Accused of Using Bogus ID to Travel : Tour of Duty Over for Suspect Who Impersonated Marine

John Henry Taylor got kicked out of the Navy, but FBI agents say he saw the world anyway.

The 23-year-old civilian posed as a Marine to travel around the world free of charge on military flights--getting free meals, housing and dental care along the way, according to documents filed in San Diego federal court.

John Henry Taylor, of Youngstown, Ohio, is being held on charges of using false military identification cards as investigators try to retrace his movements around the globe over the last two years.

Taylor’s travels ended last Thursday morning when he tried to cash a $200 check using a stolen military ID card at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot here, according to an FBI affidavit. A teller determined that there were insufficient funds in the account it was drawn upon and, believing Taylor was a Marine, notified military police, the affidavit says.

FBI agents were called in when military police figured out that Taylor was not a Marine, according to Jim Bolenbach, an FBI spokesman.

Taylor served time in prison in 1986 on similar charges involving false identification, but disappeared after his release and never reported to his parole officer, Bolenbach said.

He also is wanted in Orange County on a narcotics charge and several traffic charges, according to Lt. Dick Olson of the Orange County Sheriff’s police.

A Navy recruit in 1984, Taylor was discharged after three months when Navy officials discovered he had enlisted under a false name, Bolenbach said.

After his arrest last week, Taylor admitted to FBI agents that over the last two years he has used four false ID cards to travel around the world on military transport flights, court records say.

In the five weeks before his arrest, Taylor told the agents, he made at least eight overseas trips on flights operated by the Air Force’s Military Airlift Command, the affidavit says.

He said he made the trips using an ID card belonging to Jerry A. Marshall, an active duty Marine. Taylor, who is black and 5-foot-8, said he glued his picture over that of Marshall, who is blond-haired, blue-eyed and 5-foot-11.

He was trying to cash a check with Marshall’s ID card when he got caught, the records say.

When Naval Investigative Service agents contacted Marshall’s superiors to say they had him in custody, they were told it was impossible because Marshall was at his post, Bolenbach said.

ID Card Stolen

Marshall told the investigators that his ID card had been stolen while he was at the Navy Hospital in Balboa Park, Bolenbach said.

Taylor obtained Marshall’s ID card last Dec. 13, before setting off for a number of trips, according to the affidavit. He told FBI agents that he used the card to obtain “billeting, meals and dental care from the United States Armed Forces,” the affidavit says.

FBI agents recovered a number of other ID cards they believe were used by Taylor.