Anchorage health department director resigns amid investigation into fabricated resume

https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/anchorage/2022/08/08/anchorage-health-department-director-resigns-amid-investigation-into-fabricated-resume/

A detailed article and I don't want to quote it all. Here are some highlights, all bolded emphasis mine:

The State Defense Force is a state-sanctioned non-military group that often maintains the National Guard armory when the NG is deployed, among other activities like disbursing supplies to free up NG members to conduct their unique military and LE missions during natural disasters.

The article goes on to explain that, and also that he left the Washington National Guard and Army Reserves as a PFC.

In a different resume he doesn't even say "Alaska Guard" but straight up AKNG and falsely claims deployments: https://www.adn.com/resizer/URKHJ7UUCPswxwBT5e2_lTPoutc=/1440x0/filters:format(jpg):quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/adn/J5LJSNUVWJHHPNQ6GU5LGRYMQ4.jpg

I think he is headed for a Stolen Valor conviction.

Wild.

 

The State Defense Force is defined in some state statutes as "military" and is usually under the same State entity as the National Guard (Adjutant General's Office). Unlike the National Guard they cannot be federalized and belong to the Governor. Because they are volunteers (not paid until activated), the quality of their training varies. They do disaster relief and so on. Not sure which states have them (AK, Maryland). Kind of like Civil Air Patrol officers but without all of the training CAP has (which is quite well developed and structured thanks to the Air Force).

However, the blatant and crazy falsification of degrees (even apparently picking a defunct school to claim an MBA from) and claiming to be a military surgeon with multiple combat deployments. That is bizarre. Hope they prosecute the guy.

 

I hope so, too. And if he is found guilty (as I think he would be) perhaps the judge could consider confining him in a State Mental Institution. If he can't be cured, at least he can be kept from endangering others.

Freedom is best, but sometimes I shake my head at the number of books and internet sites where one can freely learn how to concoct the kind of identity or CV falsehoods that we're dealing with here - defunct schools etc. Basically courses in how to falsify degrees, employment, identification, professional status etc etc.

 

Boom! Boom! Double Time Bomb. Very hard to have any sympathy for this guy.

 

There is probably more to this story than anyone realizes. I was in a State Defense Force (not Alaska) and saw a lot of these phonies. The one thing they would always do to get ahead was to find the ones with a lot of real degrees and credentials and lie about them. The phonies would tell people, that the ones with real degrees and credentials, were the ones who were phonies. These phonies know those with real degrees and credentials can expose them, so they often strike first. These phonies step on and destroy a lot of people to keep there places in the State Defense Forces. Some times they even get with other phonies to help each other advance. How many bodies did he leave behind in his rise to power?

 

https://alaskapublic.org/2024/03/22/former-head-of-anchorage-health-department-settles-fraud-suit-with-state-for-30000/

Because of Gerace's fraud, he was appointed to a much higher rank in the AKSDF. He agreed to pay back $30,000 in over-pay for that. (SDF members are compensated in many states, often at a flat daily rank based on rank, when they are activated.)