ROCK SPRINGS – A Western Wyoming Community College student with a history of scamming veterans is set to found a Veteran’s Group at the school.

Sara Eslick pleaded no contest to obtaining property by false pretense after receiving money from American Legion Archie Hay Post 24 in Rock Springs. According to charging documents Eslick admitted to approaching the local chapter of the American Legion in February seeking to setup a spaghetti dinner to benefit a fallen soldier who it was later revealed did not exist.

American Legion organizers setup the dinner and gave Eslick a $250 check and asked Eslick to provide paperwork confirming the service of the fallen soldier who Eslick identified as Ethan Jebediah Cole. When Eslick failed to provide the paperwork The American Legion cancelled the benefit dinner. 1st Vice Commander Ronald East Jr. became suspicious of Eslick’s story and contacted the Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Office.

East said his suspicions were raised by Eslick’s claim that Cole had medical and burial expenses that in East’s experience would have been paid for by the Department of Veteran’s Affairs. Eslick had also been put in touch with Denise Boudreault the Director of the Veteran’s Services Office in Rock Springs.

Corporal Fischer of the Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Office contacted Boudreault  who informed him that Eslick had been in contact with her on several occasion. Bourdeault said that Eslick had told her that Cole was a Sgt. in the US Army serving in Afghanistan and had been injured in battle losing his left arm and right leg. Boudreault said that Eslick told her that Cole had died on the operating table in Utah.

Boudreault said that she was unable to locate any record of Cole being injured or killed in military databases. Boudreault asked Eslick about the lack of information on Cole, she reported that Eslick responded by saying that people “Fall through the cracks”.

On February 27 Corporal Fischer interviewed Eslick about the situation. Fischer said that Eslick told him that she did not want any trouble and would give back the money. During further questioning Eslick elaborated on her relationship with Cole and gave a detailed timeline of Coles reported injuries, death and the supposed burial and medical expenses.

Fischer then explained to Eslick that Cole was found not to exist with the given name and birth date she provided and that Fischer had contacted the University of Utah Hospital where Eslick reported Cole had died and no record existed there either.

Eslick then said she had been lied to and that she was not trying to hurt anyone or steal money. Eslick then admitted making up the name, from a combination of a character in a book and an Amish Mafia TV show. She said she did it so she could help veterans, Eslick said that she believed that people would relate to individual soldiers more easily then a group.

Eslick was charged with misdemeanor obtaining property by false pretense, she pleaded no contest and was sentenced to a suspended six month jail sentence and was ordered to pay a $750 fine with all but $250 suspended. She was also ordered to pay restitution to Western Wyoming Community College in the amount of $200 and placed on six months of unsupervised probation.

No information on the charging documents provided an explanation for the restitution payment to WWCC.

In the Sept. 11 edition of the Rocket-Miner it was reported that Eslick founded and is president of the WWCC Veteran’s Group which is scheduled to conduct its first meeting on Sept 18.  It was also reported that Eslick’s husband a U.S. Air Force Veteran was deceased. Records show that her ex husband is alive and well in Utah.

An inquiry to WWCC about the current status of the Student Veteran’s Group revealed that due to student privacy concerns nothing could be revealed about individual students, WWCC Coordinator for Marketing and Public Information Christopher Sheid said that, “Western allows and supports student clubs of all types on this campus and they are always led by interested students. Each club also has an assigned faculty and staff representative. As you are aware, we certainly cannot share information about any student due to privacy laws. The club in question has not yet officially met this year and officers have not been elected. The article was done independently between the student and the Rocket.”