Prescott – An accusation of sexual assault against a registered sex offender, John Hoyt Fullen, has led to the discovery that he is one of the worst kind of fraudsters as well.
According to Prescott Police, at the end of April 2020, officers responded to a report of sexual assault by a woman who alleged she was assaulted at Fullen’s Prescott residence.
After investigators learned that the 39-year-old Fullen was also a Level 3 Registered Sex Offender, he was booked into the Yavapai County Jail on one count of Sexual Assault and has been held on a $250,000 bond since that time.
During the course of the investigation of the sexual assault complaint, detectives discovered that Fullen was the owner and operator of American Veteran Movers, a moving company based out of his Prescott residence. Detectives learned that Fullen represented the American Veteran Movers company as being owned and operated by an all veteran staff.
Prescott Police then turned to the Veteran’s Affairs Director and the Office of the Inspector General for assistance. Detectives learned that Fullen was not a veteran and had never served in the United States military.
Detectives also found that Fullen had obtained veteran status on his Arizona driver’s license and registered two vehicles in his name through the Arizona Department of Motor Vehicles and obtained Purple Heart license plates for them using forged documents.
A former customer that had hired American Veteran Movers was told by Fullen that he was a combat veteran having served in the Marine Corps and was injured in Iraq and received a Purple Heart Medal. This customer stated that he hired Fullen and his company solely because it was presented as a veteran-owned company that only employed veterans.
Detectives discovered that several documents that Fullen presented to the MVD are believed to be forged, including a fake Purple Heart medal certificate and a fake American Legion membership certificate.
Fullen has now been charged with multiple counts of Forgery and one count of Fraud Schemes. Detectives are working with the Office of the Inspector General on an additional Federal Stolen Valor case involving Fullen.
Detective John Hanna is asking anyone who has hired American Veteran Movers and feel that they were given false information to gain their business to contact him at (928)777-1961.