The Joke's on Us

Xavier Alvar

Former Three Valleys Municipal Water District board member Xavier Alvarez seems to find his way into the news with great regularity, the latest instance having to do with the U.S. Supreme Court deciding to hear an appeal of the dismissal of the federal criminal charges against Alvarez by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

That last story made the New York Times, so it wasn't surprising to see it also pop up in the November, 2011, edition of the California State Bar's California Bar Journal.

What was surprising, however, was the rather outlandish photo that accompanied the article by writer Diane Curtis.   The photo displayed a mustachioed Alvarez grinning and in full military dress, complete with rows of medals and ribbons.

November 2011 California Bar Journal
(Click to Enlarge)

The photo first appeared in a Claremont Insider post and was a Photoshop graphic that superimposed an Army Ranger dress uniform over a photo of Alvarez.  If the Bar's writer had emailed us to check on the graphic, we'd gladly have told her it was a joke.

Alas, we didn't receive any inquiry on the photo and just happened to learn of it after a reader did a double-take after reading the Bar Journal article.  We plan on letting Curtis and the Bar Journal in on the joke.  In hindsight, we suppose it could have been worse:

or

Alvarez, Again

Javier Alvarez

If you thought Xavier Alvarez's 15 minutes of fame ended long ago, guess again.  The former Three Valleys Municipal Water District board member was back in the news yesterday.  The Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case of U.S. v. Alvarez.

Alvarez, you'll recall, was convicted under the federal Stolen Valor Act for lying about having been awarded the Medal of Honor.  In August, 2010, that conviction was overturned by the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on the grounds that the conviction violated Alvarez's First Amendment rights.

Then, this past March, the full Ninth Circuit Court passed on rehearing the case.  The prosecution appealed to the Supreme Court, which will now determine whether the sort of lying Alvarez did was a criminal act or a protected form of speech.

The New York Times has an article summarizing the case to date:

The full Ninth Circuit declined to rehear the case. Chief Judge Alex Kozinski concurred, saying that a ruling against Mr. Alvarez would be “terrifying,” as it would allow “the truth police” to censor “the white lies, exaggerations and deceptions that are an integral part of human intercourse.”

In a dissent, Judge Ronald M. Gould said the “lack of any societal utility in tolerating false statements of military valor” justified the law. He rejected the slippery slope argument, saying that “making false statements about receiving military honors is a carefully defined subset of false factual statement not meriting constitutional protection.”

In urging the justices to hear the case, United States v. Alvarez, No. 11-210, Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli Jr. argued that Congress was entitled “to guard against dilution of the reputation and meaning of the medals.”

Whatever the outcome of the federal case, Alvarez was also convicted in 2009 in LA County Superior Court in a felony insurance fraud case for lying about being still married to an ex-wife. Alvarez lied about that to get the woman covered under his Three Valleys health insurance plan after he was elected. He was removed from office after the conviction.

Medal of Honor Documentary Tonight

Speaking of Xavier Alvarez, KCET, LA's PBS station, is airing a documentary tonight on the history of the Medal of Honor. The documentary, "Medal of Honor," runs from 9 to 10:30pm.

The LA Times had a review:

With interviews and vintage images, producer-director Roger Sherman traces the history of the medal from its creation during the Civil War through the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The result renders honors where they are due without glossing over some dark spots in the medal's history: the profligate distribution in the Civil War and the refusal to acknowledge the bravery of black and Asian American troops during World War II -- a miscarriage corrected only decades later.

There are intriguing numbers: 3,473 Medals of Honor have been awarded; 102 recipients are still living. In World War II, 57% of the medals were awarded posthumously; of the five awarded for Iraq and Afghanistan, all were posthumous.

Claremont to Pomona: Take Him, He's Yours - UPDATED

What did Claremont ever do to Pomona
to deserve this?

KABC Channel 7 news had a story today about Xavier Alvarez, the Three Valleys Municipal Water District boardmember who was in a downtown Los Angeles federal court this morning to face a misdemeanor charge of lying about being a Medal of Honor winner. The KABC website's headline describes Alvarez as a "Claremont official." The fact is, Alvarez is elected by Division I--South Pomona.

UPDATE, 11:00 a.m.: As pointed out by Meg at M-M-M-My Pomona here, the L.A. Times didn't get the memo. See the Times headline on this article, "Claremont Water Official Pleads Guilty to Lying about Medal of Honor". Are the tyro-journos at Pomona College's The Student Life writing these headlines?

How Claremont ever got stuck with Alvarez, who actually represents Pomona on the Three Valleys board, is beyond us. Upland must have worked something out with KABC and Pomona after getting stuck with the 1990 "Upland" earthquake, a 5.4 magnitude temblor that had its epicenter near Mt. Baldy Rd. and Mills Ave. in northeast Claremont.

Those Uplanders are a sneaky bunch, and, boy, can they hold a grudge!

It's hard to watch Alvarez and not think, "How did those folks in Pomona ever fall for this guy's act?" Of course, when you have the mayor of Pomona endorsing the guy, that significantly enhances your chances.

We're still waiting for Pomona Mayor Norma Torres to step up and put some pressure on Alvarez to resign, but Torres seems to be too busy with her other activities to care much about the goings on in the Pomona area, as John Clifford at the FC Blog tells us.

Alvarez could at least thank Norma for her original support and her relative silence on Alvarez's legal troubles by going out on the stump for Mayor Torres as she runs for the State Assembly's 61st District seat.

In the meantime, you and I are stuck with our friend Xavier, though the KABC piece does indicate that if convicted Alvarez could face up to year of jail time, which would cause him to miss sufficient meetings to be removed from the Three Valleys board.

UPDATE, 6:00AM: Will Bigham in the Daily Bulletin reports that Alvarez pleaded guilty to the charge yesterday. Bigham's article says that the plea agreement with the assistant U.S. Attorney gives Alvarez probation and no jail time, though the judge could impose a harsher sentence:

The maximum sentence allowed is one year in prison, $100,000 in fines and one year probation, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig H. Missakian, the prosecuting attorney.

Alvarez originally pleaded not guilty to the medal charge and attempted to have the case dismissed by claiming the Stolen Valor Act was unconstitutional because it criminalizes free speech.

His motion to dismiss the case failed, and last week he agreed to change his plea to guilty.

The plea agreement allows Alvarez to appeal his case on constitutional grounds. Missakian has said he expects Alvarez to appeal.

Water Board Maintains Censure for Alvarez

The Three Valleys Municipal Water District voted yesterday to keep board member Xavier Alvarez's censure in place, according to an article by Will Bigham in the Daily Bulletin.

The censure was imposed last year by the water board because Alvarez had falsely claimed he was still married to his ex-wife, which allowed the woman to receive about $4,800 in medical benefits through Three Valleys.

The Bigham piece indicated that Alvarez argued that he was compelled because of his religion to provide for his ex-wife:

At Friday morning's board meeting, Alvarez said he was obligated for religious reasons to care for his former spouse.

"What I did was not intentional," Alvarez said. "I did it because of my religion. I'm still married (according) to the Catholic Church, and we are told to still provide.

"You can laugh at it," he added. "It's all right. It shows that you have no respect for religion, but that's your prerogative."

Alvarez also said the district was not harmed by his actions because the agency's insurer reimbursed it for the $4,800 spent.

So, Alvarez has another rationale for lying: it's a religious right. You may recall that Alvarez's defense for the federal criminal charges against him for lying about being a Medal of Honor recipient was that he had a First Amendment right to lie. You can hear audio of Alvarez's religion defense here.

The court didn't buy Alvarez's free speech argument any more than the Three Valleys board accepted Alvarez's religion arguments. Alvarez's trial is set for May 6th in the Federal Court in Los Angeles.

Bigham also reported that "A group of about a dozen veterans attended the meeting," with three of them addressing the board to urge them not to rescind the censure. The Bulletin's page for Bigham's article also includes audio of ABC News reporter Brian Rooney trying to interview Alvarez. Rooney, who reports for ABC's "World News Tonight," gives Alvarez a pretty good grilling. (No ABC video for this yet.)

Alvarez's claim that the district suffered no loss from his lie about the $4,800 spent on his ex-wife's medical benefits should not bar the Los Angeles District Attorney's office from pursuing felony charges against Alvarez. Just because the district was reimbursed the money from their health insurer, does not mean there was no attempt at theft or fraud by Alvarez.

After all, Claremont McKenna College visiting psychology professor Kerri Dunn was convicted of felony attempted insurance fraud after falsely claiming that her car had been vandalized in a hate crime in March, 2004. It turned out that the incident was a hoax staged by Dunn, who also called her auto insurance company to see if there was coverage for the damage to the car.

Dunn went no farther with her claim. All she did was make a phone inquiry. She received no money from the insurer, yet she was charged and convicted of the attempted insurance fraud and a misdemeanor charge of filing a false police report. Dunn was sentenced to one year in prison and had to pay a $20,000 fine.

Surely if Dunn's mere inquiry constitutes an attempted fraudulent claim, then Alvarez's actual false health insurance application for his ex-wife should constitute fraud and/or theft. What are the Los Angeles District Attorney and the California Department of Insurance doing about this besides sitting on their thumbs?

These Case are All Inapposite...*

Will the Real Xavier Alvarez Please Stand Up?

A Daily Bulletin article yesterday by Will Bigham brought us the news that Xavier "Rambo" Alvarez was dealt a setback yesterday in federal District Court. You may recall that Alvarez has gone around for years claiming that he won the Congressional Medal of Honor. We have covered this saga many times: first here, and most recently here.

The District Court Judge, R. Gary Klausner, threw out the motion to dismiss filed by Xavier's public defender, Briana Fuller. She argued that his speech was political speech and was protected by the First Amendment. The judge wasn't buying it.

You've got to admire the majesty, certitude, and finality of the legal language concluding the decision:

As Defendant’s statement does not merit the protection of the First Amendment, the statute under which Defendant is being prosecuted, 18 U.S.C. § 704, cannot be deemed unconstitutional as applied in this case. Furthermore, a legislative act is facially unconstitutional only when no set of circumstances exist under which the act would be valid. United States v. Salerno, 481 U.S. 739, 745 (1987). In finding that the application of 18 U.S.C. § 704 is not unconstitutional as applied here, this Court therefore concludes that the Act is not unconstitutional on its face.

In light of the forgoing, the Court DENIES Defendant's Motion to Dismiss.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

See here for the Bulletin's copy of the entire decision.

The statement at issue by Alvarez, the first one he was cited for (there is now another) was, “I’m a retired Marine of 25 years. I retired in the year 2001. Back in 1987, I was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. I got wounded many times by the same guy. I’m still around.”

Apparently so. Meg, over at M-M-M-My Pomona, yesterday reported a "Xavier Sighting" at Los Jarritos II in Pomona.

*Our title comes from a phrase in the decision of the Court, "These cases are all inapposite..." We had to look it up too. It means the attorney cited cases that don't apply.