A Chinese man is in custody in Los Angeles after having allegedly duped unwitting Chinese immigrants into signing up to a fake US army unit
Authorities have charged Yupeng Deng with theft by false pretences, manufacturing deceptive government documents and counterfeit of an official government seal.
Deng issued his new model army with us combat fatigues, flags and fake military IDs and led parades through his local neighbourhood in LA.
It emerged the 51-year-old charged more than 100 fellow Chinese nationals $300 (£184) to join his imaginary army unit in the hope of them obtaining US citizenship.
Deng reportedly had a mocked up US recruitment office complete with US army insignia to lure in victims and called his unit the 'Military Special Forces Reserve Unit' (MSFR).
Deng was known to his loyal troops as the 'supreme commander'.
His alleged scam was uncovered after members of his MSFR unit were stopped by local police who spotted their fake IDs.
District attorney Michael Yglecias said: "They seemed to be wearing military fatigues and produced what they believed was legitimate military ID documents".
Investigators later learned that Deng's troops were being told that their IDs could be used to avoid getting tickets and to receive some benefits and discounts.
Deng court appearance fake us army unit
Deng charged a joining fee and annual membership for his elite unit
Deng is being held on bail and faces up to eight years in prison if convicted.
it must have cost him a lot of money to keep up the charade aswell lets not forget he had a fake recruitment office decked out like a proper military one! i doubt he made much money from it if any
