Macbeth's tragic story continues ...

via MilBlogs

A complaint unsealed Friday in U.S. District Court in Seattle charged 23-year-old Jesse Adam Macbeth with one count of using or possessing a forged or altered military discharge certificate, and one count of making false statements in seeking benefits from the Veterans Administration.

Macbeth garnered much attention on blogs and in some alternative media after he began claiming in 2005 to have been awarded a Purple Heart for his service, which he said included slaughtering innocent civilians in a Fallujah mosque.

Well, sort of ... he first garnered attention in 2003 from the Eastern Arizona Courier.

Soldier struggles with memories of Iraqi war
By Pam Crandall, staff writer
Eastern Arizona Courier
11-03-2003
http://www.eacourier.com/articles/2003/11/03/news/news02.txt

The war in Iraq was officially called to an end a few months ago, but according to Private First Class Jesse MacBeth, 19, of Pima, the turmoil has just begun.

MacBeth, a ranger in the U.S. Army, returned to the states two-and-a-half months ago after sustaining an injury in his back. He spent 14 months serving in the Middle East -- first in Afghanistan and then in Baghdad. Formerly from Tucson, MacBeth now resides in Pima, where he has family, friends and a fiancé. He said that small-town life is the perfect remedy for the various traumas that he suffered during his service in the Middle East.

"Loud noises startle me," he said. "Its nice and quiet here. I live in a trailer out in the middle of nowhere." According to MacBeth, his reaction to loud noise stems from the horrible experiences that he had while in Iraq. After returning to Ft. Benning in Georgia, he was officially diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and received both medication and counseling to help him adjust to a non-combative environment. ...

Another way to put it is bloggers exposed the truth about Jesse in a matter of days after he made the "news" two years before.