Man arrested for impersonating Wounded Warrior employee, scamming people for money

A man has been arrested for using the Wounded Warrior Project to put money into his own pocket.

According to a Charlotte County police report, 54-year-old Joseph Earl Steward would set up at Port Charlotte Walmart stores and gas stations dressed in a Wounded Warrior shirt and ask people for donations.

The Wounded Warrior Project is a non-profit organization that helps veterans.

The report said he even hired homeless people to help him scam, paying them to impersonate Wounded Warrior employees.

They’d ask for money outside of stores and gas stations, then keep the cash. That’s charity fraud, according to the sheriff’s office.

Steward did not work for Wounded Warriors. He just told people he did. Not a single penny went to the project.

Steward was charged with fraud and impersonation. He was arrested on Thursday but bonded out the same day.

Purple Heart veteran Dan Bernard — Chaplin for the military order of the Purple Heart, Chapter 696 — feels that Steward’s actions were disrespectful.

Bernard called Southwest Florida his new home after his service to the country. He felt that it was safe space for all veterans.

“The community I find in Southwest Florida, a very, very veteran-friendly, and I’m happy to be here. I wouldn’t trade it for the world,” Bernard said.

Though, after the Charlotte County Sherriff’s Office arrested Steward, Bernard and fellow Vietnam veteran Eric Anderson were concerned he was disrespecting them as a military imposter.

“It’s stolen valor,” Anderson said. “He shouldn’t have misrepresented himself. It kind of puts a disgrace on people who have served.”

In July 2021, three people who were recruited by Steward came forward to the sheriff’s office, telling them about how Steward addressed himself as “lieutenant,” and was said to work for the Wounded Warrior Project.

After working with him, they came to realize it was possibly charity fraud.

Since then, a warrant was issued the following year on May 12 to catch Steward, but Steward and his employees were hitting Walmart stores and Shell gas stations in Port Charlotte, North Port, Englewood and Lee County.

This isn’t the first time Steward has been arrested for charity fraud under the Wounded Warrior project. Police in Ohio also arrested him on similar charges.