News-Info-Alerts

To: ALL

From: Andi Wolos & Bob Necci

(POW-MIA InterNetwork)

Re: Wannabe POW Gets Slammed By Court

Date: April 21, 2001

"Drug dealer to get new sentence

He misled court with POW tale, judge says

By LISA SINK of the Journal Sentinel staff

Last Updated: April 19, 2001

Waukesha - Saying a drug dealer committed a "fraud on the court," a judge Wednesday decided to resentence a Waukesha man whom he earlier had given a break because of the man's false claim that he had been a POW during the Vietnam War.

The decision brought quick praise from veterans groups that had disputed the claims of Ary Jones, 54, and asked Circuit Judge Patrick Haughney to review his sentence.

"Wonderful! He brought this on himself. There's no one else to blame. He deserves everything the judge throws at him," said Mary Schantag, whose Missouri organization, POW Network, uncovered Jones' fraud.

Jones' son, Ary Jones Jr., had a different view.

Saying "everyone lies," he maintained that his father shouldn't be punished further and that the judge was bowing to political pressure from prisoner of war groups.

"He's just trying to watch his job - he has to be re-elected," the son said. "I'm pretty sure they've had tons of lies before" in court.

Accountability sought Schantag countered: "Lies have consequences. Especially when they affect so many other people. It's an insult when you take somebody's else's pain and suffering and you didn't earn it." Her husband was wounded in combat in Vietnam.



Larry Greer, a retired Air Force colonel who is a spokesman for the Pentagon's Defense POW/MIA Office, said of Wednesday's developments: "Good for the judge. Unfortunately, we have people out there who claim all sorts of things."

Greer said military records show there were 691 POWs in Vietnam and that groups like the POW Network "watch this kind of thing like a hawk."

"It very much angers those who were POWs - who endured torture . . . or whose families were tortured," he said. "To say it's disappointing is an understatement."

Greer said false claims involving military service in Vietnam are rampant. He said he receives three or four false POW claims a month.

During Wednesday's hearing, Haughney asked Jones: "Were you a prisoner of war in Vietnam?"

"No," Jones said.

Leniency shown Haughney said that when he sentenced Jones two weeks ago, he showed some leniency, taking into account his reputed POW status. But days later, POW monitoring groups who read about Jones' sentencing cried foul, writing the judge and media that Jones had lied.



Jones' attorney, Daniel Grable, had told Haughney that guards at a POW camp broke Jones' jaw, urinated on his food and terrorized him and other soldiers before they escaped. Grable said Jones had told him he served three months and 18 days in the service - as an Army Ranger - and was reluctant to talk about his service. Jones had told a similar story to the state Department of Corrections, which included his claims in a presentence report.

When he spoke during his sentencing hearing, Jones didn't say anything about his military service.

On Wednesday, he told Haughney: "I didn't lie to this court. I object to (a new sentencing) because I'm in here, I've already been sentenced for what I've done . . . I shouldn't be here."

Haughney said he had taken the POW information to heart in sentencing Jones.

"I'm satisfied . . . that it was a fraud on the court," Haughney said.

The judge said it was "immaterial" whether the details were recited by Jones or his attorney.

"It was a very substantial factor in the court's sentence," Haughney said. "The sentence would have been different."

Jones, of Waukesha, was convicted of delivering cocaine and heroin on several occasions last fall to an undercover Waukesha police officer.

The prosecutor sought a 10-year prison term, while the defense urged probation and treatment. Haughney sentenced Jones to four years in prison, with three years of extended supervision.

Jones could have been sentenced to more than 50 years in prison.

On Wednesday, Assistant District Attorney William Roach told he Haughney that he was not asking for a new sentence.

And Grable objected to a new sentence. He said he wanted to be able to tell the judge the context of what Jones had told him but noted Jones would not waive his attorney-client privilege. Under the privilege, lawyers cannot disclose private communications with their clients.

"I can't say what I'd like to say," Grable said.

He asked to withdraw as Jones' lawyer and have a new one appointed by the state public defender's office because Jones is indigent. Haughney granted the request and scheduled a new sentencing for April 30.

Jones smiled at his wife and blew her a kiss as bailiffs escorted him out of court. His wife declined to talk to reporters.

Roach said after the hearing that he had not given the military service much weight in recommending a 10-year prison term. Jones had previous drug and other convictions, but he also had a good family life, a wife of 31 years and two daughters who were valedictorians.

Nonetheless, Roach didn't have a problem with Haughney holding Jones accountable for fabricating a story about escaping from a POW camp.

"The message to be learned is, 'Don't compound your problems by lying to the court,' " Roach said."