Disgraced ex-firefighter says he was on secret missions

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.dailysouthtown.com/news/547977,090907masaspeaks.article

September 9, 2007
By Isaac Wolf, Staff writer
Disgraced former firefighter Larry Masa wants you to know he was trying to rid the world of terrorists.

As a globetrotting counter-terrorist, Masa tells a wondrous, fantastical tale of how his work took him from Pakistan's sandy, lawless deserts to an audience with the king of Nepal, with stops in London, Bangladesh, South Africa, Kenya, Yemen and Qatar to trail terror suspects, train foreign soldiers and put down rebel turmoil.

"You don't understand," Masa told the Daily Southtown. "I was doing Jason Bourne type of s--t."

From 2003 to 2006, Masa's bosses at the Orland Fire Protection District thought he was in an elite U.S. military unit hunting Osama bin Laden and other terrorists. Masa insists that is exactly what he was doing - just not for the Army.

Arrested in January, the 42-year-old Masa faces felony charges alleging he lied about military duty to go on leave and still collect his fire district salary. Recently, he sat for an exclusive interview with the Daily Southtown - against the advice of his legal counsel - to talk about what he's been up to the past four years.

Masa admits to the crux of the prosecution's case against him, allowing that he was not called to war by the Army. Instead, Masa claims he took a job with USIS - an independent military contractor - and confesses to submitting fake deployment papers to the fire district.

Authorities estimate Masa received $193,000 in salary and benefits while he was away. While he was away, Orland firefighters performed $50,000 worth of unpaid overtime to fill in for him. Charged with theft and official misconduct, Masa faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

[BlooInBloo]

1. Classic freeper attitude. Pretend to be "fighting", bilk Americans of their money.

[Richard Steele]

2. I hope that POS gets the full twenty years. He won't, of course...but he should. nm