Action News Investigates: Stolen Valor

"Grenada was the first time,” Samford said on his show.  “Iran, when our planes crashed, first time there," he said.

The trouble is, Samford is not a Navy Seal and never was.

Action News has the documents to prove it. We filed Freedom of Information Act requests with the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, MO. They sent us documents that prove Samford did enter the Navy Reserves in 1978.

But that's where the truth about Samford's military career ends. Inside those same papers, we found an interesting piece of information. The papers say Samford's naval career started on November 22, 1978 and ended on December 11, 1978.

He was in the Navy for just 19 days.

We put in calls to Samford. They went unanswered. Then, we dropped by his house. He refused to answer our questions, sending his wife outside. "He's not doing an interview at this time," said his wife. "People out there want to smear his name," said his wife.

Action News responded that we wanted to give him a chance to make it right and prove he was in the Navy.

When we couldn't get Samford to talk with us at his home, we tried calling in to his radio show. "I hope you're not here to attack me," Samford said to an Action News producer. "I'm not here to attack you. I want to ask about your military service," said the producer.

Action News Catherine Varnum called into the show and asked the same question. Both times, he hung up, calling us a few choice names.

Action News did find clips from past radio shows where Samford has talked about the attacks on his service record. "They don't now what I went through and what I did," said Samford on his show. "They want to attack me for my service to my country, which they cannot even access files for what I done for my country," said Samford.

The number one question they have is why would Samford lie? It's a question he won't answer.

"We're out there fighting for our country and you're trying to attack me personally. Get a friggin' life," said Samford during his radio show.

The Stolen Valor Act of 2005 made it a crime to lie about military service and awards but was recently overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court on the grounds that it infringed free speech. Earlier this year, the Supreme Court ruled it was ok for people to claim they earned combat medals, regardless if it's true. The law would make it a federal crime to lie about receiving military medals. The majority opinion ruled that the broadly written law violated the First Amendment right to free speech.

Now that the Supreme Court has made its ruling, a new bill is on the table in Congress. The Stolen Valor Act of 2012 would make it a crime to profit from false military claims.  There is also an effort to create an online database where you can verify someone's claims.

We also put calls into a representative for Newt Gingrich for comment, but our calls were not returned.