Fraud: A false representation of a matter of fact—whether by words or by conduct, by false or misleading allegations, or by concealment of what should have been disclosed—that deceives and is intended to deceive another so that the individual will act upon it to her or his legal injury.

Fraudulent Performance Evaluations

Two fraudulent performance evaluations (PDF file) supposedly written by Company Officer Lt. Umsted shortly after my summary dismissal illustrate the extent of fraud. This is in contrast to the press releases from my hometown newspaper (copy below) approved by my Company Officer and the Commandant just months before the fraudulent performance evaluation and my track record as an outstanding athlete and coach as documented in the year books.The fraudulent docs were submitted to SecNav at the time of my summary dismissal to justify my dismissal since I was a fleet appointee appointed to the Academy by SecNav.

Two objectives of the fraudulent documents were to discourage an appeal (often referred to as blackmail) and to provide cover for any judicial body that chose to ignore facts and law. All other documents of significance, I was repeatedly told, were forwarded to the National Personnel Records Center after 3 years as required by law. When I did an FOIA for my personnel files, I was notified that my personnel file had been checked out and I was later to learn that it had been “sanitized” – that is, all relevant documents of a positive nature required by law to be retained had been destroyed. (See Resignation tab)

I received outstanding recommendations from my high school teachers and from my instructors at the Naval Academy Prep School. In addition, performance evaluations were prepared by classmates, upper classmen and the Company Officer ranking each midshipman within a company on a regular basis. I consistently ranked at the top in my company throughout my time as a midshipman at the Academy as documented in the year books and the press release below. I was also elected as class president and chairman of the honor committee my second class (junior) year. It is essentially impossible to rank at the top of your class as a midshipman while simultaneously receiving the fraudulent performance evaluations that were recovered from my personnel file.

Ken LeBrun

Umsted’s performance evaluations took a 180 degree turn when my new Navy Brat roommate Dyer decided he could not wait 12 hours for Christmas leave to get laid so he went AWOL and several of his Navy Brat friends agreed to cover for him. I question whether or not Lt Umsted actually wrote those documents, and I question the sanity of a classmate going AWOL just 12 hours before the start of a 2-week Christmas leave and also expecting a former honor committee chairman to falsify a muster for him.

At the time of my appeal, the SecNav checked out my personnel file for the apparent purpose of removing any remaining records of a positive nature. The normal procedure is to retain the file for security purposes and to send out copies of the file. My file removal was just one act of many that illustrate the very special treatment that I received in the course of my summary dismissal in flagrant violation of the Constitution and laws of the United States - totally ignored by the courts.

In contrast to the "wheeler dealer" reference, I had scored a 765 on my math SATs with a C average in high school. My skills were technical and analytical - much closer to a geek/analyst than a "wheeler dealer".  If I had been a wheeler/dealer and had been involved in covering for my new roommates AWOL I could have easily falsified the muster report. But the importance of a muster is that every battle station must be manned in time of war.  Any single AWOL could result in a loss of the ship and crew.

In Summary: my Company officer, Umsted, forgot to mention that I was elected class president and honor committee chairman my second class year, that he had appointed me to fall set company commander based on his and classmate peer rankings, that I had one of the best intramural and varsity boxing records in the history of the Academy, that I had coached several undefeated battalion boxing teams, that I shot expert in rifle and pistol, etc. As his midshipman company commander, he had met one of two young ladies that I was pinned to while at the Academy in contrast to his “no girl” comment. I had my fair share of faults, but these documents were a deliberate and flagrant misrepresentation of my record at USNA.