March 29, 2011
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.
English Ales Brewhouse
Marina
Comments
ctkicker17 says...
Wow. What an interesting and sad story. Kudos to the writer for his summary of this long affair. I'd like to see the next story reference the fact that the FBI paid Hillar starting in 2000 according to the plea bargain posted on Scribd. This seems like an interesting aspect of the story. He dooped the FBI and Army before teaching in Oregon and Monterey.
Posted 29 March 2011, 9:44 p.m. Suggest removal
bear0352 says...
There are several stories already printed with the facts of his deception of the Government. Also, it's important to note that he never duped the Army Special Forces Soldiers. Many SF veterans had a hand in uncovering this scumbag because they smelled the BS as soon as they heard of this clown.
Kinda easy to fool everyone if you're claiming membership in an organization which, by necessity, is shrouded in secrecy. Since we all love hero's and we don't ever meet any real live "operators" to tell us hero stories let me give this general guideline.....
If you're hero is eagerly spouting his stories about his "rough time in the bush" as a secret Soldier, hard chargin' Devildog, black ops Sniper, Super SEAL, Covert Commando, Freedom Fighter, or American Hero worthy of praise but he's "to modest"....He was most likely none of the above.
Posted 30 March 2011, 5:50 a.m. Suggest removal
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