Wife of Houston-area Navy veteran held in Thailand prison begs politicians for help

[Globe Trotter]

3 hours ago, bushdoctor said:

If you put your life on the line to defend your country, your country should defend you if your innocent. 

 

The wife is asking for help looking into the situation, as I’m sure any good wife in her position might do. 

 

So so much negativity when anything remotely political is mentioned, it’s like a mental illness. 

The US armed forces haven't defended it's nation since WW2, attack is not defence 

[Orac]

Bit more here about it from last year - if he was naive enough to think he was doing nothing wrong he needs locking up for his own safety if nothing else.

 

https://www.nationthailand.com/national/30352744

 

[HLover]

4 minutes ago, Globe Trotter said:

The US armed forces haven't defended it's nation since WW2, attack is not defence 

That is going to get this thread cooking! ????????????????

[SanookTeufel]

4 hours ago, Skallywag said:

From the article linked, 

“They (prosecutors) don’t have a picture (implicating Keller). They don’t have a video, they don’t have a money trail, they don’t have any documents that he signed, they don’t have anything. None of that exists," Tanya Keller said.

Missionaries who have been able to visit Derrick Keller report he’s lost 70 pounds, is disheartened and worried.

 

This guy was part of a TV thread several months ago, the guy signed up with an agency in China to be an American "model" or an American "spokesperson" for some Chinese company as I recall. 

He was deeply involved and was the CEO or CFO or something... He was one of the TOP guys, he was in videos which pretended to be CNN and were staffed with (not very good) actors/actresses to act as news anchors... They literally made fake news and infringed on copyright logos and such to make it look legit. I read up on the company and watched the videos and he is 100% guilty! The wife trying to say he isn't means she's either stupid or complicit. He scammed Thai people (which is why he got caught) and also scammed people all over the world.

There's even websites that reported on the scam before he was brought to justice. 

Edited August 17, 2019 by SanookTeufel

[Orac]

He was deeply involved and was the CEO or CFO or something... He was one of the TOP guys, he was in videos which pretended to be CNN and were staffed with (not very good) actors/actresses to act as news anchors... They literally made fake news and infringed on copyright logos and such to make it look legit. I read up on the company and watched the videos and he is 100% guilty! The wife trying to say he isn't means she's either stupid or complicit. He scammed Thai people (which is why he got caught) and also scammed people all over the world.
There's even websites that reported on the scam before he was brought to justice. 

Website is here with the video

https://behindmlm.com/companies/eagle-gates-group-ceo-eddy-mcclough-arrested-claims-hes-an-actor/



Sent from my iPad using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[MRToMRT]

4 hours ago, bushdoctor said:

If you put your life on the line to defend your country, your country should defend you if your innocent. 

 

The wife is asking for help looking into the situation, as I’m sure any good wife in her position might do. 

 

So so much negativity when anything remotely political is mentioned, it’s like a mental illness. 

I am a veteran (not in your country though) and I think his former service does not come into this issue at all.

[RJRS1301]

2 hours ago, Psimbo said:

The use of the word 'Veteran' is vastly used and abused. It can include someone who served 6 months, 2 years, ten years, 20 years or more. The fact that he 'served his country' is irrelevant in this case. It can also cover anyone from a Chef to a Tier One SF operator. It's very misleading and disingenuous to bandy the world about. 

 

Signed 

A Retired member of the Armed Forces with over 25 years of service.

(Am I a Veteran or not?)

Possibly by age, or just vintaged

[Vacuum]

3 hours ago, AverageBloke said:

I'm all for supporting veterans who defend their country, it starts to get blurry for me when veterans are defending their country on foreign shores. 

Attack is the best defence...

[Mel52]

so being a veteran in the armed forces makes one special ?

And of course the first comment is something like this. No it doesn’t but in this case it really looks like this is just a guy who took a job in China with the WRONG COMPANY and probably had absolutely no idea what he was getting into and this just kind of happened to him. And actually HELL YES he should get special treatment at least by the United States government since he actually did serve his country and since he apparently had no idea what his company was really involved in. He wasn’t smuggling drugs or doing anything that was obviously illegal he just took a job with a company that he didn’t know enough about, that’s why I’d never take a job in a country like China unless I was working for a western company or for the United States government or at least know exactly who the hell you’re working for. The people responsible for whatever type of scam they were running are probably still perfectly safe in China or wherever while this poor guy takes the rap for it. I think the United States government should pressure Thailand to release ANYONE caught up in a situation like this him especially since he served his country HELL YES. I’m 21 years retired military myself and so was my father as well. I wonder where that expat group is on this one I guess they’re too busy petitioning immigration to stop making us report our current address or something for some reason that really seems to be a big deal for some people. I’ve been retired here for 5 years now and it’s never been an issue for me.

[maxcorrigan]

36 minutes ago, Orac said:

Bit more here about it from last year - if he was naive enough to think he was doing nothing wrong he needs locking up for his own safety if nothing else.

 

https://www.nationthailand.com/national/30352744

 

Judging from that, he surely must have known what he was getting involved with, or was he that naive?

[CGW]

3 hours ago, soalbundy said:

His wife asks the police to drop all charges because 5 years ago he went to Iraq. ????

Be kind! maybe she is expecting all the "corporations" that he was invading the country on behalf off may chip in a few $ 

[heybuz]

2 hours ago, Psimbo said:

The use of the word 'Veteran' is vastly used and abused. It can include someone who served 6 months, 2 years, ten years, 20 years or more. The fact that he 'served his country' is irrelevant in this case. It can also cover anyone from a Chef to a Tier One SF operator. It's very misleading and disingenuous to bandy the world about. 

 

Signed 

A Retired member of the Armed Forces with over 25 years of service.

(Am I a Veteran or not?)

No your a public servant.

[atyclb]

42 minutes ago, SanookTeufel said:

CNN and were staffed with (not very good) actors/actresses to act as news anchors... They literally made fake news

 

 

sounds like normal cnn business as usual

[poohy]

50 minutes ago, HLover said:

That is going to get this thread cooking! ????????????????

WW2

 

I hear the only thing they charged was the interest!

[cmrichsw]

The family needs to contact a Thai/english lawyer that understands Thai law. deals can be made but insults and calling Thai jails corrupt will not solve the problem. Start here - Integrity Legal Thailand

[Mel52]

I believe the guy was just guillable, flattered by the attention and a chance for a salary. I think some guys would fall for this trap and be used and abused. I recently became acquainted with a retired U. S. Air Force Major. His level of maturity and worldliness could easily make him a, patsy. This new acquaintance possesses naivety on Steroids an causes me to believe that, this accused fellow got dupped in China - believed the con he got caught up in Thailand. It was a great deal for him, spokesman for the great sounding venture, travel, 5 star hotels, business meetings,... Being naive does not make one guilty 

Before his wife took a job at a dance school or something in China the guy ran a trucking company after he got out of the military so obviously he’s not that dumb at least. He only took the job in China in the first place because he went to China with his wife supporting her in her job in China and it appears that this guy simply got involved with the wrong company without knowing what they were getting him into. And now it looks like he’s in trouble for someone else’s crimes possibly. And yeah I’ve read a few of the posts on this topic and most of them are not even worthy of a response they are so stupid so I agree with you on that.

There really are some uncultured people in the military especially some Officers I know because I was in the military for 21 years but I was in Special Forces and other Special Operations Units for most of my career and most of us are very familiar with the world because I only spent most of my life traveling all over the world just like a lot of veterans have who are actually also more familiar then most people around here and most people in general with the ways of the world. This is something that could have happened to a lot of people almost anyone in his situation being gullible probably had nothing to do with it or very little to do with it.

[White Christmas13]

2 hours ago, Psimbo said:

The use of the word 'Veteran' is vastly used and abused. It can include someone who served 6 months, 2 years, ten years, 20 years or more. The fact that he 'served his country' is irrelevant in this case. It can also cover anyone from a Chef to a Tier One SF operator. It's very misleading and disingenuous to bandy the world about. 

 

Signed 

A Retired member of the Armed Forces with over 25 years of service.

(Am I a Veteran or not?)

well I only served 18 months in the Army but I am 72 years old that makes me a veteran I guess

[Mel52]

This would be like sending Bernie Madoff’s coffee boy to prison who probably had no idea what he was really involved in.

 

 

[Mel52]

Before his wife took a job at a dance school or something in China the guy ran a trucking company after he got out of the military so obviously he’s not that dumb at least. He only took the job in China in the first place because he went to China with his wife supporting her in her job in China and it appears that this guy simply got involved with the wrong company without knowing what they were getting him into. And now it looks like he’s in trouble for someone else’s crimes possibly. And yeah I’ve read a few of the posts on this topic and most of them are not even worthy of a response they are so stupid so I agree with you on that.

There really are some uncultured people in the military especially some Officers I know because I was in the military for 21 years but I was in Special Forces and other Special Operations Units for most of my career and most of us are very familiar with the world because I only spent most of my life traveling all over the world just like a lot of veterans have who are actually also more familiar then most people around here and most people in general with the ways of the world. This is something that could have happened to a lot of people almost anyone in his situation being gullible probably had nothing to do with it or very little to do with it.

This was my whole post actually but like I said some of these posters don’t even deserve a response because some of the posts are just nonsense.

[johnarth]

5 hours ago, bushdoctor said:

If you put your life on the line to defend your country, your country should defend you if your innocent. 

 

The wife is asking for help looking into the situation, as I’m sure any good wife in her position might do. 

 

So so much negativity when anything remotely political is mentioned, it’s like a mental illness. 

one major problem with politics is there is no truth there everybody knows but they still try to hide it

[Mel52]

well I only served 18 months in the Army but I am 72 years old that makes me a veteran I guess

I don’t know what you did in the Army but I was also in the Army for 21 years and I retired, you’re definitely a veteran if you served honorably for 18 months. But that’s not the point the point is this guy took a job with a company that he probably didn’t know enough about and he got in trouble probably for someone else’s crimes and he doesn’t deserve to be in a Thai prison because this guy obviously isn’t your typical white collar criminal he just ended up in this situation because he took a job with the wrong company probably without any knowledge of what they were really doing it does happen. If he was a drug smuggler or something I probably wouldn’t even bother reading it but he’s not he was sort of in the wrong place wrong time sort of thing.

[Bogbrush]

I think the fact that neither the State Department nor any of the politicos mentioned in the original article have pursued this with any vigor, tells its own story, unfortunately.. 

[brian2f2f]

Some people clearly don't understand how corporate crimes like this work. All people at the top level are at fault. I feel sorry for this guy as I do believe he got conned and lied into joking this ponze sceme and how he was brought on puts him in that legally liable state just becaise aspect. Though he should have also done his research fully read over the contract before signing anything too. Ignorance is not a just cause for innocence. If he can prove he honestly had no intentions of being a part of it then I say a much lessor sentence. But his name face and position had a direct cause of the loss of millions of baht. That can't just be ignore. From my end he has the burden of proving he thought he was singing up for a fully legal contract acting job. And if can give maybe 5 years then released back home to America. 

[Mel52]

I think the fact that neither the State Department nor any of the politicos mentioned in the original article have pursued this with any vigor, tells its own story, unfortunately.. 

Yeah but since when does the Department of State or the United States Embassy or local politicians where he’s from ever really do much about these things? Almost never until there’s enough pressure on them to do something. Even in situations like that pastor who was in prison in Turkey he spent years in there before they eventually got him released. I’m sure they will get this guy out of Thai prison eventually but I mean God how long does it have to be when it’s fairly obvious that he probably did nothing wrong.

[TGIR]

1 hour ago, heybuz said:

No your a public servant.

Wrong.  He is a Veteran, not a public servant. Unfortunately, being a Veteran won't even get you a free cup of coffee, it is just a designation of something you "used" to be.  

 

vet·er·an

/ˈvedərən,ˈvetrən/

Learn to pronounce

noun

a person who has had long experience in a particular field.

synonyms:retired soldier; More

a person who has served in the military

 

[DavCurtis]

Much isn't said in this post. What's up with that?

[iamariva1957]

4 hours ago, smedly said:

setting aside all the stupid nonsense posts so far on this thread -

 

it would be interesting to know what evidence Thai prosecution have on this guy that proves his guilt, just being hired by a "so called" company as a con tractor doesn't mean he knew or was involved in what they were doing - different matter if they have evidence showing he was actively involved in the scam and was in receipt of the criminal proceeds, guilty by association doesn't cut it

They just watch TV and like all here believe that it is all real. Except the ISS which they think is CGI.

[metisdead]

Some troll posts have been reported and removed. 

[Mel52]

That will come out at the trial, there is no God given law that says a falang is immune from prison in Asia. If found guilty he will 'only' do 6 years or so before being sent back to the land of the free, a slimmer wiser man who dislikes rice and fish.

No but actually YES IT IS a God given right to not even be arrested in the first place when you’ve obviously done nothing wrong or illegal which is clearly the situation here. Obviously the guy took a job with the wrong company and is in trouble for his boss’s crime which I seriously doubt that he even knew anything about. And then he gets arrested just showing up at Suvarnabhumi airport for a vacation because they were waiting for him probably just because his name landed on some legal document in regards to the case on some prosecutors desk. That sounds like that’s pretty much as far as it goes and he should be released immediately because it’s BS. ONLY 6 years huh for what for nothing. This is the kind of posts I was talking about above wow!

 

[soalbundy]

15 minutes ago, Mel52 said:

No but actually YES IT IS a God given right to not even be arrested in the first place when you’ve obviously done nothing wrong or illegal which is clearly the situation here. Obviously the guy took a job with the wrong company and is in trouble for his boss’s crime which I seriously doubt that he even knew anything about. And then he gets arrested just showing up at Suvarnabhumi airport for a vacation because they were waiting for him probably just because his name landed on some legal document in regards to the case on some prosecutors desk. That sounds like that’s pretty much as far as it goes and he should be released immediately because it’s BS. ONLY 6 years huh for what for nothing. This is the kind of posts I was talking about above wow!

 

If he can prove he is innocent he won't be imprisoned, saying "I did nothing wrong" won't cut it, it has to go to trial, a lot of people lost a lot of money. He would seem to be small fry but that won't make much difference if proved guilty.