On Monday, May 15, 2023, John Hoyt Fullen, 42, of Prescott was sentenced to 10.5 years in the Arizona Department of Corrections. Fullen had previously been found guilty by a Yavapai County jury of Fraudulent Schemes and Artifices and two counts of Forgery.
Fullen owned and operated American Veteran Movers company from approximately 2017 to August 2020. The company advertised itself as being veteran owned and operated. American Veteran Movers provided moving services locally.
Fullen portrayed himself as a United States Marine Corps veteran to prospective clients. He claimed to have been wounded in combat in Iraq. He possessed a fake Purple Heart certificate that he purchased on-line. Fullen used this fraudulent Purple Heart certificate to obtain Arizona veteran license plates for his personal vehicles. Fullen also had the Marine Corps insignia tattooed on his upper arm.
Fullen had never enlisted in the Marine Corps or any other branch of the military. Many clients specifically chose to hire American Veteran Movers because they themselves were veterans or their immediate family members were active military members or veterans of the armed services. While Fullen did employ veterans as movers, he actively misled clients about his own personal military service. Fullen took advantage of the community’s support and compassion for our veterans by misleading clients about his own military service for financial gain.
Yavapai County Attorney Dennis M. McGrane said, “I’d like to thank the jury for their service and hope this verdict and lengthy prison sentence sends a message to anyone who contemplates falsely stealing the valor of our veterans. This crime not only defrauded Fullen’s victims, who believed their hard-earned dollars were supporting a veteran owned business, but also defrauded the veterans in our community who run small businesses. Fullen, a man with a lengthy felony record, chose to impersonate a veteran to personally profit off the valor of those who served in uniform. There is no place in Yavapai County for this type of conduct. I want to be clear that anyone who chooses to do so will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”