Studies questioned his credentials.
He claimed in workshops that the 2008 action movie "Taken," starring Liam Neeson, was loosely based on the kidnapping and murder of his daughter. Film executives have denied any connection, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Hillar was never in the U.S. Army. A records search showed that he did serve in the U.S. Coast Guard from 1962 to 1970, achieving the rank of radarman, petty officer third class. There's no record he ever deployed to the global regions he claimed, nor did he have any documented training in the specialized fields he listed.
The alleged fraud ensnared many government agencies, businesses and colleges.
Hillar’s website claimed that he gave presentations in Spokane to Shriner's Hospital and Cowles Publishing Co., which publishes The Spokesman-Review. That website has since been taken down.
Hillar once lived on the South Hill and filed for bankruptcy three times in nine years while in Spokane.
The federal judge in Baltimore hearing his case agreed to release him on a $50,000 bond.
January 27, 2011, TBD.com, Bill Hillar case: Credit for the military fraud arrest should go to website, too, by Sarah Larimer, Covering cops and criminals in the Washington region, 10:56 AM
Earlier this week, the FBI took into custody a Maryland man who they believe lied about his military and educational background. Part of the credit for the arrest went to California students, former military men themselves, who reported Hillar to the Monterey Institute of International Studies. But part of it also belongs to a social networking website for Green Berets, which discovered problems with Bill Hillar's background last October.
"They didn't do anything. They didn't do anything until we exposed him," says Jeff Hinton, a retired Master Sergeant. "Which really irritates the snot out of us."
A thread entitled "William G. Hillar Special Forces FRAUD" appeared on the website www.professionalsoldiers.com in October.
"Another Special Forces Fraud bagged and tagged," the post reads. "If anyone would like to write some of Bill's clients and inform them of his fraud feel free. I have Bill's "Reserve Coast Guard Radarman" records."
People did write, according to Hinton. Organizations that worked with Hillar were notified by other special forces officers who visit the site, he says. The takedown began last year, when Hinton received a letter asking him to check out Hillar.
That kind of request comes in a lot, Hinton says, and he's outed frauds before. This time, Hillar claimed to be a retired Army special forces officer, a small, elite group of soldiers, who apparently didn't remember his name.
"For him to say he's in special forces and no one knew him," Hillar says. "That's complete cow manure."
At first, Hinton says he thought Hillar might have been part of a National Guard unit. He checked out his military records and examined his website. Among the tipoffs: the term "tactical counterterrorism," which was a course topic Hillar listed.
"There's no such thing as the term 'tactical counterterrorism,'" Hinton says.
Hillar, was taken into custody at his Millersville, Md., home Tuesday. Authorities say they also believe he faked his educational credentials.
"These guys are using our reputation to scam innocent people," Hinton says. "It really makes us angry."
January 27, 2011, The Oregon Daily Emerald, Details surrounding arrest of former University professor revealed, by Stefan Verbano,
FBI agents arrested former University adjunct instructor and professional speaker Bill Hillar at his home in Millersville, Md., Tuesday following the completion of a fraud investigation involving his fabricated experiences as an American war hero, doctoral degree holder and father of a kidnapped daughter.
According to the FBI’s affidavit, the 66-year-old instructor had been teaching, leading workshops, giving speeches and conducting training for almost 40 public and private-sector clients across the county “for at least the past 10 years under fraudulent pretenses.”
During his trips to Oregon, Hillar occasionally instructed one-credit drug trafficking, human trafficking and other University summer classes to hundreds of students. The classes were offered through the Substance Abuse and Prevention Program on campus.
University graduate and journalism major Victoria Davila took two of Hillar’s weekend SAPP classes in May 2010, and remembers the speaker’s heartfelt stories leaving a palpable impression on the student audience.
"He got classes of at least 180 students in tears … he got students after class waiting to shake his hand," Davila said. "It's completely appalling and disgusting that someone would do that."
To this day, Davila remembers Hillar saying, “I began to realize that we all wear a mask of sanity” which, in retrospect, she said now seems more like a portent than a piece of scholarly philosophy. The recent alumnus also raised critical questions about how Hillar was hired in the first place.
"We all pay thousands of dollars to make sure we get a quality education from quality teachers," Davila said, "and if (the University) is not doing that, then what are we paying for? I could have taken something else."
Federal officials said evidence indicated Hillar earned more than $100,000 for teaching and speaking stints while using his illegitimate identity, including $33,000 from the University. In addition to the $32,500 earned from Middlebury College’s Monterey Institute for International Studies in California for teaching two 15-hour workshops per year since 2005, he is reported to have received $24,140 from the Federal Executive Board of Los Angeles, according to court records.
He conducted training through a small business, Bill Hillar Training, operating out of Millersville, and ran a now-defunct website, billhillartraining.com, crediting himself as a retired U.S. Army Special Forces colonel.
On Nov. 22, 2010, an FBI Internet Archive search revealed that Hillar had claimed to have “served in Asia, the Middle East, and Central and South America, where his diverse training and experiences included tactical counterterrorism, explosive ordinance, emergency medicine and psychological warfare.”
Last fall, student veterans taking Hillar’s class at the Institute challenged his credentials as a retired U.S. Army Special Forces colonel and recipient of a University of Oregon doctorate, saying he did not exhibit the mannerisms of a high-ranking army officer.
According to the affidavit, the Middlebury official responsible for hiring Hillar told the FBI she used his website biography and resume to make a hiring decision.
Middlebury discovered Hillar’s claim of holding a University Ph.D. was false, and was unable to verify his military experience. Middlebury officials issued a public apology explaining that Hillar was not a formal employee, so he did not receive a background check. The Institute has now decided to perform background checks for all classroom instructors, in addition to offering Hillar’s former students the option of taking another single-credit course free of charge.
When asked whether the University would instigate a similar policy for affected students, University spokesperson Phil Weiler said administrators have not yet determined whether to mimic Middlebury’s conciliatory efforts.
"I don't know that the University has addressed that issue at this time," Weiler said. "If there are students who have taken (his) classes and are concerned about the credits they have earned, they should contact academic affairs so we can come to a solution that works for everybody."
During the FBI’s investigation, the Department of Defense revealed that Hillar’s only military experience was an eight-year stint as an enlisted sailor in the Coast Guard. According to the affidavit, Hillar never served in the locations he claimed, nor was given any training in the fields mentioned during his service in the Coast Guard.
Hillar had also claimed a personal relationship with human trafficking, boasting that the 2008 action film “Taken,” starring Liam Neeson, was inspired by events in his life and his daughter’s kidnapping, enslavement and murder. The movie's directors and writers have never mentioned Hillar in interviews.
After being arrested, he appeared before a federal magistrate Tuesday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Baltimore and was ordered to be detained after he was unable to post a $50,000 bond. If convicted, Hillar faces a maximum prison sentence of 20 years, federal officials said.
sverbano@dailyemerald.com
January 27, 2011, mgx.com blog, Bill Hillar, one time keynote speaker in Coos Bay arrested in Maryland,
Bill Hillar lived a life of fraud and deceit for decades and recently spoke in Coos Bay on behalf of the Zonta Foundation to raise awareness and funds about human trafficking.
Bill Hillar lived a life of fraud and deceit for decades and recently spoke in Coos Bay on behalf of the Zonta Foundation to raise awareness and funds about human trafficking.
For the last 10 years, Hillar taught, led workshops, speeches and seminars nationwide, often telling elaborate personal stories that generated a large, emotional response. At the time of hire about eight years ago, Hillar’s resume displayed he had worked with the FBI, was in the army, had obtained various degrees and more.
According to a press release, his personal website – which has been taken down – had a bio page that claimed, "William G. Hillar is a retired Colonel of the U.S. Army Special Forces. He has served in Asia, the Middle East, and Central and South America, where his diverse training and experiences included tactical counter-terrorism, explosive ordnance, emergency medicine and psychological warfare." It also stated that Hillar "holds a B.A. in Psychology, and M.A. in Education, a Ph.D. in Health Education, and an honorary Doctorate in Intercultural Relations."
U.S Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein said most, if not all of it, was under false pretenses.
It came to an this wee when Hillar was arrested at his Maryland home.
Hillar appeared before a federal magistrate Tuesday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Baltimore and was ordered to be detained after he was unable to post a $50,000 bond and arrange for a third-party custodian. He was taken into custody at his Millersville, Md., home nestled below hilly woods.
"The complaint alleges that (Hillar) was living a lie and basing his entire career on experiences he did not have and credentials he did not earn," said U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein. "He was never a colonel, never served in the U.S. Army, never was deployed to exotic locales and never received training in counter-terrorism and psychological warfare."
Hillar had used the elaborate ruse for more than a decade to get work teaching, leading workshops, giving speeches and conducting training for public and private sector clients, federal officials said.
Hillar's alleged masquerade unraveled in November after several MIIS students, military veterans themselves, began to question the authenticity of things he said about his military exploits and knowledge of international human trafficking.
January 31, 2011, Army Times, Alleged faker faces mail fraud charges, Claimed he was Green Beret colonel, counter-terrorism expert, by Joe Gould - Staff writer, Posted : Monday, 11:55:10 EST,
Lecturer William G. Hillar inspired his audience with what he said was his life story: He had tried to rescue his daughter from human traffickers and inspired the hit movie “Taken.”
He was a retired Green Beret colonel and counterterrorism expert, he said.
According to prosecutors, it was not his really his life, it was lies.
Hillar, 66, was charged with mail fraud for his alleged scheme to fake his military experience and academic credentials to gain employment for teaching and training.
The complaint was unsealed upon his arrest Jan. 25. Hillar appeared in U.S. District Court in Baltimore, where a judge ordered that he be detained in lieu of $50,000 bond.
"The complaint alleges that William G. Hillar was living a lie and basing his entire career on experience he did not have and credentials that he did not earn," U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein said in a statement. "He was never a colonel, never served in the U.S. Army, never was deployed to exotic locales and never received training in counterterrorism and psychological warfare while in the armed forces."
FBI Special Agent in Charge Richard A. McFeely said in a statement that Hillar's deception was revealed by members of the Special Forces community. In late October, questions were raised about Hillar’s credentials in a forum thread at professionalsoldiers.org, a website dedicated to the Special Forces community.
According to court papers, Hillar had been teaching, leading workshops, giving speeches and conducting training for public and private sector clients for at least the past 10 years under false pretenses. Several of them include law enforcement agencies.
Since spring 2005, Hillar taught at the Monterey Institute of International Studies, in California, including a workshop titled, "Tactical Counter Terrorism."
According to court papers, his now-defunct website, "Bill Hillar Training," included the following bio:
"William G. Hillar is a retired Colonel of the U.S. Army Special Forces. He has served in Asia, the Middle East, and Central and South America, where his diverse training and experiences included tactical counter-terrorism, explosive ordnance, emergency medicine and psychological warfare." It also stated that Hillar "holds a B.A. in Psychology, and M.A. in Education, a Ph.D. in Health Education, and an honorary Doctorate in Intercultural Relations."
Several websites advertising Hillar’s past speaking engagements link him to the 2008 movie “Taken,” about a father who rescues his daughter from human traffickers.
In November, Hillar received the 2010 Hometown Hero award from Elon University, in North Carolina for his work to combat sex trafficking. According to the university’s student newspaper, The Pendulum, questions about Hillar’s credentials were surfacing as he was about to receive the award.
"Hillar says that in 1988, while traveling with school mates, his daughter was abducted and forced into the sex industry," according to Elon's newsletter. "Despite an exhaustive, multi-country search, Hillar says he was unable to save his daughter from the fate that ultimately took her life. ... Rather than allow the loss of his daughter to devastate him for the rest of his life, Hillar says he has dedicated his life to educating people on the largely overlooked problem of human trafficking."
Court papers say Hillar's military and civilian records indicate he was never in the Army. Rather, he served in the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve from 1962 to 1970, achieving the rate of radarman third class. He was never deployed to the locations stated on his website, nor was he given any of specialized training he claimed.
Hillar attended the University of Oregon from 1970 to 1973, but was not awarded a Ph.D.
The mail fraud charges stem from his alleged use of false work experience and academic credentials to get hired at Monterey Institute of International Studies. The institute paid Hillar by mailing checks totaling $32,300 to Hillar’s home address in Millersville, Md. He allegedly pocketed more than $100,000 in the course of the scheme from a variety of public and private institutions, including law enforcement agencies.
If convicted, Hillar faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
January 2001, Washington Examiner, Prosecutors: Md. 'expert' duped law enforcement, colleges, by Emily Babay,
A Maryland man who has portrayed himself as a terrorism and human-trafficking expert and claimed to be the inspiration for the Liam Neeson film "Taken" has been charged with fraud.
Federal prosecutors allege that William G. Hillar, of Millersville, has been teaching, giving speeches, leading workshops and conducting training under fraudulent pretenses for the past 10 years.
Authorities say public and private institutions, including the FBI and other law enforcement agencies, have paid Hillar a total of more than $100,000 for his work.
Hillar had not hired an attorney as of Tuesday evening and has declined to have a court-appointed lawyer. A federal judge in Baltimore ordered him detained pending further proceedings because he could not meet release conditions.
Hillar, 66, ran a business called Bill Hillar Training and purported on his Web site and in other materials to be a retired Army colonel who served overseas and had received a doctorate from the University of Oregon. He also boasted in his appearances that he was the inspiration for the 2008 action movie "Taken," in which a former CIA operative's daughter is kidnapped by men who want to enslave her.
But students at the Monterey Institute of International Studies in California, where he has been a part-time instructor since 2005, became suspicious of Hillar's credentials and claims, and federal authoritiesstarted an investigation. The institute, a graduate school of the Vermont-based Middlebury College, said in a statement in November that Hillar had misrepresented his experience.
According to the criminal complaint, Hillar was an enlisted sailor in the Coast Guard and was never deployed to the locations he claimed. He also never received specialized training in counterterrorism, psychological warfare and other fields in which he purported to be a specialist.
A search warrant affidavit says that over the past year, the FBI, the California Fire Chiefs Association, the Illinois State Police and various cities and colleges paid Hillar for teaching and speaking.
"This investigation is an example of the difficulty the public faces in trying to verify the accuracy of information on the Internet," Richard McFeely, special agent in charge of the FBI's Baltimore office, said in a statement.
The complaint against Hillar was filed Friday and unsealed after he was arrested Tuesday. He was charged with mail fraud for allegedly requesting payment from the Monterey Institute for work based on false claims.
Hillar could face up to 20 years in prison. ebabay@washingtonexaminer.com
February 1, 2011, THE PENDULUM, Elon University's Student Newspaper, Elon award recipient arrested, by Caitlin O'Donnell,
According to multiple news sources, the FBI arrested Bill Hillar, a 2010 recipient of the Hometown Hero award from Elon University, at his home in Maryland Jan. 25. He is charged with defrauding clients after charging them for his expertise with the Green Berets, and claiming to have extensive military experience.
Hillar claimed to have been a retired colonel of the United States Army Special Forces.
The investigation began with the Multnomah County Sheriff's Department in Portland, Ore., and moved to the federal level, according to Keith Bickford, director of the Oregon Anti- Human Trafficking Task Force. Hillar could not be reached for comment.
Jeff Hinton, a retired Special Forces Master Sergeant with the association of Professional Soldiers, along with Mary and Chuck Schantag, who also work to expose Green Beret fraud, discovered that Hillar served eight years in the Coast Guard and was never a member of the Special Forces.
"This is not the first time we've done this," Hinton said. "We don't go after the guy who claims it sitting at the bar. We go after the guys that make themselves public figures and say they can offer training."
Elon University first received notice concerning the validity of Hillar's background a few hours before the Hometown Hero ceremony took place Nov. 8.
Phil Smith, university chaplain, said the university received an e-mail with an anonymous tip. The tipster claimed military involvement and accused Hillar of misrepresenting his military record.
Hillar was awarded for his work as an advocate against human trafficking. Elon University freshmen nominate people for the award based on their interactions with them, and freshmen class officers select the final three recipients.
Smith met with Hillar before the ceremony and explained to him that the university had received an e-mail questioning the validity of his military record, to which Hillar said that it had happened once before.
His elaborate story began to unravel last year after students at the Monterey Institute of International Studies began to question his credentials. Around the same time, Hinton began investigating Hillar's records and published findings questioning Hillar's military record on Oct. 28.
Hinton found Hillar had fabricated information about his military record and conned multiple law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and Department of Homeland Security.
Within two weeks of Hinton's published accusations, Hillar's website, citing his credentials and advertising his training workshops, was removed from the Internet. Around that time, Hinton confirmed that the FBI was on Hillar's case.
Hinton has been in contact with the FBI about the investigation concerning Hillar and said he was contacted the morning of Jan. 25 with news of his arrest.
"Bill's con-games are over," Hinton said.
March 17, 2011, Monterey County Herald, More trouble for bogus Green Beret suspect, by Larry Parsons, [or More charges for MIIS lecturer accused of being bogus Green Beret: Feds seek to block access to $180K] by Larry Parsons.
Hillar on the right talking with someone from the search team for missing 10-year old Washington girl Lindsey Baum.
Former Monterey Institute of International Studies lecturer Bill Hillar, accused of bilking several schools and law enforcement agencies by posing as a retired special forces soldier turned lecturer, has been hit by new charges by federal prosecutors.
Moreover, prosecutors in U.S. District Court in Baltimore, Md., want a court protective order to prevent Hillar from gaining access to about $180,000 in a stock brokerage account. They say if Hillar is convicted in the case, almost all of the money would be needed to compensate victims who fell for his 12-year pose as a former Green Beret colonel.
Hillar, 66, of Millersville, Md., was arrested by the FBI Jan. 25 as his alleged impersonation as a globe-trotting, paramilitary operative unraveled last fall after MIIS students began questioning his credentials.
Hillar taught workshops at the institute from 2005 to 2010 in counterterrorism and human trafficking, receiving a total of $32,500 from the private school.
Hillar, originally charged with one count of mail fraud, was arraigned last week on a new 16-count indictment accusing him of multiple counts of mail and wire fraud. The indictment states Hillar received about $164,000 from 23 educational, law enforcement and military organizations for workshops, courses and speeches based on his concocted biography.
Hillar, who is being represented by federal public defenders, has denied the charges.
The indictment states Hillar, who federal authorities say served eight years as an enlisted Coast Guardsman, taught 18 courses — in subjects ranging from international drug trafficking to tactical counter-terrorism — at the University of Oregon alone. The university hired him based on his "purported 'real world' experiences in the Army," the indictment says.
In all, prosecutors say in court papers, Hillar was paid about $171,000 by passing himself off as a retired special forces officer.
In papers filed Monday, prosecutors asked the court to keep Hillar from tapping his stock account because the proceeds of his alleged crimes are nearly the same as the $180,000 in the account. They predict more victims will come forward.
Hillar is seeking access to the money to hire private counsel, but prosecutors say the assets must be protected to compensate victims. The defense contends the government is holding more funds than it is entitled to.
Hillar's attorneys have said the $180,000 represents his only assets besides a car, a motorcycle and a $1,600 bank account.
Hillar is free on $50,000 bail, but he can't leave Maryland or take a job without approval of court officials, according to court records.
Larry Parsons can be reached at 646-4379 or lparsons@montereyherald.com
Mar 17, 2011, Central Coast News KION46 / FOX35, More Charges Added To Man Who Claimed to be Army Colonel, by Kiki Jones, 130-words
5:14 PM
The man who allegedly duped the Monterey Institute of International Studies, as well as many other agencies, is facing additional charges.
Bill Hillar claimed to serve across the globe, as a Green Beret. He taught at major institutions, including the Monterey Institute of International Studies. Hillar even allegedly told some of his students that he was the inspiration for the film TAKEN where a former government operative's daughter is kidnapped and forced into sex trafficking.
However, it all came crashing down when a local student started calling him a fraud saying Hillar has tricked people for years.
In January, Hillar was arrested by the FBI and now the US. District Attorney's Office is adding 15 more counts of mail fraud and they are attempting to freeze all of Hillar's money.
March 29, 2011, The Baltimore Sun, Millersville man admits he lied about military experience, Also pleads guilty to wire fraud, by Tricia Bishop,
A 66-year-old Millersville man pleaded guilty to wire fraud Tuesday and admitted to lying about his military experience and academic credentials to obtain teaching and training jobs from 1998 to 2010, the Maryland U.S. Attorney's Office announced.
William G. Hillar claimed to be a retired U.S. Army Special forces colonel who served in countries all over the world learning techniques for "tactical counter-terrorism, explosive ordnance, emergency medicine and psychological warfare." But the only military experience he actually had was from serving as an enlisted sailor in the U.S. Coast Guard Reserves, from 1962 to 1970, according to federal prosecutors.
"William G. Hillar lived a lie and based his teaching career on military experience he did not have and credentials that he did not earn," Maryland U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein said in a statement.
Hillar faces up to 20 years in prison at his sentencing, which is scheduled for July 20 in Baltimore's U.S. District Court. He's already agreed to pay restitution of $171,415, and perform at least 500 hours of community service at the Maryland State Veterans Cemeteries.
tricia.bishop@baltsun.com
March 29, 2011, Monterey County Weekly, Fake Bad-Ass Pleads Guilty, By Joel Ede,
William Hillar, the once popular MIIS instructor who masqueraded as a former special forces officer and explosives expert, and claimed to have spurred a Liam Neeson flick based on his exploits abroad, pleaded guilty today to wire fraud and scheming to defraud money under false pretenses.
Hillar collected more than $170,000 in fees for his lectures, workshops and training on human trafficking and counter terrorism, among others—taking MIIS for approximately $32,000 during his time lecturing there.
He claimed the story behind the film Taken, in which the daughter of the character played by Liam Neeson is forced into sex slavery in a human trafficking scheme, was based on his true life story. Hillar also claimed his daughter was murdered by sex traffickers.
There is no record for Hillar ever having special forces training or any other instruction he claimed to have undertaken in the military. There is also no evidence of his personal experience in human trafficking.
The plea agreement was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Richard A. McFeely of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Special Agent in Charge Robert Craig of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service - Mid-Atlantic Field Office.
"William G. Hillar lived a lie and based his teaching career on military experience he did not have and credentials that he did not earn," said U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein. "He was never a colonel, never served in the U.S. Army or the Special Forces, never was deployed to exotic locales and never received training in counter-terrorism and psychological warfare while in the armed forces."
Hillar faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. He has agreed to pay restitution of $171,415 and perform no less than 500 hours of community service at the Maryland State Veterans Cemeteries. He will be sentenced on July 20.
Mar 29, 2011, Central Coast News KION46 / FOX35, Former MIIS Teacher Plead Guilty To Posing As Army Colonel, 7:56 PM
BALTIMORE, Maryland--William G. Hillar, age 66, of Millersville, Maryland, pleaded guilty today to wire fraud in connection with a scheme to lie about his military experience and academic credentials in order to gain employment for teaching and training.
"William G. Hillar lived a lie and based his teaching career on military experience he did not have and credentials that he did not earn," said U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein.
According to Hillar's plea agreement, from around 1998 to 2010, private and public sector organizations paid Hillar at least $171,415 for teaching, leading workshops, giving speeches and conducting training on counter terrorism, drugs trafficking, human trafficking and related topics. Hillar conducted these activities through a business named "Bill Hillar Training."
According to the Monterey Institute of International Studies, Hillar led two one-credit, 15-hour workshops per year at the Institute between 2005 and 2010.
In order to secure these employments, Hillar falsely represented in resumes, biographical statements and on the Internet that: "William G. Hillar is a retired Colonel of the U.S. Army Special Forces. He has served in Asia, the Middle East, and Central and South America, where his diverse training and experiences included tactical counter-terrorism, explosive ordnance, emergency medicine and psychological warfare."
Hillar faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. As part of his plea agreement, Hillar has agreed to pay restitution of $171,415, and perform no less than 500 community hours at the Maryland State Veterans Cemeteries.
March 29, 2011, The Associated Press / Army Times, Md. faker pleads guilty to lying about service,
Posted : Tuesday 19:30:40 EDT
BALTIMORE — A Millersville man has pleaded guilty to wire fraud in a scheme to lie about his military experience and academic credentials to get jobs as a teacher and trainer, federal prosecutors said.
William Hillar, 66, entered the plea on Tuesday, authorities said. He agreed to pay more than $170,000 in restitution and do 500 hours of community service at Maryland state veterans cemeteries.
Hillar will be sentenced July 20.
According to his plea agreement, for 12 years, Hillar was paid to teach, lead workshops, give speeches and conduct training on counterterrorism and other subjects.
Hillar falsely claimed to be a retired colonel who had served in Army Special Services and hold a Ph.D. in health education.
March 30, 2011, Military.com, Phony SF Colonel Takes Guilty Plea, by Bryant Jordan,
A Maryland man who passed himself off to university employers as a former Green Beret and expert in international sex-trafficking and counterterrorism pleaded guilty March 30 to wire fraud.
William G. Hillar, 66, admitted in a plea deal worked out with federal prosecutors in Baltimore that an email he sent to the University of Oregon to apply for work included fraudulent information about his military background and experience.
Hillar could get up to 20 years in prison when he's sentenced on July 20, the FBI said in a statement. Under the terms of the plea agreement he will pay restitution of $171,415 and perform at least 500 hours of community service at the Maryland State Veterans Cemeteries.
Hillar was arrested at his Maryland home on Jan. 25. The Justice Department says that the former Coast Guard enlisted man pretended for about 12 years to be a retired Army colonel with a Special Forces background. Part of his faux biography included a claim that his daughter was kidnapped by human traffickers in Asia and that he spent six months in a futile effort to rescue her.
Hillar's story reportedly was the basis of a 2008 movie, "Taken," starring Liam Neeson.
The amount of restitution equals the money that he earned from the teaching jobs and speaking engagements he made based on his fraudulent bio.
According to the Justice Department, one of the earliest victims of Hillar's fraud was the FBI's Salt Lake City, Utah, division, which paid him just over $1,000 to speak in April 1998. He also took the bureau's Chicago division for about $1,000 in 2002, and between 2000 and 2010 earned $17,369 from the FBI Command College.
Hillar also earned money lecturing and conducting workshops for the Army; the Drug Enforcement Agency; the Interior Department's Bureau of Indian Affairs; the National Law Enforcement Telecommunications System and various other state and federal agencies.
But his biggest takes were from the University of Oregon, where he earned $33,000 to teach his courses on international crime from 2002 to 2010, and the Monterey Institute of International Studies. MIIS paid him a total of $32,500 from 2005 to 2010.
At Monterey, students who were veterans began questioning Hillar's credibility, according to Jeff "J.D." Hinton, a retired Special Forces master sergeant who began looking into Hillar's background well over a year ago. Hinton had pulled together information from his own Special Forces connections and through Freedom of Information Act requests showing Hillar to be a fraud.
He began publicizing the holes in Hillar's resume his website, ProfessionalSoldiers.com, last October.
Army Special Forces and the other elite units of the Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force constitute a small world within the military. People pretending to be a Green Beret, SEAL, Marine Recon or Air Force Special Operations Airman cannot sustain the fraud very long once someone begins asking questions, Hinton said.
"I'm happy with the outcome" of the case against Hillar, Hinton said. "I'm very impressed how quickly the FBI worked this case. I hope this serves as an example to all those that would employ stolen valor to deceive the public. We are watching and we will eventually find and expose you."
March 30, 2011 The Christian Science Monitor, Man who posed as former Special Forces colonel pleads guilty, by Warren Richey,
A Maryland man has pleaded guilty to conducting a 12-year fraud by posing as a former US Army Special Forces colonel and expert in counterterrorism, explosives, and psychological warfare.
In reality, he'd never served a day in the Army.
William Hillar used a falsely inflated resume and website bio to gain work teaching classes and delivering speeches across the United States.
He taught for seven years at the Monterey Institute of International Studies in California. Last year, he conducted a workshop there entitled "Tactical Counter Terrorism."
According to his resume, Mr. Hillar's Army service had taken him to Asia, the Middle East, and Central and South America. He also claimed to have earned a PhD from the University of Oregon.
None of it was true.
According to court files, Hillar's genuine military service involved eight years (1962 to 1970) as an enlisted sailor in the US Coast Guard Reserve. He served as an RD3 (radarman, petty officer third class).
According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Hillar never deployed to any of the international regions he claimed to have served in, nor was he trained in the disciplines he claimed.
"William G. Hillar lived a lie and based his teaching career on military experience he did not have and credentials that he did not earn," said US Attorney Rod Rosenstein.
"He was never a colonel, never served in the US Army or the Special Forces, never was deployed to exotic locales, and never received training in counterterrorism and psychological warfare while in the armed forces," Mr. Rosenstein said.
The investigation of Hillar was prompted in part by questions raised by former members of the Special Forces.
"The service members that comprise the Department of Defense's elite special warfare units have undergone years of specialized training and sacrifice to be called Special Forces," said Robert Craig, special agent in charge of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service - Mid-Atlantic Field Office. "To misuse their title for personal gain is unconscionable."
Hillar's website was taken off the Internet after federal agents began their investigation. But brochures from some of his events are still posted.
One advertises a seminar designed to fight stress and boost creativity. It says in part: "Bill will make you want to peer beneath your intellectual veneer, rip off your mask of sanity, redefine your sense of the ridiculous, and fall back in love with your future."
The program was being offered at Central Wyoming College in Riverton.
His bio on the flier includes claims of his former Special Forces service. It also says: "His military expertise led him not only to cross-train and serve with Special Forces from allied countries, but to advise governments and military organizations in several foreign nations."
In his plea agreement, Hillar admitted that he accepted $171,415 from various public- and private-sector organizations for teaching and speaking. His topics included counterterrorism, drug trafficking, and human trafficking.
Hillar faces up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. He has agreed to pay restitution of $171,415 and to perform at least 500 hours of community service at Maryland state veterans cemeteries.
US District Judge William Quarles set sentencing for July 20 in federal court in Baltimore.
March 30, 2011, Chicago Examiner, Man lies about military service, earns $171K in consulting fees, gets busted, by Richard Webster, Domestic Crimes Examiner,
William G. Hillar, age 66, of Millersville, Maryland, pleaded guilty today to wire fraud in connection with a scheme to lie about his military experience and academic credentials in order to gain employment for teaching and training.
"William G. Hillar lived a lie and based his teaching career on military experience he did not have and credentials that he did not earn," said U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein. "He was never a colonel, never served in the U.S. Army or the Special Forces, never was deployed to exotic locales, and never received training in counterterrorism and psychological warfare while in the armed forces."
"Mr. Hillar's fraudulent representations came to the FBI's attention from concerned citizens, including former members of the Special Forces community. This investigation is an example of the difficulty the public faces trying to verify the accuracy of information on the Internet," said FBI Special Agent in Charge Richard A. McFeely.
"The Defense Criminal Investigative Service is committed to supporting America's warfighters and protecting the interest of the American taxpayers," said Robert Craig, Special Agent in Charge for the DCIS Mid-Atlantic Field Office.
"The service members that comprise the Department of Defense's elite special warfare units have undergone years of specialized training and sacrifice to be called Special Forces. To misuse their titles for personal gain is unconscionable and discredits those that served and continue to serve the United States of America."
According to Hillar's plea agreement, from around 1998 to 2010, private and public sector organizations paid Hillar at least $171,415 for teaching, leading workshops, giving speeches, and conducting training on counterterrorism, drug trafficking, human trafficking, and related topics. Hillar conducted these activities through a business named "Bill Hillar Training."
In order to secure these employments, Hillar falsely represented in resumes, biographical statements and on the Internet that: "William G. Hillar is a retired Colonel of the U.S. Army Special Forces. He has served in Asia, the Middle East, and Central and South America, where his diverse training and experiences included tactical counter-terrorism, explosive ordnance, emergency medicine and psychological warfare." Hillar also represented that he received a Ph.D. from the University of Oregon.
Hillar never served in the U.S. Army or the Special Forces and never attained the rank of Colonel. Hillar never served in Asia, the Middle East, or Central and South America, and did not acquire in those locales training and experiences in counterterrorism, explosive ordnance, emergency medicine, or psychological warfare. Hillar did serve in the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve as an enlisted sailor from 1962 to 1970, achieving the rate of Radarman, Petty Officer Third Class.
Hillar faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. As part of his plea agreement, Hillar has agreed to pay restitution of $171,415, and perform no less than 500 community hours at the Maryland State Veterans Cemeteries. U.S. District Judge William D. Quarles, Jr. scheduled sentencing for July 20, 2011 at 9:00 a.m.
Lied for 12 Years About Special Forces and Terrorism Experience to Gain Teaching Employment
Credits: photobucket
March 31, 2011; US Fed News Service, Including US State News; Millersville Man Pleads Guilty to Posing as a Retired Army Special Forces Colonel,
BALTIMORE, March 29 -- The U.S. Department of Justice's Federal Bureau of Investigation Baltimore Field Office issued the following press release:
William G. Hillar, age 66, of Millersville, Maryland, pleaded guilty today to wire fraud in connection with a scheme to lie about his military experience and academic credentials in order to gain employment for teaching and training.
The plea agreement was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Richard A. McFeely of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and Special Agent in Charge Robert Craig of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service - Mid-Atlantic Field Office.
"William G. Hillar lived a lie and based his teaching career on military experience he did not have and credentials that he did not earn," said U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein. "He was never a colonel, never served in the U.S. Army or the Special Forces, never was deployed to exotic locales, and never received training in counterterrorism and psychological warfare while in the armed forces."
"Mr. Hillar's fraudulent representations came to the FBI's attention from concerned citizens, including former members of the Special Forces community. This investigation is an example of the difficulty the public faces trying to verify the accuracy of information on the Internet," said FBI Special Agent in Charge Richard A. McFeely.
"The Defense Criminal Investigative Service is committed to supporting America's warfighters and protecting the interest of the American taxpayers," said Robert Craig, Special Agent in Charge for the DCIS Mid-Atlantic Field Office. "The service members that comprise the Department of Defense's elite special warfare units have undergone years of specialized training and sacrifice to be called Special Forces. To misuse their titles for personal gain is unconscionable and discredits those that served and continue to serve the United States of America."
According to Hillar's plea agreement, from around 1998 to 2010, private and public sector organizations paid Hillar at least $171,415 for teaching, leading workshops, giving speeches, and conducting training on counterterrorism, drug trafficking, human trafficking, and related topics. Hillar conducted these activities through a business named "Bill Hillar Training."
In order to secure these employments, Hillar falsely represented in resumes, biographical statements and on the Internet that: "William G. Hillar is a retired Colonel of the U.S. Army Special Forces. He has served in Asia, the Middle East, and Central and South America, where his diverse training and experiences included tactical counter-terrorism, explosive ordnance, emergency medicine and psychological warfare." Hillar also represented that he received a Ph.D. from the University of Oregon.
Hillar never served in the U.S. Army or the Special Forces and never attained the rank of Colonel. Hillar never served in Asia, the Middle East, or Central and South America, and did not acquire in those locales training and experiences in counterterrorism, explosive ordnance, emergency medicine, or psychological warfare. Hillar did serve in the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve as an enlisted sailor from 1962 to 1970, achieving the rate of Radarman, Petty Officer Third Class.
Hillar faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. As part of his plea agreement, Hillar has agreed to pay restitution of $171,415, and perform no less than 500 community hours at the Maryland State Veterans Cemeteries. U.S. District Judge William D. Quarles, Jr. scheduled sentencing for July 20, 2011 at 9:00 a.m.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein praised the FBI and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service for their work in the investigation. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant United States Attorney Leo Wise, who is prosecuting the case. For any query with respect to this article or any other content requirement, please contact Editor at htsyndication@hindustantimes.com
Copyright © HT Media Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Provided by ProQuest LLC.
April 9, 2011, Army Times, Reputed counter-terrorism expert pleads guilty, by Joe Gould - Staff writer,
Posted : Saturday 6:29:08 EDT
Lecturer William G. Hillar entranced audiences as a globe-trotting, highly trained, retired Green Beret colonel whose attempt to rescue his daughter from kidnappers inspired the hit movie, "Taken."
But it was not really his life, it was all lies.
Hillar, 66, of Millersville, Md., pleaded guilty March 29 to a single count of wire fraud in a federal court in Baltimore. As part of his plea, Hillar agreed to pay back $171,000 he made by lecturing universities, soldiers, and federal and local law enforcement agencies while falsely claiming he was a counter-terrorism expert and had earned doctorate from the University of Oregon.
He also agreed to perform 500 hours of community service at the Maryland State Veterans Cemeteries.
"William G. Hillar lived a lie and based his teaching career on military experience he did not have and credentials that he did not earn,” U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein said in a statement. “He was never a colonel, never served in the U.S. Army or the Special Forces, never was deployed to exotic locales and never received training in counter-terrorism and psychological warfare while in the armed forces."
SPOKE BEFORE FBI
In the plea agreement, Hillar admitted that over 12 years, he accepted thousands of dollars in speaking fees from the likes of the FBI Command College and the Drug Enforcement Administration. He even took Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., for $3,635 after a 2007 speaking engagement.
Since the spring of 2005, Hillar taught at the Monterey Institute of International Studies, in California, including a workshop titled, “Tactical Counter Terrorism.” He was paid $32,000.
Several websites advertising Hillar’s past workshops link him to the 2008 movie “Taken,” a fictional film about a father who rescues his daughter from human traffickers.
According to his plea agreement, his now-defunct website, “Bill Hillar Training,” included the following bio:
"William G. Hillar is a retired Colonel of the U.S. Army Special Forces. He has served in Asia, the Middle East, and Central and South America, where his diverse training and experiences included tactical counter-terrorism, explosive ordnance, emergency medicine and psychological warfare."
It also stated that Hillar “holds a B.A. in Psychology, and M.A. in Education, a Ph.D. in Health Education, and an honorary Doctorate in Intercultural Relations.”
In reality, Hillar attended the University of Oregon from 1970 to 1973, but was not awarded a doctorate degree.
Hillar told the school, where he taught more than a dozen courses on human trafficking, drug trafficking and counter-terrorism, that he served in the Army from 1962 to 1990.
SERVED IN COAST GUARD
But Hillar’s military and civilian records indicate he was never in the Army, court papers state. Rather, he served in the Coast Guard Reserve from 1962 to 1970, achieving the rate of “Radarman, Petty Officer Third Class.”
He was never deployed to the locations stated on his website, nor was he given any of the specialized training he claimed.
FBI Special Agent in Charge Richard A. McFeely said in a statement that Hillar’s deception was revealed by members of the Special Forces community. In late October, questions were raised about Hillar’s credentials in a forum thread at professionalsoldiers.org, a website dedicated to the Special Forces community.
In November, Hillar received the 2010 Hometown Hero award from Elon University in North Carolina for his work to combat sex trafficking.
According to the university’s student newspaper, The Pendulum, questions about Hillar’s credentials surfaced as he was about to receive the award.
A mention in Elon’s newsletter says Hillar claimed his daughter was abducted in 1988 while traveling with schoolmates and forced into the sex industry.
"Despite an exhaustive, multi-country search, Hillar says he was unable to save his daughter from the fate that ultimately took her life," the newsletter reads. "Rather than allow the loss of his daughter to devastate him for the rest of his life, Hillar says he has dedicated his life to educating people on the largely overlooked problem of human trafficking."
Robert Craig, special agent in charge for the DCIS Mid-Atlantic Field Office, said in a statement that Hillar cheapened the sacrifice of Special Forces soldiers.
"To misuse their titles for personal gain is unconscionable and discredits those that served and continue to serve the United States of America," he said.
April 13 2011, Military Officers Association of America Blog, Stolen Valor, Fabricated Career, Published by Matthew LoFiego at 8:23 am
The arrest of William G. Hillar in January has brought the issue of impersonating an officer into the national spotlight. The Stolen Valor Act of 2005, signed into law by President Bush, made it a federal misdemeanor to claim to have received meritorious awards from the U.S. military. The law was struck down as an unconstitutional breech of First Amendment rights in 2010 and an appeal was refused by the U.S. Court of Appeals (9th Circuit). The FBI chose not to prosecute Hillar based on the SVA and instead charged him with mail fraud due to his use of falsified career achievements to obtain work as a professor and paid speaker. His story is baffling, and even more troublesome is how long he was able to keep up his ruse.
William Hillar claimed that he had led the life of an American hero, according to the FBI affidavit that was unsealed upon his arrest. Hillar claimed to have been a retired colonel from the Green Berets, with tours of duty in Asia, Central and South America and the Middle East. He also claimed that the move ‘Taken’, starring Liam Neeson, about a father who pursues his daughter’s kidnappers, was based on his life and the alleged kidnapping and murder of his daughter in 1988. According to his biography on his website, which has now been taken down:
"William G. Hillar is a retired Colonel of the U.S. Army Special Forces. He has served in Asia, the Middle East, and Central and South America, where his diverse training and experiences included tactical counter-terrorism, explosive ordnance, emergency medicine and psychological warfare." [and that he] "holds a B.A. in Psychology, and M.A. in Education, a Ph.D. in Health Education, and an honorary Doctorate in Intercultural Relations."
Hillar used these false credentials to further his career in lecturing on counter terrorism, often times to law enforcement agencies. He also landed a job at California’s Monterrey Institute of International Studies in 2005, teaching ‘Tactical Counter Terrorism’ among other subjects.
In November of 2010, North Carolina’s Elon University gave Hillar their annual award for “Hometown Hero” due to his supposed efforts to fight sex trafficking. Suspicions about his background began to rise alongside his increasing prominence. Members of the discussion forum professsionalsoldiers.org, a site dedicated to and home to members of the Special Forces community, took on the credibility of Hillar’s background in a thorough thread that led to an FBI investigation.
In the real world, William Hillar was anything but a hero. Not only did he lie about where he served and under what capacity, he was actually never even in the Army, much less an officer. He did serve for eight years in the Coast Guard, leaving with a rank of Radarman, Petty Officer Third Class, but had no discernible counter intelligence training or experience. According to the Army Times:
"William G. Hillar lived a lie and based his teaching career on military experience he did not have and credentials that he did not earn," U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein said in a statement. "He was never a colonel, never served in the U.S. Army or the Special Forces, never was deployed to exotic locales and never received training in counter-terrorism and psychological warfare while in the armed forces."
Hillar entered a guilty plea on March 29th and has agreed to pay some $171,000 to the universities and clients that he fleeced over the past decade. He will also be required to serve 500 hours of community service at Veterans Cemeteries in Maryland, his state of residence.
Hillar’s actions and his punishment should help put the Stolen Valor Act’s reversal back in the headlines. The message that seems to be coming out from the federal courts is that it is OK to lie about being a war hero or receiving the Medal of Honor, but not if you make money off of the lie.
To see what real Special Forces members feel about Hillar, visit this thread on the Professional Soldiers forum that really gave birth to the investigation and subsequent events. A great read, and it makes you proud to have these men and women in our services.
April 13, 2011, HyperVocalNews, World's Worst Résumé Padder, Inspiration for "Taken" Pleads Guilty to Fraud,9:26AM,
To hear William G. Hillar tell it, he was a true badass. A man other men wanted to be. He was a highly-trained, globe-trotting Green Beret colonel. He held a B.A. in Psychology, an M.A. in Education, a Ph.D. in Health Education, and an honorary Doctorate in Intercultural Relations.
In the parlance of Liam Neeson from the hit movie Taken,which was inspired by events in the life of Hillar, he was a man with very particular skills acquired over a very long career.
Unfortunately, those skills are tantamount to lying.
Hillar, 66, pleaded guilty on March 29 to one count of wire fraud in a federal court in Baltimore. By all accounts, his amazing life of daring-do and adventure, of attempting to rescue his daughter from sex slavery, the distinguished military career, the diplomas, the lectures on counter-terrorism given to the F.B.I. and D.E.A were all lies.
"William G. Hillar lived a lie and based his teaching career on military experience he did not have and credentials that he did not earn," U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein said in a statement. "He was never a colonel, never served in the U.S. Army or the Special Forces, never was deployed to exotic locales and never received training in counter-terrorism and psychological warfare while in the armed forces."
As part of his plea agreement, Hillar has to pay back $171,000 he made by lecturing universities, soldiers, and federal and local law enforcement agencies (Hillar was paid upwards of $32,000 for various lectures and workshops) and he has to complete 500 hours of community service at the Maryland State Veterans Cemeteries.
Basically, he got off easy. How does a man who actually attended the University of Oregon from 1970 to 1973 and served in the Coast Guard Reserve from 1962 to 1970, achieving the rate of “Radarman, Petty Officer Third Class,” go from that to in-demand guest lecture on faked credentials?
Is his tongue so silver that in 12 years of spinning lie after lie he was never caught? His authority never questioned? It’d be one thing if he was just lecturing local law enforcement and colleges, but he lectured the F.B.I. and the D.E.A!?! He gave a lecture to the foremost investigative law enforcement unit in America and somehow they never bothered to check up on him? They never thought maybe we should look into this guy’s background? Is it just a matter of once the lies become accepted and reinforced the truth doesn’t matter all that much?
FBI Special Agent in Charge Richard A. McFeely said in a statement that Hillar’s deception was revealed by members of the Special Forces community. In late October, questions were raised about Hillar’s credentials in a forum thread at professionalsoldiers.org, a website dedicated to the Special Forces community.
In November, Hillar received the 2010 Hometown Hero award from Elon University in North Carolina for his work to combat sex trafficking.
According to the university’s student newspaper, The Pendulum, questions about Hillar’s credentials surfaced as he was about to receive the award.
Unfortunately, it’s not quite clear how the lies Hillar was dishing finally caught up to him. Though it seems his entire career, his entire reputation was built on a foundation of lies, at least Hollywood will finally have a good idea for a Taken sequel. It’s a move about a con artist who manages to make a ton of money off of tricking various law enforcement organizations. Except it’s not about the money for this con artist, it’s about the thrill of fooling everyone into believing the lie.
Basically, it’s Taken meets Catch Me if You Can meets Matchstick Men. There you go Hollywood. We just did the pitch meeting for you.
May 11, 2011, Associated Press, SEAL Sleuths Expose Those Who've Faked Service,
PORTLAND, Maine -- As long as there have been Navy SEALs, there have been men pumping up their resumes or thumping their chests in bars with bogus claims of being one of the Navy's elite warriors.
The latest crop includes a Pennsylvania minister who let his congregation believe he was a SEAL and repeated the lie to a newspaper, and there's no sign of such bogus claims abating anytime soon, especially after a secretive team of Navy SEAL commandos killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.
A retired Navy SEAL from Virginia who devotes much of his time to outing the phonies said he's receiving 40 to 50 inquiries a day from people suspicious of claims by friends, neighbors or colleagues who say they're SEALs. Their doubts are usually confirmed with just a few checks.
The Naval Special Warfare Command also receives a steady stream of inquiries about possible SEALs, the vast majority of which are debunked, said Lt. Cate Wallace, spokeswoman for the command in California.
And Larry Bailey, a retired SEAL from Chocowinity, N.C., estimates he and friends who are former SEALs have exposed 35,000 phonies through the years.
"There were about 500 SEALs that operated in Vietnam, and I've met all 20,000 of them," Waterman joked.
Wannabes lie to get free beers, to get women into bed, to further their civilian careers or to get military benefits. But what really bugs retired SEAL Don Shipley is that they're stealing someone else's valor -- credit due to those who put themselves in harm's way.
"The more outrageous a story is, in a lot of cases, the more it's believed. These guys do a terrible amount of damage," said Shipley, of Chesapeake, Va.
It's easy to see why folks look up to the SEALs, trained to fight on sea, air and land, because they undergo some of the toughest military training in the world.
Out of each group of SEAL recruits, 70 percent fail to make it through a six-month training course that's a test of mental and physical toughness, said Lt. Cate Wallace, spokeswoman for the Naval Special Warfare Command in California.
Those who become bona fide SEALs wear a gold trident. There are just 2,500 on active duty, many serving in the world's most dangerous places.
What's especially frustrating about people who have been exposed as frauds, Bailey said, is when they continue lying about their service.
Wallace said that those who are blatant in their deception or threaten the public safety are turned over to the U.S. attorney's office for investigation.
In Pennsylvania, the Rev. Jim Moats from the Christian Bible Fellowship Church in Newville was called out by Shipley after he was quoted in The Patriot-News of Harrisburg talking about his life as a SEAL in Vietnam.
Later, he admitted he lied.
"It's an ego-builder, and it's just simply wrong," Moats told the newspaper.
He didn't return a call from The Associated Press.
Moats has plenty of company. These days, Bailey and several others are exposing phonies through a website, stolenvalor.com.
Steve Waterman, a retired Navy diver from South Thomaston, Maine, and a website participant, said it's easy to ferret out the real deal from the phonies. Dead giveaways are loose tongues and bravado; SEALs are discreet, Waterman said.
Waterman, author of the book "Just a Sailor," never had any desire to become a SEAL. "I watched them train. That was scary enough for me," he said.
Shipley agreed that SEALs don't talk about their exploits.
"It makes us uncomfortable," he said. "We don't like talking about it. But these [phonies], that's what they crave. They like talking about cutting people's throats."
Last weekend, several dozen SEALs joined together as a Navy warship was christened at Maine's Bath Iron Works in the name of Lt. Michael Murphy, a SEAL officer killed in Afghanistan.
Murphy scrambled into a clearing, exposing himself to a hail of Taliban gunfire in order to get a clear signal to call in reinforcements during a firefight on June 28, 2005. He was shot and later died along with two other members of his SEAL team and another 16 rescuers whose helicopter was shot down.
Nathanael "Lalo" Roberti, a former SEAL, was supposed to be on the helicopter that was shot down. He and seven others were ordered off because it was too heavy.
"I lost 11 of the best friends I've ever known, and some of the best men America has to offer," said Roberti, who lives in San Diego.
© Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
May 24, 2011, Military.com, Security Expert’s SF Record Questioned, by Bryant Jordan,
Jess "Skip" Hall, founder of a Birmingham, Ala.-based security and training company called "Hollow Point," doesn't mince words about wanna-bes who pretend to be more than they are. He uses the language of a former Green Beret and Vietnam combat veteran.
"There are many fakes and so-called experts in everything today," he says in the opening page to his blog, "starting [with] the individual in the White House."
On his website, Hall lists a number of qualifications and experiences beneath his photo, including "5th SF SOG A Team Leader, Vietnam." Another page includes an image of an "unofficial" 5th SOG patch from Vietnam -- a skull wearing a Green Beret -- and beneath it reads: "Skip Hall's Unit Patch."
But there's a problem with Hall's apparent outrage over phonies: He might be one too.
A retired Green Beret says Hall's Special Forces and Vietnam combat claims do not check out.
"He was a clerk typist and he spent all his time in Korea," said Jeff "JD" Hinton, who routinely ferrets out and exposes phony war heroes on his website, ProfessionalSoldiers.com. "He never went to Vietnam."
Hall's military records, copies of which he provided to Military.com, show he was initially trained as a repairman for crypto equipment at Fort Monmouth, N.J., in 1966. Some months later, he was reassigned to Fort Dix, N.J., and trained as a clerk typist.
Hall did not respond to Military.com's requests for an interview or comment. As of late Monday afternoon, his blog page and the Hollow Point website were down. A message on the Hollow Point page stated it was removed because information had been added to the site without Hall's approval.
"We express our appoligies [sic] for any misinformation this may have caused. Mr. Hall does not represent anyone in the military and makes no representation that he was previously affiliated or part of the U.S. Army, Special Forces or any other organization or agency."
In addition to Vietnam and Korea, Hall also claims to have served in the Middle East, to have worked as a Defense Department contractor, and that -- at 63 -- he was the world's oldest Mixed Martial Arts fighter.
And he was the oldest fighter until 71-year-old Dr. John J. "Gray Wolf" Williams came on the scene a few years ago.
At the time Hall retired from mixed martial arts in March 2008, he was profiled by NBC Sports writer Mike Chiappetta who mentioned Hall's combat experience. It was that article that put Hinton on the hunt for Hall's official records.
"One of our own [veterans] found him, actually found the article from MSNBC, and that started the ball rolling," Hinton said. "We've been looking into his past and did the FOIA [Freedom of Information Act request] and it came back with 'Clerk Typist' " for his Army job.
Hinton offers no opinion on any of the other achievements that Hall claims; he only cares about is Hall's claims regarding the Special Forces and combat in Vietnam.
Hinton, who retired from Army Special Forces as a master sergeant, uses official sources and personal connections in the Special Forces community to uncover phonies. Late last year, he exposed William G. Hillar, an instructor at the Monterey Institute of International Studies and widely known expert in human trafficking, as a fraud. Hillar had claimed to be a retired Army Special Forces colonel.
Hillar pleaded guilty in March to a charge of lying about his military background and experience on his application for work at the University of Oregon. He could get 20 years in jail when he returns to court for sentencing in July.
Hinton said he was not the only one investigating Hall's background. The Alabama man had also come under the scrutiny of Chuck and Mary Schantag of P.O.W. Network.
"Someone asks, we file for records, we pass those back and what happens happens," the Schantags said in an email to Military.com.
They said the reports of possible phonies go up and down, depending on the season.
"50 phony SEALs a day for awhile," they said. "Slowed a bit, but Memorial Day is just around the corner and reports will skyrocket again."
August 30, 2011, Monterey Herald, Longtime Monterey lecturer on counterterrorism, human trafficking was a fraud, sentenced to 21 months in prison, by Larry Parsons,
Posted: 08/30/2011 04:54:48 PM PDT
As a lecturer, William G. Hillar wove astonishing tales of derring-do during a larger-than-life career as a U.S. special forces commando and a dashing father who vainly tried to save his daughter from murderous Asian sex traffickers.
For a dozen years, Hillar transformed a resumé right out of several thriller novels into teaching and lecturing jobs at schools and in training sessions for military, police and other emergency responder groups.
Hillar, 66, of Millersville, Md., who lectured from 2005 to 2010 at the Monterey Institute of International Studies on human trafficking and counterterrorism, made it all up, federal prosecutors said.
On Tuesday, Hillar was sentenced to 21 months in prison after pleading guilty in March to a single count of wire fraud for his lengthy charade as a retired military officer.
Federal prosecutors in Baltimore asked U.S. District Court Judge William D. Quarles to put Hillar in prison for a lengthy term because of what one investigator called his "unconscionable" use of a false military identity for personal gain.
Hillar's bogus background came to light last fall when some students at MIIS - military veterans themselves - and members of the special forces community began to ask questions about his tales and dug into his background.
"William G. Hillar claimed that he had earned praise as a hero, but the truth is that he deserves condemnation as a liar," Baltimore U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein said in a statement.
Under Hillar's plea agreement, he agreed to pay $171,415 in restitution. That was the amount he earned from police agencies, first responder groups and schools for the lectures and speeches he made while posing as a retired U.S. Army Special Forces colonel. He also agreed to put in 500 hours of community service work at Maryland veterans cemeteries.
But prosecutors wanted Hillar to go to prison, too. Under federal sentencing rules, he faced a possible prison term of 21 to 27 months.
In a sentencing memo, Assistant U.S. Attorney Leo Wise argued for more than two years in prison, saying Hillar profited from the lie that he was a retired Army Special Forces officer at the same time "members of the Special Forces have died in record numbers in wars in Afghanistan and Iraq."
Along with posing as an expert on counterterrorism, the federal prosecutor said Hillar fabricated "a gruesome tale that his own daughter had been kidnapped and forced into sex slavery."
Hillar told audiences his daughter was kidnapped from a train between Bangkok and Singapore in 1988 and sold into the sex trade. He recounted a six-month, harrowing search he purportedly made through Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Hong Kong, the Philippines and, finally, Borneo, only to learn his daughter was raped, tortured and hacked to death after she managed to escape from a sex traffickers' warehouse.
"It is hard to imagine trying to trade on the sacrifices our armed forces have made. It's even harder to imagine profiting off a fabricated tale of your own daughter's abduction and murder by sex traffickers," the prosecutor said in his memo.
Hillar claimed the 2008 film "Missing" with Liam Neeson was based on his search across Asia for his daughter.
The schools, students and groups duped by Hillar's false credentials weren't the only victims, Wise said. Hillar's real daughter is alive and well in Oregon, and "she also is a victim," he said.
The prosecutor said Hillar went so far as to allow MIIS to hold a 2009 essay contest against human trafficking in his daughter's honor.
Hillar's actual educational background included a bachelor's degree in psychology and a master's degree in special education. He spent eight years in the Coast Guard, achieving the rank of radarman, petty officer third class, the prosecutor said.
His phony credentials weren't just a ticket to jobs, but often the subject of his lectures to spellbound audiences at MIIS and other venues, the prosecutor said.
As a result, all the institutions that paid him "deemed his courses worthless and are asking for full restitution," Wise said.
The prosecutor quoted from students' comments about Hillar's deceptions. One student who took a 2007 class on counterterrorism from Hillar at MIIS said he was a "mesmerizing speaker" who claimed to have participated in questioning Guantanamo detainees - "obviously another lie."
"The damage to some of the kids who adored him and bought every word he said, however, is done," the student said.
Hillar's federal public defender didn't respond to an email message.
Larry Parsons can be reached at 646-4379 or lparsons@montereyherald.com.
August 30, 2011, The Baltimore Sun, Teacher who faked military service sentenced to 21 months,
Suspect exploited wars, terrorism for money, prosecutors say, by Peter Hermann,
He duped FBI agents and small-town cops, students and child advocates, volunteer firefighters and war veterans into thinking he was a retired colonel in Army special operations who had fought terrorists and insurgents from Kabul to Bogota.
William G. Hillar packed rooms and pocketed speaking fees in big cities and tiny towns from Maryland to California, spending a dozen years spinning tall tales about the mujahedin, drug lords and his own daughter being kidnapped, sold into sex slavery and killed.
The 66-year-old teacher who grew up in Oregon and now lives in Millersville pleaded guilty in March to a single count of mail fraud. On Tuesday, he confessed to living a lie and apologized before a federal judge sentenced him to 21 months in prison.
It was not as much as prosecutors requested, but more than his attorney said he deserved.
Assistant Maryland U.S. Attorney Leo J. Wise called Hillar's lies "sociopathic" and said he exploited the suffering of others for profit. He said the lies were made even more egregious during wartime because he was teaching tactics to police and firefighters who relied on his advice to protect their citizens in post-9/11 America.
"They thought they were getting 'Black Hawk Down,' " Wise said during the hearing in U.S. District Court in Baltimore. "Instead, they got 'Rambo.' They got fiction."
Hillar got caught when a real member of the Army Special Forces saw one of his presentations and posted a question about the speaker's credentials on an Internet bulletin board run by a Green Beret support group called Professional Soldiers.
That group investigated and exposed him. Part of Hillar's undoing was that he stretched his credentials, claiming to be a member of too small a club. During the time of his deception, there were only three or four commanders with the rank of colonel in Army Special Forces.
Nobody in that part of the service had ever heard of Hillar.
"We find his conduct to be reprehensible," said Jeffrey D. Hinton, a retired Army special operations sergeant with 20 years' experience, who testified Tuesday. "We have had men killed in training attempting to obtain the rank that Mr. Hillar assigned to himself. He dishonored and disrespected those who have died."
Of the training Hillar offered, Hinton said: "It's worthless."
Speaking publicly for the first time since he was arrested in January, Hillar's purportedly eloquent speaking style and ability to mesmerize audiences for hours evaporated, replaced with a brief, contrite and halting apology.
"I take full responsibility for what I did," Hillar told U.S. Judge William D. Quarles Jr. "I apologize to those I have hurt and demeaned. I never intended to hurt anybody. I am sorry."
Hillar attributed his exuberance to his passion and said his deception started innocently when students assumed from his lectures that he had been in the military. "I never denied it," he told the court. "After a while, I adopted it."
His attorney, federal public defender Gary W. Christopher, admitted that what his client did was wrong. "He is a person who lied about who he was," the lawyer told Quarles.
But Christopher insisted Hillar did not do it for money. The $171,000 he collected in speaking fees and a small university salary was a total spread over 12 years, and he said Hillar emptied a trust fund to repay two dozen institutions, police and fire departments.
Hillar does have a real resume. He graduated from the University of Oregon in the 1960s with a bachelor's degree in psychology. He earned a master's degree in special education, but did not complete his doctorate, as he had claimed.
Instead of being a colonel in the army, he spent eight years in the Coast Guard, rising no higher than petty officer, third class. He retired not as a counter-terrorism commando, but as a radar man.
He has a daughter, alive and well in Oregon, but not a daughter who he said was kidnapped by sex traffickers from a train between Bangkok and Singapore in 1988. He claimed his experience to be the basis for the 2008 movie "Taken" starring Liam Neeson.
Christopher described his client as more a huckster who got caught up in visions of self-grandeur, a victim of his own "flawed ego" who "couldn't resist being a hero. … He was not a hero. So he faked it."
The attorney said the FBI and other groups had to have seen value in Hillar's presentations because they kept inviting him back.
"They didn't hire him because of his made-up celebrity," the lawyer said. "They hired him because he packed the house. … At the end of the day, his stories had value."
That prompted Quarles to ask whether defense counsel was asking the court to consider Hillar's lies "parables."
Christopher also said that his client did not profit from the false stories about his daughter's kidnapping.
The prosecutor said he did think Hillar profited from his tall tales and that the institutions he duped, many of them tiny police and fire departments, can't afford to lose money on meaningless training. He also displaced qualified instructors.
Federal sentencing guidelines call for 21 to 27 months in prison, and the prosecutor asked Quarles to lean toward the higher end of the range.
Quarles sentenced Hillar to the low end of the guidelines, and added 500 hours of community service and three years' supervised probation. Prosecutors said Hillar will perform his service at veterans cemeteries.
At the conclusion of his speech, Hillar told the court that every week he goes to BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport to welcome home returning troops.
"Believe it or not," he said. "I'm a patriot."
peter.hermann@baltsun.com
August 30, 2011, States News Service, Millersville Man Sentenced For Posing as a Retired Army Special Forces Colonel,
BALTIMORE, MD. -- The following information was released by the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Maryland:
U.S. District Judge William D. Quarles, Jr. sentenced William G. Hillar, age 66, of Millersville, Maryland, today to 21 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for wire fraud in connection with a scheme to lie about his military experience and academic credentials in order to gain employment for teaching and training. Judge Quarles also orderedHillar to pay restitution of $171,415 and perform 500 community hours at the Maryland State Veterans Cemeteries.
The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Richard A. McFeely of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and Special Agent in Charge Robert Craig of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service - Mid-Atlantic Field Office.
"William G. Hillar claimed that he had earned praise as a hero, but the truth is that he deserves condemnation as a liar," said U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein. "He did not serve in the U.S. Army, did not receive military training in counter-terrorism and psychological warfare, and did not lose his daughter to sex traffickers."
"Mr. Hillar's fraudulent representations came to the FBI's attention from concerned citizens, including former members of the Special Forces community. This investigation is an example of the difficulty the public faces trying to verify the accuracy of information on the Internet," said FBI Special Agent in Charge Richard A. McFeely.
"The Defense Criminal Investigative Service is committed to supporting America's warfighters and protecting the interest of the American taxpayers," said Robert Craig, Special Agent in Charge for the DCIS Mid-Atlantic Field Office. "The service members that comprise the Department of Defense's elite special warfare units have undergone years of specialized training and sacrifice to be called Special Forces. To misuse their titles for personal gain is unconscionable and discredits those that served and continue to serve the United States of America."
According to Hillar's plea agreement, from around 1998 to 2010, private and public sector organizations paid Hillar at least $171,415 for teaching, leading workshops, giving speeches and conducting training on counter terrorism, drugs trafficking, human trafficking and related topics. Hillar conducted these activities through a business named "Bill Hillar Training." According to the government's sentencing memorandum, most of Hillar's victims were military, law enforcement or first responder organizations.
In order to secure employment with these organizations, Hillar falsely represented in resumes, biographical statements and on the Internet that: "William G. Hillar is a retired Colonel of the U.S. Army Special Forces. He has served in Asia, the Middle East, and Central and South America, where his diverse training and experiences included tactical counter-terrorism, explosive ordnance, emergency medicine and psychological warfare." Hillar also represented that he received a Ph.D. from the University of Oregon.
Hillar never served in the U.S. Army or the Special Forces and never attained the rank of Colonel. Hillar never served in Asia, the Middle East and Central and South America, and did not acquire in those locales training and experiences in counter-terrorism, explosive ordnance, emergency medicine and psychological warfare. Hillar did serve in the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve as an enlisted sailor from 1962 to 1970, achieving the rate of Radarman, Petty Officer Third Class. According to the government's sentencing memorandum, the organizations that Hillar purported to train exercise critical public safety and national security functions, and require ongoing training and education in order to respond to new and changing threats. Hillar, who was not qualified, displaced qualified teachers and trainers, thereby putting members of our military, law enforcement and first responders at risk.
Moreover, the government's sentencing memorandum states that Hillar fabricated a gruesome tale that his own daughter had been kidnaped, forced into sex slavery, sodomized and tortured before being hacked to death with machetes and thrown into the sea. He further claimed that this experience and his life story was the basis for the 2008 film "Taken". The significant press attention that film generated, in turn, generated free press for Hillar. Hillar admits that he fabricated the story about his daughter, who was alive and well.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein praised the FBI and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service for their work in the investigation, and thanked Assistant United States Attorney Leo Wise, who prosecuted the case.
COPYRIGHT 1999 COMTEX News Network, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan.
August 30, 2011, Central Coast News KION46 / FOX35, Man Who Pretended to Be a War Hero To Teach in Monterey Sentenced,
2:50 PM
BALTIMORE, Maryland- Bill Hillar was sentenced to 21 months in prison and three years of supervised release for his scheme to lie about his military experience and academic credentials in order teach at the Monterey Institute of International Studies.
Hillar was also ordered to pay restitution of $171,415 and perform 500 community hours at the Maryland State Veterans Cemeteries.
"Hillar claimed that he had earned praise as a hero, but the truth is that he deserves condemnation as a liar," said U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein. "He did not serve in the U.S. Army, did not receive military training in counter-terrorism and psychological warfare, and did not lose his daughter to sex traffickers."
According to Hillar's plea agreement, from around 1998 to 2010, private and public sector organizations paid Hillar at least $171,415 for teaching, leading workshops, giving speeches and conducting training on counter terrorism, drugs trafficking, human trafficking and related topics. Hillar conducted these activities through a business named "Bill Hillar Training." According to the government's sentencing memorandum, most of Hillar's victims were military, law enforcement or first responder organizations.
COURTESY PHOTO Speaker and instructor Bill Hillar was sentenced to 21 months in prison. Hillar falsely claimed to have served as a special forces colonel and taught counterterrorism and human trafficking interdiction.
August 30, 2011, The Associated Press, Green Beret impersonator gets 21 months, by Sarah Brumfield,
Posted : Tuesday 12:22:25 EDT
BALTIMORE — For years, William Hillar’s tales about his exploits as an Army Green Beret and a puffed up resume helped him land jobs teaching counterterrorism and drug and human trafficking interdiction, but the scheme has now earned him 21 months in federal prison.
Hillar, 66, of Millersville, pleaded guilty to wire fraud earlier this year and was sentenced Tuesday in U.S. District Court. He must pay $170,000 in restitution to the law enforcement and first responder organizations and schools that hired him believing that he had spent 28 years in the U.S. Special Forces, reaching the rank of colonel. He must also perform 500 community service hours at Maryland’s veteran cemeteries.
His scheme started to unravel when a skeptical veteran emailed members of the Special Forces community to see if anyone knew of Hillar, former Green Beret Jeff Hinton testified Tuesday. Hillar’s story was suspicious because there were only a handful of colonels during the period Hillar claimed to have served, he said.
Hinton, whose “Professional Soldiers” social networking site for Special Forces members has become a clearinghouse for people checking on possible fraudsters, filed Freedom of Information requests. When he learned that U.S. Special Operations Command had not heard of Hillar, he decided to expose him and warn the organizations that had hired him, he said.
"The training he was giving them would most likely put people at risk," he said. "Basically it's worthless."
While Green Beret impostors are not uncommon, Hinton called Hillar the most prodigious fraud he has come across, noting that this case is the first he has seen result in jail time. Hillar’s trading on a reputation that's "forged in blood" is reprehensible, dishonorable and disrespectful to those who have served and died, he said.
Hillar was paid more than $170,000 by state and local organizations across the country and the federal government — including the U.S. Army at Aberdeen Proving Ground, FBI Command College and various local divisions of the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs — to teach, lead seminars or speak since 1998, according to his plea agreement.
Prosecutor Leo Wise argued for a prison term on the higher end of the sentencing guidelines, as a deterrent to others: 27 months. Hillar not only endangered first responders with worthless information, he also displaced qualified trainers, Wise said.
Wise played a recording of Hillar’s introduction at the Monterey Institute of International Studies in which Hillar tells the audience he was fortunate to be in the military for 28 years.
"I have been trained as a terrorist,” he said, explaining that an American would consider him a freedom fighter, but to an enemy in the Balkans or elsewhere he would be a terrorist. He said he was an adviser in Laos during the Vietnam War, spent time in drug interdiction in central America, trained with U.S. Special Forces' British, German and Israeli counterparts and spent time training mujahedeen during the Russian invasion of Afghanistan, becoming an "adrenaline junkie."
"I like the rush that you get, or at least that I get," he said. But he told the audience that his life came with a price: His morals were compromised and he ended up in counseling.
"The only thing true about this is that he compromised his value system and his morality. The victims in this thought they were getting 'Black Hawk Down,'" Wise said, referring to a book and movie depicting real-life experiences in the Battle of Mogadishu in Somalia. "Instead they got 'Rambo' — a fiction."
Hillar told the judge he takes full responsibility, apologized and said he has had to admit to himself that he is a fraud. He told the judge that people just assumed that he had a background with Special Forces.
"I never denied it and after years I actually adopted it," he said. "I know that was wrong and I apologize. I didn’t do it for the money and believe it or not, I'm a patriot."
Hillar also portrayed himself as a human trafficking expert whose daughter was kidnapped and killed by sex traffickers. He said the movie "Taken" was based on his search for his daughter. Monterey even held an essay contest with cash prizes in memory of the daughter, whom prosecutors said was not kidnapped and is alive.
Public Defender Gary Christopher, who argued for a sentence of time served — Hillar spent six weeks in a maximum security prison — and probation, said Hillar was a teacher at heart and his teaching style involved storytelling.
"He just could not resist embroidering himself into those tales," Christopher said. "He needed to be the hero."
August 30, 2011, Washington Post, Man who profited from fabricated military career gets 21-month sentence, by Ruben Castaneda,
William G. Hillar billed himself as a hero and a patriot, a 28-year veteran of the Army Special Forces who shared his knowledge of counterterrorism by holding training sessions for federal agents and local police.
The 66-year-old Millersville man told people that he was an expert in human trafficking and drug trafficking. He said that his daughter had been kidnapped, forced into sex slavery and killed by her captors before he could rescue her. He said the movie “Taken,” starring Liam Neeson, was based on that experience.
It was all a lie.
"He was a con artist," said Rod J. Rosenstein, the U.S. attorney for Maryland.
On Tuesday, a federal judge in Baltimore sentenced Hillar to 21 months in prison for crimes connected to his fabrication. Prosecutors say Hillar was paid at least $171,415 over more than a decade, beginning in 1998, for speeches and training on counterterrorism, drug trafficking and human trafficking. The FBI, local police and universities hired him for his supposed expertise.
Moments after his sentence was handed down, Hillar grimly walked within a few feet of two genuine warriors sitting near the front of the courtroom. He looked straight ahead, avoiding eye contact as he stepped past the men.
One of them, Jeff Hinton, who had served as a Green Beret, said Hillar’s training was worthless and put law enforcement officers at risk.
"We're enraged," said Hinton, who is a member of a fraternal group of Green Berets. "It made us mad. We've had people die in training trying to earn the right to be a Green Beret."
Hillar, Hinton said, “was living off a reputation we forged in blood.”
In reality, Hillar served in the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve from 1962 to 1970, prosecutors said. But his claim that he served in Asia, the Middle East, and Central and South America isn’t true, according to court documents.
Hillar has no experience in counterterrorism, emergency medicine, human trafficking or psychological warfare, as he claimed, prosecutors wrote. He has a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s degree in special education. He did consult on organizational issues for hospitals and stress management.
At some point, Hillar began billing himself as an expert lecturer. After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, he capitalized on the desire of law enforcement agencies and others to receive counterterrorism training, Assistant U.S. Attorney Leo J. Wise wrote in a sentencing memo.
During the hearing, Hillar, dressed in a gray suit, white dress shirt and tie, apologized. He also offered an explanation of sorts.
"I take full responsibility for what I did," he said. "I apologize to those I hurt or demeaned. I never intended to hurt anyone, and I’m sorry."
Hillar said he was passionate about the subjects he taught. Many people who took his classes or listened to his talks at workshops assumed he had served in the military, he said. The fiction grew from there.
"I never denied it," Hillar said. "And after some years, I actually adopted it. I know that was wrong."
Still, Hillar insisted, he is a patriot who visits Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day and Veterans Day, and goes to airports to greet veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars when they return from tours of duty.
"It's very difficult to admit to myself that I'm a fraud," Hillar said.
Hillar was arrested in January and has pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud.
Among the organizations that hired Hillar were the FBI Command College, FBI field offices in Salt Lake City and Chicago, the Illinois State Police and the University of Oregon.
Hinton, who runs the Professional Soldiers Web site, said Hillar’s story began to unravel when someone who had taken one of his courses asked a retired Special Forces sergeant major whether he had ever heard of Hillar.
In court papers, Wise wrote of the service of Special Forces members in Iraq and Afghanistan and cited the deaths of 30 U.S. troops, including 17 Navy SEALS, when their helicopter was downed by insurgents in Afghanistan this month.
Hillar, Wise wrote, "must be punished for trying to expropriate those sacrifices for personal gain."
August 30, 2010, Christian Science Monitor, How A Special Ops Impersonator Duped The FBI For A Decade,
A Maryland man was sentenced on Tuesday to 21 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $171,000 in restitution after admitting that he had fraudulently posed for 12 years as a US Army special forces veteran and terrorism expert.
William Hillar used false claims about his background and academic credentials to win teaching and training contracts from 1998 to 2010.
Among the organizations he duped: the Federal Bureau of Investigation Command College, which paid him $17,369 from 2000 to 2010, according to court documents.
Mr. Hillar claimed to be a retired US Army colonel who served in the special forces from 1962 to 1990. His website said he’d been stationed in Asia, the Middle East, and Central and South America.
The website listed his specialized skills as “tactical counter-terrorism, explosive ordnance, emergency medicine, and psychological warfare.” Hillar also advertised that he had earned a PhD from the University of Oregon.
None of it was true.
"William G. Hillar claimed that he had earned praise as a hero, but the truth is that he deserves condemnation as a liar," said US Attorney Rod Rosenstein in a statement after the sentencing in federal court in Baltimore. "He did not serve in the US Army, did not receive military training in counter-terrorism and psychological warfare, and did not lose his daughter to sex traffickers."
One of Hillar’s most outrageous claims was that his own daughter had been kidnapped, forced into sexual slavery, sodomized, and tortured before being hacked to death with machetes and thrown into the sea. Hillar, of Millersville, Md., claimed that his daughter’s brutal murder was the basis of the 2008 movie "Taken."
In his plea agreement, Hillar admitted that his claims were false, including about his daughter, who officials say is alive and well.
Hillar, 66, served from 1962 to 1970 in the US Coast Guard. He left the service as a radarman, petty officer 3rd class.
Hillar’s scam was uncovered by members of the special forces community. An FBI investigation resulted in Hillar's arrest in January.
Court documents identify the institutions he defrauded and list the amounts he allegedly was paid for lectures or workshops.
They include: University of Oregon, $33,025; Monterey Institute of International Studies, $32,500; Federal Executive Board of Los Angeles, $27,140; Montana Sheriff and Peace Officers Association, $9,500; Utah Valley State College, $8,430; California Firefighters Association, $6,208; State Training and Audit Resource Seminar (STARS) 2007 conference, $4,000; US Army, $3,625; Drug Enforcement Administration, $2,400; FBI Salt Lake City Division, $1,010; and the FBI Chicago Division, $1,000.
In addition to requiring repayment of the fraudulently obtained fees, US District Judge William Quarles ordered Hillar to conduct 500 hours of community service with the Maryland State Veterans Cemetaries.
Hillar's activities were also scrutinized by members of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, in addition to the FBI.
"The service members that comprise the Department of Defense's elite special warfare units have undergone years of specialized training and sacrifice to be called special forces," said Robert Craig, chief of the DCIS’s mid-Atlantic field office. "To misuse their titles for personal gain is unconscionable and discredits those that served, and continue to serve, the United States of America."
August 30, 2011, The Daily Record (Baltimore), Special Forces impostor gets jail time: Federal judge rejects community service, gives Hillar 21 months, by Andy Marso,
A Coast Guard reservist who got work as a counter-terrorism trainer by posing as a Special Forces veteran was sentenced Tuesday to 21 months in prison.
William Hillar, 66, of Millersville, also claimed to be the inspiration for a Hollywood movie centered on human trafficking.
Hillar pleaded guilty to wire fraud in March, admitting to a 12-year run of deception during which at least 24 organizations paid him more than $170,000 to teach based on fraudulent credentials
Judge William D. Quarles ordered Hillar to make restitution to those organizations as part of his sentence in U.S. District Court in Baltimore.
"He deserved it and more as far as I'm concerned," said Jeffrey D. Hinton, a retired U.S. Army Green Beret who exposed Hillar's fraud on his website, Professional Soldiers, in October.
Hinton said he hoped the sentence would help stem a rising tide of Special Forces impersonators.
"At any given moment we're tracking like 20 of these guys," he said.
On his website, billhillartraining.com, Hillar claimed to be a Green Beret who served as a colonel in the U.S. Army Special Forces for nearly 30 years in Asia, the Middle East and Central and South America.
According to court documents, an investigation by the Department of Defense's Inspector General revealed that Hillar's military service consisted of eight years in the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve, during which he rose to the rank of Radarman, Petty Officer Third Class, and was never deployed overseas.
Between 1998 and 2010, Hillar's clients included the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Agency, Utah Valley State College, the U.S. Army at Aberdeen Proving Ground and the College of Southern Maryland.
According to court documents, he received the most money from the University of Oregon ($33,025), where he taught from 2002 to 2010. The runner-up was the Monterey Institute for International Studies, a California-based graduate division of Middlebury College of Vermont, which paid him $32,500 between 2005 to 2010.
During the sentencing hearing, prosecutor Leo Wise played a short audio recording of one of Hillar's seminars. In it, Hillar tells the audience he is haunted by how he compromised his "morals and values" on Special Forces missions in Vietnam, Central America and Afghanistan.
"What Mr. Hillar wrapped himself in, in order to profit, is the sacrifices that Special Forces members have made," Wise said.
Wise asked for a sentence of 27 months -- the high end of the sentencing guidelines for wire fraud -- in part to deter others who might try to profit by embellishing or fabricating military service.
'Could not resist'
Hillar's public defender, Gary Christopher, asked that Hillar be sentenced to community service and supervised release after paying restitution. Christopher characterized Hillar as a "person of substance and character" with a "flawed ego."
"He just could not resist embroidering himself into those tales," Christopher said. "He needed to be a hero, too, and he wasn't, so he stole valor."
"Is that a defense?" Quarles asked.
"No, it's not a defense," Christopher told the judge. "But we owe the court an explanation and I'm just trying to be straightforward."
Hillar took full responsibility at sentencing and apologized to those he "hurt or demeaned." He said he regularly visits veterans' cemeteries and goes to the airport to welcome back soldiers returning from overseas.
"I didn't do it for the money and, believe it or not, I am patriotic," Hillar said.
In the later years of his seminars, Hillar branched out from teaching counter-terrorism and added human trafficking to his areas of expertise.
He told audiences that his daughter had been kidnapped and killed by human traffickers and that he was the inspiration for Liam Neeson's character in the 2008 film "Taken," which has a similar plot.
In his sentencing memo, Wise noted that Hillar's real daughter is "alive and well and living in Oregon," and said Hillar's stories about her "show a truly dark and disturbing side to his character."
Wise said Hillar told audiences that his daughter was kidnapped on a train from Bangkok to Singapore in 1988, sold into sex slavery and, when she tried to escape, was "raped, sodomized and tortured before being hacked to death with machetes and thrown into the sea as an example to the other girls."
The story gained so much traction that a Monterey Institute professor, Peter Grothe, allowed the cash prize he had donated for a human trafficking essay contest to be given in memory ofHillar's daughter in 2009.
"He fooled all of us that I would say are pretty hard to fool...," Grothe said in a phone interview Monday afternoon. "He came across as very low-key and believable."
But chatter about Hillar on Hinton's online forum proved his undoing.
When Hinton realized none of the other Special Forces vets had heard of this supposedly high-ranking, long-serving colonel, he obtained Hillar's military records through a Freedom of Information Act request and outed him online.
Hillar was arrested in January following an FBI investigation. In the wake of the arrest, the Monterey Institute announced it would begin requiring the same background checks and vetting process for "independent contractors" like Hillar as it does for regular employees in the classroom.
Hinton said the best way for a corporation or university to verify any claims of military service was to ask for a DD Form 214, the soldier's discharge papers from the Department of Defense.
August 30, 2011, Military.com, Phony Green Beret Gets 21 Months in Jail, by Bryant Jordan,
William "Bill" Hillar, convicted of wire fraud in connection with making schools and the FBI believe he was a retired Green Beret and expert on human trafficking, was hit with a 21-month jail sentence today in Maryland.
Hillar was arrested at his home in January after his scam was exposed by veterans through the website ProfessionalSoldiers.com.
Retired Special Force Master Sgt. Jeff "JD" Hinton, who operates the website, said Hillar "deserved more [than 21 months] in my opinion."
Hinton testified in court during the sentencing hearing.
"I hope this sentencing sends a clear message to those fakes and frauds that would use our reputation to con innocent people," Hinton told Military.com. "Frauds beware. We are watching."
Hillar was working as an associate professor at the Monterey Institute of International Studies in California earlier this year when veterans there became suspicious of his story. Hillar's claims included chasing down human sex slave traffickers in Asia in a futile attempt to rescue his daughter.
His reputation as an expert in international crime also got him teaching gigs at other schools, including lectures to state police, sheriff's associations and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
August 31, 2011, TheWarReportOnline, Stolen Valor: Con Artist Sent To Jail, Posted By Richard Sisk,
Bill Hillar’s big talk had always worked before, worked so well that the FBI put him on the payroll, so he tried it again with the sentencing judge in a bid to avoid jail time.
He wasn’t really such a bad guy. He had just started telling whoppers about his behind-the-lines, black ops derring-do for the Special Forces and was amazed to find out he could get paid for it as a counter-terrorism “expert,” Hillar told federal District Judge William Quarles in Baltimore.
Hillar said he actually loved the military. He claimed that he always went to Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day and also went to airports to greet troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.
"It's very difficult to admit to myself that I’m a fraud," Hillar said. "I never intended to hurt anyone and I'm sorry."
Quarles was unimpressed. He sentenced Hillar Tuesday to the 21 months in jail for wire fraud that had been demanded by U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein. “He was a con artist,” Rosenstein said.
The tales told by William G. Hillar, 66, of Millersville, Md., were so good that they could serve as movie plots, and one of his cons was to claim that a movie had already been made.
His daughter is alive and living in Oregon, but to embellish his credentials as a human trafficking and drug trade expert, Hillar came up with a story about her being kidnapped by Asian narco-terrorists who forced her into sex slavery.
Hillar said he used his commando skills to track down the bad guys, but they killed her before he could come to the rescue and administer swift justice to the villains with his bare hands.
To wrap it up, Hillar told his audiences that the movie “Taken,” starring Liam Neeson, was based on his experiences.
And the audiences couldn’t get enough of it. Hillar made at least $171,415 as a guest lecturer and trainer on counter-terrorism for the FBI, several local police departments, the University of Oregon and the Monterey Institute of International Studies.
Prosecutors said that Hillar simply had fast-talked his way into jobs with agencies and schools who were anxious to hone their anti-terror skills after 9/11.
Hillar did serve in the Coast Guard reserve as a radarman from 1972 to 1980, but he couldn’t leave that alone either. He made bogus claims of duty in Asia and the Middle East, but he never left the states.
At the sentencing, Jeff Hinton, a member of a fraternal group of Green Berets, said Hillar ‘was living off a reputation we forged in blood,” the Washington Post reported.
The case was the latest example of individuals concocting tales of their military prowess for financial gain or to impress influential people to aid their careers.
In 2006, Congress passed the Stolen Valor Act making it a crime to lie about being a military hero and since then more than 60 people have been charged with violations.
But in a Denver case that could go to the U.S. Supreme Court, Richard Strandlof, a drifter who never served in the military, has challenged the constitutionality of the Stolen Valor Act on grounds that he has a right to lie about being a military hero or anything else under the First Amendment right of free speech.
August 31, 2011; The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, VA), New Jersey man pleads guilty to five killings in 1978 cold case,
NEWARK, N.J. | A New Jersey man pleaded guilty Tuesday to killing five teenagers in 1978 in what was one of the state's longest-running cold cases.
Philander Hampton of Jersey City told police three years ago that he and a cousin, Lee Evans of nearby Irvington, lured the teens to an abandoned house in Newark with the promise of odd jobs, then locked them inside and set the house on fire.
The attack allegedly was prompted by stolen drugs.
Evans is scheduled to go to trial this fall.
Though family members long suspected Evans, who frequently hired local youths, the case stumped investigators for years.
San Diego
Boy throwing rocks at SUV hit by crossbow bolt
San Diego police say a 16-year-old boy throwing rocks at a sport utility vehicle was struck by a crossbow bolt fired by a passenger.
Police said the shirtless boy and a friend were throwing rocks at a black Toyota RAV4 in the Linda Vista neighborhood Monday afternoon when a passenger fired a crossbow out the window.
The boy was shot in the right side and was taken to a hospital.
The San Diego Union-Tribune said his injuries are not life-threatening.
His name wasn't released.
Houston Polygamist leader moved to prison hospital
The condition of convicted polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs was upgraded from critical to serious following his move Tuesday to a Texas prison hospital for additional treatment after he became sick while fasting, a state corrections official said.
Jeffs was described by Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokeswoman Michelle Lyons as "awake and alert" as he was flown 215 miles from the East Texas Medical Center in Tyler, where he was admitted Sunday, to the Texas prison hospital at Galveston.
Baltimore military impersonator gets 21 months in prison
For years, William Hillar's tales about his exploits as an Army Green Beret and a puffed-up resume helped him land jobs teaching counterterrorism and drug and human trafficking interdiction, but the scheme has now earned him 21 months in federal prison.
Hillar, 66, of Millersville pleaded guilty to wire fraud earlier this year and was sentenced Tuesday. He must pay $170,000 in restitution to the groups that hired him believing he had spent 28 years in the U.S. Special Forces
August 31, 2011, US Fed News Service, Including US State News, Millersville Man Sentenced for Posing as Retired Army Special Forces Colonel,
BALTIMORE, Aug. 30 -- The U.S. Department of Justice's U.S. Attorney's office for District of Maryland issued the following press release:
U.S. District Judge William D. Quarles, Jr. sentenced William G. Hillar, age 66, of Millersville, Maryland, today to 21 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for wire fraud in connection with a scheme to lie about his military experience and academic credentials in order to gain employment for teaching and training. Judge Quarles also ordered Hillar to pay restitution of $171,415 and perform 500 community hours at the Maryland State Veterans Cemeteries.
The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Richard A. McFeely of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and Special Agent in Charge Robert Craig of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service - Mid-Atlantic Field Office.
"William G. Hillar claimed that he had earned praise as a hero, but the truth is that he deserves condemnation as a liar," said U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein. "He did not serve in the U.S. Army, did not receive military training in counter-terrorism and psychological warfare, and did not lose his daughter to sex traffickers."
"Mr. Hillar's fraudulent representations came to the FBI's attention from concerned citizens, including former members of the Special Forces community. This investigation is an example of the difficulty the public faces trying to verify the accuracy of information on the Internet," said FBI Special Agent in Charge Richard A. McFeely.
"The Defense Criminal Investigative Service is committed to supporting America's warfighters and protecting the interest of the American taxpayers," said Robert Craig, Special Agent in Charge for the DCIS Mid-Atlantic Field Office. "The service members that comprise the Department of Defense's elite special warfare units have undergone years of specialized training and sacrifice to be called Special Forces. To misuse their titles for personal gain is unconscionable and discredits those that served and continue to serve the United States of America."
According to Hillar's plea agreement, from around 1998 to 2010, private and public sector organizations paid Hillar at least $171,415 for teaching, leading workshops, giving speeches and conducting training on counter terrorism, drugs trafficking, human trafficking and related topics. Hillar conducted these activities through a business named "Bill Hillar Training." According to the government's sentencing memorandum, most of Hillar's victims were military, law enforcement or first responder organizations.
In order to secure employment with these organizations, Hillar falsely represented in resumes, biographical statements and on the Internet that: "William G. Hillar is a retired Colonel of the U.S. Army Special Forces. He has served in Asia, the Middle East, and Central and South America, where his diverse training and experiences included tactical counter-terrorism, explosive ordnance, emergency medicine and psychological warfare." Hillar also represented that he received a Ph.D. from the University of Oregon.
Hillar never served in the U.S. Army or the Special Forces and never attained the rank of Colonel. Hillar never served in Asia, the Middle East and Central and South America, and did not acquire in those locales training and experiences in counter-terrorism, explosive ordnance, emergency medicine and psychological warfare. Hillar did serve in the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve as an enlisted sailor from 1962 to 1970, achieving the rate of Radarman, Petty Officer Third Class. According to the government's sentencing memorandum, the organizations that Hillar purported to train exercise critical public safety and national security functions, and require ongoing training and education in order to respond to new and changing threats. Hillar, who was not qualified, displaced qualified teachers and trainers, thereby putting members of our military, law enforcement and first responders at risk.
Moreover, the government's sentencing memorandum states that Hillar fabricated a gruesome tale that his own daughter had been kidnaped, forced into sex slavery, sodomized and tortured before being hacked to death with machetes and thrown into the sea. He further claimed that this experience and his life story was the basis for the 2008 film "Taken". The significant press attention that film generated, in turn, generated free press for Hillar. Hillar admits that he fabricated the story about his daughter, who was alive and well.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein praised the FBI and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service for their work in the investigation, and thanked Assistant United States Attorney Leo Wise, who prosecuted the case. For any query with respect to this article or any other content requirement, please contact Editor at htsyndication@hindustantimes.com
August 31, 2010, Government Security Newsletter, Anti-terror instructor sentenced for lying about military experience, by Mark Rockwell, Wed, 2011-08-31 07:04 AM,
A Maryland man who lied about his extensive background as an army special forces officer to get work training law enforcement and first responders in a variety of skills, including anti-terror tactics and drug and human traffic interdiction, has been sentenced on fraud charges.
William Hillar, 66, of Millersville, MD, was sentenced Aug. 30 to 21 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for wire fraud in connection with his scheme to pass himself off as a colonel in the U.S. Army Special Forces with extensive experience overseas, said an Aug. 30 statement by the FBI. Hillar never held such a position, it said, but had been enlisted in U.S. Coast Guard Reserve in the 1960’s. Hillar also falsely claimed, said the FBI, that he was an expert in human trafficking and the film Taken was based on his experiences in recovering his daughter from kidnappers.
In addition to the prison sentence, Hillar was also ordered to pay restitution of $171,415 and perform 500 community hours at the Maryland State Veterans Cemeteries.
According to court documents, from around 1998 to 2010, private and public sector organizations paid Hillar at least $171,415 for teaching, leading workshops, giving speeches and conducting training on counter terrorism, drugs trafficking, human trafficking and related topics, said the agency. Hillar conducted these activities through a business named “Bill Hillar Training.” Court documents said most of Hillar’s victims were military, law enforcement or first responder organizations.
In order to get consulting jobs with these organizations, Hillar said in resumes, biographical statements, and on the Internet that he was a retired U.S. Army Colonel who had acquired diverse training and experience included tactical counter-terrorism, explosive ordnance, emergency medicine and psychological warfare serving in Asia, the Middle East, and Central and South America. He also said he received a Ph.D. from the University of Oregon.
Hillar never served in the U.S. Army or the Special Forces and never attained the rank of Colonel, said the FBI, nor did he serve in Asia, the Middle East and Central and South America. He didn’t acquire any counter-terrorism, explosive ordnance, emergency medicine and psychological warfare in those areas, it said. Hillar did serve in the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve as an enlisted sailor from 1962 to 1970, achieving the rate of Radarman, Petty Officer Third Class.
According to court documents, the organizations Hillar purported to train perform critical public safety and national security functions, and require ongoing training and education in order to respond to new and changing threats. Hillar, who was not qualified, displaced qualified teachers and trainers, thereby putting members of our military, law enforcement and first responders at risk, said the FBI
Additionally, the FBI said Hillar fabricated a gruesome tale that his own daughter had been kidnapped, forced into sex slavery, sodomized and tortured before being hacked to death with machetes and thrown into the sea. He further claimed that this experience and his life story was the basis for the 2008 film “Taken”. The significant press attention that film generated, in turn, generated free press for his business. Hillar admitted he fabricated the story about his daughter, who was alive and well.
"William G. Hillar claimed that he had earned praise as a hero, but the truth is that he deserves condemnation as a liar," said U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein. "He did not serve in the U.S. Army, did not receive military training in counter-terrorism and psychological warfare, and did not lose his daughter to sex traffickers."
"Mr. Hillar's fraudulent representations came to the FBI’s attention from concerned citizens, including former members of the Special Forces community. This investigation is an example of the difficulty the public faces trying to verify the accuracy of information on the Internet," said FBI Special Agent in Charge Richard McFeely.
August 31, 2011, Chicago Examiner, Self proclaimed expert taught Chicago's FBI and Illinois State Police, by Cynthia Hodges, Homeland Security,
On Tuesday, a Maryland man who falsely claimed that he had served with the U.S. Special Forces and spent 12 years teaching homeland security experts was sentenced to 21 months in prison after entering a plea of guilty on March 29 to a single count of wire fraud in a federal court in Baltimore.
William G. Hillar's clients included the FBI's Chicago branch and the Illinois State Police. Others listed in court documents include the Monterey Institute of International Studies, the University of Oregon, and a University in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Leo J. Wise submitted.a sentencing memorandum stating that over a span of 12 years, Hillar was paid “at least $171,415 for teaching leading workshops, giving speeches and conducting training on counter-terrorism, drug trafficking, human trafficking and related topics.” As part of his plea, Hillar agreed to pay back the money he made by lecturing universities, soldiers, and federal and local law enforcement agencies while falsely claiming he was a counter-terrorism expert and had earned doctorate from the University of Oregon.
On Hillar's website, he promoted himself as an expert in international trafficking and counterterrorism. He claimed to be a retired Special Forces colonel who served in Asia, the Middle East and Central and South America. Traveling the country, Hillar shared his experiences with charity groups, college students and law enforcement agencies. Hillar was paid to teach classes at universities, including five years at the prestigious Monterey Institute for International Studies.
After learning of problems with Hillar's background, a retired Army Special Forces Soldier Jeff Hinton began an investigation in 2009 that eventually exposed the truth. When students confronted Hillar about his military background, he denied ever claiming to be a Green Beret, saying he was just an adviser to the service.
When Bill Hillar spoke about international human trafficking, he added a personal touch. He told his students his firsthand experience, when his own daughter was abducted in Asia in 1988 and sold into the sex-slave trade. His harrowing experince included the six months he spent trying to find and rescue her, but she died in captivity.
One angry student wrote on a Monterey Institute website that she cried when Hillar told her class the story about his abducted daughter who was killed by human traffickers. She wanted to know if Monterey Institute was going to refund the money for the class. Other students said the experience was deeper for them, expressing they didn't know if they would ever get over the lies.
Hillar's case although extreme, is not as unique as many may think. If the public is attending a conference, lecture, or class, it is time well spent to at least google the speaker to see his/her credentials. What makes the person qualified to speak on the topic?
Posing as a ex-Green Beret, William G. Hillar taught Illinois State Police and Chicago FBI
Credits: Military.com
August 31, 2010, Monterey Herald, MIIS lecturer gets prison for lying about military service, daughter's abduction, by Larry Parsons, Staff Writer,
Posted: 08/31/2011 01:27:37 AM PDT
Updated: 08/31/2011 08:29:54 AM PDT
As a lecturer, William G. Hillar wove astonishing tales of derring-do during a larger-than-life career as a U.S. special forces commando and a dashing father who vainly tried to save his daughter from murderous Asian sex traffickers.
For a dozen years, Hillar transformed a résumé right out of thriller novels into teaching and lecturing jobs at schools and in training sessions for military, police and other emergency responder groups.
Hillar, 66, of Millersville, Md., who lectured from 2005 to 2010 at the Monterey Institute of International Studies on human trafficking and counterterrorism, made it all up, federal prosecutors said.
On Tuesday, Hillar was sentenced to 21 months in prison after pleading guilty in March to a single count of wire fraud for his lengthy charade as a retired military officer.
Federal prosecutors in Baltimore asked U.S. District Court Judge William D. Quarles to put Hillar in prison for a lengthy term because of what one investigator called his "unconscionable" use of a false military identity for personal gain.
Hillar's bogus background came to light last fall when students at MIIS — military veterans themselves — and members of the special forces community began to ask questions about his tales and dug into his background.
"William G. Hillar claimed that he had earned praise as a hero, but the truth is that he deserves condemnation as a liar," Baltimore U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein said in a statement.
Under Hillar's plea agreement, he agreed to pay $171,415 in restitution. That was the amount he earned from police agencies, first responder groups and schools for the lectures and speeches he made while posing as a retired Army Special Forces colonel. He also agreed to put in 500 hours of community service work at Maryland veterans cemeteries.
But prosecutors wanted Hillar to go to prison, too. Under federal sentencing rules, he faced a possible prison term of 21 to 27 months.
In a sentencing memo, Assistant U.S. Attorney Leo Wise argued for more than two years in prison, saying Hillar profited from the lie that he was a retired Army Special Forces officer at the same time "members of the Special Forces have died in record numbers in wars in Afghanistan and Iraq."
Along with posing as an expert on counterterrorism, the federal prosecutor said, Hillar fabricated "a gruesome tale that his own daughter had been kidnapped and forced into sex slavery."
Hillar told audiences his daughter was kidnapped from a train between Bangkok and Singapore in 1988 and sold into the sex trade. He recounted a six-month, harrowing search he purportedly made through Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Hong Kong, the Philippines and, finally, Borneo, only to learn his daughter was raped, tortured and hacked to death after she managed to escape from a sex trafficker's warehouse.
"It is hard to imagine trying to trade on the sacrifices our armed forces have made. It's even harder to imagine profiting off a fabricated tale of your own daughter's abduction and murder by sex traffickers," the prosecutor said in his memo.
Hillar claimed the 2008 film "Taken" with Liam Neeson was based on his search across Asia for his daughter.
The schools, students and groups duped by Hillar's false credentials weren't the only victims, Wise said. Hillar's real daughter is alive and well in Oregon, and "she also is a victim," he said.
The prosecutor said Hillar went so far as to allow MIIS to hold a 2009 essay contest against human trafficking in his daughter's honor.
Hillar's actual educational background included a bachelor's degree in psychology and a master's degree in special education. He spent eight years in the Coast Guard, achieving the rank of radarman, petty officer third class, the prosecutor said.
His phony credentials weren't just a ticket to jobs, but often the subject of his lectures to spellbound audiences at MIIS and other venues, the prosecutor said.
As a result, the institutions that paid him "deemed his courses worthless and are asking for full restitution," Wise said.
The prosecutor quoted from students' comments about Hillar's deceptions. One student who took a 2007 class on counterterrorism from Hillar at MIIS said he was a "mesmerizing speaker" who claimed to have participated in questioning Guantanamo detainees — "obviously another lie."
"The damage to some of the kids who adored him and bought every word he said, however, is done," the student said.
Hillar's federal public defender didn't respond to an email message.
August 31, 2011, Fayetteville Observer, Man who impersonated Green Beret sentenced to nearly 2 years for military fraud, by Drew Brooks, Staff writer, 07:09 AM, Wed
A Maryland man who claimed for years to be a Green Beret was sentenced to nearly two years in federal prison Tuesday for lying about his military service to obtain numerous contracts with public and private agencies.
William G. Hillar, 66, of Millersville, Md., was sentenced to one year and nine months in prison followed by three years of supervised release, according to court documents. He pleaded guilty to wire fraud as part of a plea agreement.
Hillar also was ordered to pay $171,415 in restitution to 24 agencies that hired him between 1998 and 2010 for teaching, leading workshops and speaking, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Maryland. He must perform 500 hours of community service at Maryland State Veterans Cemeteries.
For at least 12 years, Hillar claimed to a retired Special Forces colonel with nearly 30 years of experience who had deployed to Asia, the Middle East and Central and South America, according to officials. He also lied about his education.
Hillar served for eight years in the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve, achieving the rank of petty officer third class. He never deployed in any of the locations he claimed.
Cliff Newman, a Green Beret veteran and administrative director of the Fayetteville-based Special Forces Association, said Hillar deserved an active prison sentence for his crimes, calling him a disgrace to those who served.
But, Newman said, the incident is far from isolated.
"Sadly, I get several calls and emails weekly with people wanting to know if so-and-so is legitimate or not," he said. "There's a lot of wannabes out there."
Hillar used his fraudulent background to obtain business for his company, Bill Hillar Training, according to court documents. Hillar taught courses or spoke on a number of topics, including counterterrorism and human trafficking.
Some of the organizations duped by Hillar's claims include the University of Oregon, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Army's Aberdeen Proving Ground, several cities and several firefighter or law enforcement associations, according to court documents.
The FBI and the Department of Defense's Defense Criminal Investigative Service began investigating Hillar in 2010, after his claims were called into question by a number of Special Forces and other military veterans.
An affidavit by Special Agent David Rodski said the Department of Defense's Inspector General confirmed there were no records of Hillar ever serving in any Army unit, despite his claims of having served from 1962 to 1990.
Hillar told the U.S. District Court judge who sentenced him that people had assumed he was in the military, and over the years he adopted the story. He said he knows it was wrong.
Prosecutors pushed for a longer sentence to serve as a deterrent, saying Hillar not only endangered first responders with worthless information, he also displaced qualified trainers.
The U.S. Attorney's Office said Hillar fabricated a story about his daughter's kidnapping and murder by sex traffickers and told others the crime was the basis for the 2008 movie "Taken." His daughter is alive and well, according to authorities.
"William G. Hillar claimed that he had earned praise as a hero, but the truth is that he deserves condemnation as a liar," said U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein in a statement. "He did not serve in the U.S. Army, did not receive military training in counter-terrorism and psychological warfare, and did not lose his daughter to sex traffickers."
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Staff writer Drew Brooks can be reached at brooksd@fayobserver.com or 486-3567.
August 31, 2011, Examiner (Washington, D.C.), Special Forces fraud sentenced to 21 months, by Scott McCabe,
A Maryland man who posed as a Special Forces officer and human trafficking expert was sentenced to 21 months in prison for lying to gain key teaching jobs.
William G. Hillar, of Millersville, was ordered to pay more than $170,000 in restitution to the organizations he duped, including the FBI.
Hillar, 66, claimed to have been a colonel in the U.S. Army Special Forces with a Ph.D. from the University of Oregon. He boasted in his appearances that he was the inspiration for the 2008 action movie Taken, in which a former CIA operatives daughter is kidnapped and enslaved.
Despite his claims, Hillar never served in the U.S. Army, never attained the rank of colonel, and never served in Asia, the Middle East or Central America to gain experience in counterterrorism, explosives, emergency medicine or psychological warfare.
Hillar did serve in the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve.
August 31, 2011, United Press International, Military trainer sentenced for fraud,
Posted at 11:18 AM
BALTIMORE, Aug. 31 (UPI) -- A Maryland man who posed as a retired U.S. Army special forces veteran and terrorism expert has been sentenced to 21 months in federal prison.
Prosecutors said William Hillar, 66, claimed to have served in the U.S. Army and to have lost his daughter to sex traffickers.
He was convicted of wire fraud for conning the FBI and other organizations into giving him contracts to provide teaching and training on topics such as counter-terrorism, drug trafficking and human trafficking. According to his plea agreement, Hillar earned at least $171,415 from 1998 to 2010, the Baltimore U.S. attorney's office said Tuesday in a release.
Hillar was sentenced to 21 months in prison and ordered to pay restitution.
"William G. Hillar claimed that he had earned praise as a hero, but the truth is that he deserves condemnation as a liar," said U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein.
Hillar, who served in the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve, claimed to be a retired U.S. Army Colonel and to have served in special forces in Asia, the Middle East, and Central and South America. He also claimed to have received a Ph.D. from the University of Oregon.
Prosecutors said Hillar admits to fabricating a tale that his daughter had been kidnapped, forced into sex slavery and tortured before being hacked to death with machetes and thrown into the sea. He claimed that his life story was the basis for the 2008 film "Taken."
August 31, 2011, The [UK] Daily Mail, U.S. Special Forces fake who was paid to teach police given 21 months in jail, By DAILY MAIL REPORTER, Last updated at 5:23 AM on 31st August 2011
An special forces faker has been given 21 months in jail and fined $170,000 after years of lying about being a former Army Green beret.
William Hillar's tales about his exploits and a puffed up resume helped him land jobs teaching counterterrorism and drug and human trafficking interdiction, but the scheme has now earned him 21 months in federal prison.
Hillar, 66, of Millersville, pleaded guilty to wire fraud earlier this year and was sentenced Tuesday in U.S. District Court.
Liar: William Hillar was sent to jail after his fraud was discovered
He must pay $170,000 in restitution to the law enforcement and first responder organisations and schools that hired him believing that he had spent 28 years in the U.S. Special Forces, reaching the rank of colonel.
He must also perform 500 community service hours at Maryland's veteran cemeteries.
His scheme started to unravel when a skeptical veteran emailed members of the Special Forces community to see if anyone knew of Hillar, former Green Beret Jeff Hinton testified Tuesday.
Hillar's story was suspicious because there were only a handful of colonels during the period Hillar claimed to have served, he said.
Hinton, whose 'Professional Soldiers' social networking site for Special Forces members has become a clearinghouse for people checking on possible fraudsters, filed Freedom of Information requests.
When he learned that U.S. Special Operations Command had not heard of Hillar, he decided to expose him and warn the organizations that had hired him, he said.
'The training he was giving them would most likely put people at risk,' he said. 'Basically it's worthless.'
While Green Beret impostors are not uncommon, Hinton called Hillar the most prodigious fraud he has come across, noting that this case is the first he has seen result in jail time.
Hillar's trading on a reputation that's 'forged in blood' is reprehensible, dishonourable and disrespectful to those who have served and died, he said.
Imposter: While Green Beret impostors are not uncommon, Hinton called Hillar the most prodigious fraud he has come across, noting that this case is the first he has seen result in jail time
Wise played a recording of Hillar's introduction at the Monterey Institute of International Studies in which Hillar tells the audience he was fortunate to be in the military for 28 years.
'I have been trained as a terrorist,' he said, explaining that an American would consider him a freedom fighter, but to an enemy in the Balkans or elsewhere he would be a terrorist.
He said he was an adviser in Laos during the Vietnam War, spent time in drug interdiction in central America, trained with U.S. Special Forces' British, German and Israeli counterparts and spent time training mujahedeen during the Russian invasion of Afghanistan, becoming an 'adrenaline junkie.'
'I like the rush that you get, or at least that I get,' he said.
But he told the audience that his life came with a price: His morals were compromised and he ended up in counselling.
'The only thing true about this is that he compromised his value system and his morality.
The victims in this thought they were getting 'Black Hawk Down,'" Wise said, referring to a book and movie depicting real-life experiences in the Battle of Mogadishu in Somalia.
'Instead they got 'Rambo' - a fiction.'
September 1, 2011, Chicago Examiner, Man imprisoned for posing as retired Army special forces colonel, by Jim Kouri, Public Safety Examiner,
Criminal Impersonation,
William G. Hillar, 66, of Millersville, Maryland, on Wednesday discovered he will spend the next 21 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for wire fraud in connection with a scheme to lie about his military experience and academic credentials in order to gain employment for teaching and training.
Federal Judge William Quarles upon pronouncing sentence also ordered Hillar to pay restitution of $171,415 and perform 500 community hours at the Maryland State Veterans Cemeteries.
"Colonel in Special Forces -- only in his dreams," said Jeff "J.D." Hinton, a retired Army Special Forces soldier who began investigating Hillar more than a year ago after hearing there were problems with his background.
Hinton immediately began copying images of Hillar's website and other sites in which Hillar's expertise and background were featured. Using personal connections in the Army Special Forces community as well as official channels, Hinton began exposing the holes in Hillar's background on his own website, Professionalsoldiers.com, in October.
There is no record of a William G. Hillar in any Special Forces outfit -- ever -- says Hinton. In fact, a search of military personnel records turned up only one William G. Hillar, a radioman in the Coast Guard from 1962 to 1970, according to Hinton.
He further claimed that this experience and his life story was the basis for the 2008 film “Taken” starring Liam Neeson. The significant press attention that the film generated, in turn, generated free press for Hillar. Hillar admits that he fabricated the story about his daughter, who was alive and well.
"William G. Hillar claimed... he was a hero, but the truth is that he deserves condemnation as a liar,” said U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein. "He did not serve in the U.S. Army, did not receive military training in counter-terrorism and psychological warfare, and did not lose his daughter to sex traffickers."
"The Defense Criminal Investigative Service is committed to supporting America's warfighters and protecting the interest of the American taxpayers," said Robert Craig, Special Agent in Charge for the DCIS Mid-Atlantic Field Office.
"The service members that comprise the Department of Defense's elite special warfare units have undergone years of specialized training and sacrifice to be called Special Forces. To misuse their titles for personal gain is unconscionable and discredits those that served and continue to serve the United States of America," said Craig.
According to Hillar's plea agreement, from around 1998 to 2010, private and public sector organizations paid Hillar at least $171,415 for teaching, leading workshops, giving speeches and conducting training on counter terrorism, drug trafficking, human trafficking and related topics. Hillar conducted these activities through a business named "Bill Hillar Training." According to the government’s sentencing memorandum, most of Hillar’s victims were military, law enforcement or first responder organizations.
In order to secure employment with these organizations, Hillar falsely represented in resumes, biographical statements and on the Internet that: “William G. Hillar is a retired Colonel of the U.S. Army Special Forces. He has served in Asia, the Middle East, and Central and South America, where his diverse training and experiences included tactical counter-terrorism, explosive ordnance, emergency medicine and psychological warfare.” Hillar also claimed that he received a doctorate from the University of Oregon.
Hillar never served in the U.S. Army or the Special Forces and never attained the rank of Colonel. Hillar never served in Asia, the Middle East and Central and South America, and did not acquire in those locales training and experiences in counter-terrorism, explosive ordnance, emergency medicine and psychological warfare.
Hillar did serve in the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve as an enlisted sailor from 1962 to 1970, achieving the rank of Petty Officer Third Class. According to the government’s sentencing memorandum, the organizations that Hillar purported to train provide critical public safety and national security functions, and require ongoing training and education in order to respond to new and changing threats.
Hillar, who was not qualified, displaced qualified teachers and trainers, thereby putting members of the military and law enforcement at risk.
Moreover, the government’s sentencing memorandum states that Hillar fabricated a gruesome tale that his own daughter had been kidnaped, forced into sex slavery, sodomized and tortured before being hacked to death with machetes and thrown into the sea.
He further claimed that this experience and his life story was the basis for the 2008 film "Taken". The significant press attention that film generated, in turn, generated free press for Hillar. Hillar admits that he fabricated the story about his daughter, who was alive and well.
September 9, 2011, The Daily Record, Former student recalls Hillar, by Andy Marso,
Thomas Maettig says Millersville con man Bill Hillar’s U.S. Army Special Forces impersonation scheme wasn’t necessarily as sophisticated as one would expect, given that he fooled at least 24 organizations — including the FBI — over a period of 12 years.
Hillar, whose real military experience consisted of eight years in the Coast Guard Reserves, was sentenced to 21 months in prison Tuesday after pleading guilty to wire fraud for using fake credentials to make $170,000 teaching counter-terrorism and human trafficking courses to colleges, universities and law enforcement agencies including the FBI and DEA.
He got away with it until a real special forces veteran obtained Hillar’s military records and outed him online in October 2010.
But Maettig, who took Hillar’s one-credit counter-terrorism course at the Monterey Institute for International Studies in 2007, said there were warning signs long before that.
"Red flags — yes, many," Maettig wrote in an email from Nigeria, where he now works for a German non-profit. "His course was absolutely devoid of content. He spent hours requesting our expectations and ideas about what we would like to discuss in the following 1.5 days and didn’t get back to it at all. He wasted time. He had us conduct a pointless self-assessment test and spent hours talking about his personal experience. Basically, the class had no content and no structure."
But Maettig said Hillar still attained a "cult-like" following at MIIS because he was a mesmerizing speaker. He said many of the students treated Hillar like a "rock star."
"My own opinion is that we were all not critical enough and that it is quite an embarrassment to fall for such a fraud, particularly if you see yourself as a future leader," Maettig wrote. "Let's hope we have all learned our lesson."
Maettig said in the days following his class with Hillar he and some classmates discussed their doubts about his credibility. But they generally assumed the school had checked his credentials.
In the wake of Hillar’s arrest, MIIS released a statement saying it would start vetting "independent contractors" like Hillar to the same degree it verifies full-time faculty.
October 14, 2011, Military.com, 'Deadliest Warrior' Host Quits Over Green Beret Claim, by Bryant Jordan
The host of the show "Deadliest Warrior" -- a TV series that pits warriors of different eras against each other -- has resigned over lying about his purported Green Beret background.
Robert Daly, a former imagery specialist assigned to an intelligence unit at the Presidio in Monterey, Calif., claimed online in May to "having been in the Special Forces."
In an Oct. 11 mea culpa to ProfessionalSoldiers.com, a website run by a former Special Forces master sergeant, Daly said he served as an intelligence analyst for the 12th Special Forces Group from 1991 to 1994, but was not a Green Beret.
"While I wore the [Green Beret] as part of my uniform, I utterly regret that I have misrepresented my role by creating the impression that I was a 'Green Beret,'" Daly wrote. "I have nothing but the utmost respect for the Green Berets and my fellow servicemen, and I respectfully apologize to the Special Forces community."
In the same posting Daly said he was resigning as studio head of Pipeworks Software, which produces "Deadliest Warrior," and would no longer host the program. Pipeworks did not respond to Military.com's request for comment.
The new host for "Deadliest Warriors" will be Richard "Mack" Machowicz, a former Navy SEAL and current host of "Future Weapons," according to an announcement on Spike TV's website. Spike carries both shows as original programming.
The same web page also continues to refer to Daly as a "former Green Beret."
"Robert Daly had no doubt to the validly of his 'Green Beret' claims, neither did Professionalsoldiers.com," retired Special Forces Master Sgt. Jeff Hinton told Military.com. "There is no debate, no gray area. Being referred to as a 'Green Beret' is analogous to being pregnant. You either are or you are not."
Daly is not the first veteran who served in a Special Forces unit to later promote himself as a Green Beret. In Philadelphia, city council candidate David Oh claimed in campaign literature to having been a Green Beret. Oh ended up making an online apology to the Special Forces community via the website Socnet.com.
Hinton has become the bane of phony Green Berets and Navy SEALs, exposing numerous fakes by getting their publicly available records through Freedom of Information Act requests and using his own network in the Special Forces.
In August Hinton testified before a Maryland judge prior to the sentencing of William G. "Bill" Hillar, who for years passed himself off as a former Special Forces colonel and expert in international sex trafficking.
Hillar taught classes on the subjects at the Monterey Institute of International Studies, and conducted paid lectures to law enforcement groups and agencies. Among his victims was the FBI.
Hillar was sentenced to 21 months in jail for wire fraud after admitting that an email he sent to the University of Oregon to apply for work included fraudulent information about his military background and experience.
"All I do is expose them," Hinton said. "Ninety-nine percent of the time someone else 'finds' them and then asks that poser questions."
Once a skeptic asks "Is this guy for real?" he said, "That's the last words for a poseur."
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