JACK STERN, THE GREAT PRETENDER: The biggest fake to ever invade the martial arts community
Taekwondo Reporter - Ernie Lopez
December, 1996
Jack Stern, a 67-year old, retired bread-truck driver, wept
uncontrollably throughout his sentencing hearing. The Law finally caught up
with Jackie Albert Stern. He has pleaded guilty and has been sentenced. The
sporadic articles confirming Stern’s guilty plea culminated in a three day
media frenzy in South Florida over his sentencing. He finally obtained the
exposure and recognition through media coverage that he so ardently sought with
his lies and made up past.
What we knew at the beginning of 1996
Jackie Stern, was a Congressional Medal of Honor winner and Prisoner of War in Korea. He bravely escaped after hiding himself among corpses during a forced march, where he received a large wound to his abdomen from the bayonet of a North Korean soldier and did not even emit a sound to avoid detection. He did not feel he had done enough to serve his country, and he stayed in the armed forces and served with Air America and with the CIA. Through all the years he spent in the armed forces in the Far East, he spent every minute of his free time studying martial arts with the great masters. That is why his judo & jiu jitsu were better than the people that studied in this country – he had studied at the birth place of these martial arts.
After Stern retired from the armed forces he went back to New York City and became a
policeman. He retired as a decorated detective from an elite unit. He had been
in Judo over 50 years. His son had won an Olympic gold medal in Judo. He headed
a Jiu Jitsu system he had inherited and the respected Korean Yudo Association.
Even Time Magazine had honored him by putting him on their front cover. Because
of his war record most martial arts magazines had featured him and several
halls of fame had inducted him. WOW what a resume!
What we know at the end of 1996
Jack Stern pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Fort Lauderdale to wearing a Congressional Medal of Honor without authorization and altering his military discharge papers to fraudulently obtain State of Florida tags issued exclusively to Purple Heart recipients. Stern never served in combat. He made up the story that he had been a Korean Prisoner of War. In fact, the story he related as to how he escaped comes from a movie – just like the story that he cut the ears off the dead North Korean soldiers and hung them around his neck. Rather difficult feat to accomplish considering the fact that according to the Broward Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Danny Ciacciarelli, “Stern never set foot in a continent where blood was shed”.
If Stern was never in the armed
forces in the Far East, it becomes obvious that the stories of training with
the great masters of the Far East is just one more lie. Stern never trained in
martial arts overseas. In sounds kind of redundant to say he was never in the
CIA and never served with Air America.
So we know now that he was not a Medal of Honor winner or a
Prisoner of War. He was not in the CIA, and he did not train with the great
masters of the Far East. Stern was never a New York City detective as he
claims. It’s anyone’s guess how he got the New York Police badge he kept
flaunting around. It is our understanding that in New York there is a jail
sentence attached to this offense. Stern was a bread truck driver. There is
nothing wrong with being a bread truck driver – its an honorable profession,
far more honorable than what Mr. Stern actions have been for the last few
years.
There is no data to substantiate Mr. Stern’s 50 years in
Judo. However, someone that had the certificate in Japanese translated, (which
Mr. Stern claims names him as inheritor of a Jiu Jitsu system) states that all
the certificate says is that Stern is authorized to teach that system in South
Florida.
The lie about his son being a Judo Olympic gold medalist was
a source of amusement to most people he told it to. In the first place anyone
that has been active in Judo through the years knows the names of their
medalist. The people not in judo were also amused when Stern proudly stated
that his son won the gold medal in the 1987 Olympics. This one was difficult to
swallow, especially by Taekwondo people that remember 1988 as the year
taekwondo was included in the Olympic Games in Korea as a demonstration sport.
There were no Olympics in 1987.
As has been reported in the local newspapers Stern’s picture
on the front cover of Times magazine was nothing more than one of those gags
that can be bought in an amusement park.
Fake Martial arts claims and defrauding his own Martial arts
students
Jack Stern lied his way into a martial arts school in the
Weston area, a suburb of Fort Lauderdale. Having the legitimacy of being an
instructor in a martial arts school, Stern proceeded to call all the martial
arts hall’s of fame. His Medal of Honor claim was one that the halls of fame
could not resist and in 1995 he was inducted into all the places that he
bothered to chase. He did not have any martial arts achievements. It was just
his claim of the medal of honor that the halls of fame reacted too.
The cruelest hoax was the one he perpetuated on his own
students. While teaching in the Weston school, he charged everyone for
membership in the Korean Yudo Association, who issued rank certificates. This
turns out to be an nonexistent organization in the State of Florida. It has no
corporation papers, no D.B.A. records, no bank account and has filed no tax
returns. Certificates were worthless – just as the similar promotion
certificates he supposedly got from Korea are worthless.
What Mr. Stern had hanging on the wall in early 1996
pertaining to his rank were two certificates. One for 6th Dan issued by the
nonexistent Korean Yudo Association, signed by himself, dated 1995. The other
one supposedly came from Korea in the same year for 7th Dan. Basically Mr.
Stern’s claim to rank based on those two certificates is worthless.
It does not matter whether he is a hustler or he is mentally ill. The fact is that he is a FAKE. A Grandmaster only among fakes. A figment of his own imagination. A legend only in his own mind. Yet he had the gall to look down on and speak ill of every martial artist he ever met. It was like he was validating himself by degrading everyone else.
The media frenzy has been
over Jackie the fake Medal of Honor winner. It should have been extended to include
Jackie the fake martial artist. It appears that Stern may have also committed
fraud in his involvement in the martial arts – a crime for which he still has
not had to face a judge.
Some martial artist are talking about causing charges to be
brought against Stern for fraud if he continues with his martial arts claims.
Although newspaper articles and people present at the sentencing say that Stern
apologized to everyone military, police and martial artists. Other evidence
indicates that Stern may still try to pass himself as a martial artist of
prominence.
Halls of fame are already expelling him, without the claim
to the medal he has no martial arts accomplishment to qualify him for
membership. However there are still misguided souls – like the owner of the
karate school where Stern was teaching, who appears in the local press to be
avidly defending Mr. Stern describing the incident as something that happened
in the past, but not something that detracts from him as a martial artist.
I may be wrong, but it seems to me that the basic premise of
the martial arts is based on honesty, integrity, character, decency,
forthrightness, nobility, credibility. It has become obvious that Mr. Stern
does not possess these qualities, therefore, he has no business in the martial
arts, he has no business teaching children.
As part of the hoax that Stern perpetuated on the martial
arts community, in his unquenchable thirst for publicity, Stern arranged for
his picture to appear in a set of collectors cards meant to showcase martial
artists with real credentials and life achievements. He identified the basis of
his claim to fame to having been trained in Korea, Japan, Philippines and
England.
According to Sgt. Danny Ciacciarelli from the Broward
Sheriff’s Office that Mr. Stern never set foot in a continent where blood was
shed. His other claim to fame was his induction into the prestigious Soke
Council. The information that we have is, that the Soke Council had bought into
the legitimacy of Stern’s claim to the Congressional Medal of Honor (a medal
that through his own admission he bought in a New Jersey flea market), has now
removed Stern’s name from their membership. Mr. Stern with his lies and
forgeries desecrated the life achievements of the martial artists depicted in those
cards and the ones inducted into the Soke Council.
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| https://web.archive.org/web/20130428150047/http://womamartialarts.com/our-founder-jack-stern |
JACK ALBERT STERN THE MAN WHO LIED, WORE MEDAL WRITES LETTER
OF APOLOGY
Orlando Sentinel
May 26, 1997
FORT LAUDERDALE — A man who falsely claimed for years that
he had won the Medal of Honor published a letter Monday apologizing for his
“pitiful” behavior.
Jackie Stern of Bonaventure was found guilty in September of
wearing the medal, the highest U.S military decoration, without authorization.
Part of his sentence was to publish an apology on Memorial Day.
“My pitiful attempt and selfish quest for family recognition
has tarnished the dignity of all the brave men and women on whom this medal was
legitimately bestowed,” he said in the letter, which appeared in a newspaper.
Stern, who served in the Army during the Korean War but
never saw combat, bought the medal at a New Jersey flea market. He became a
well-known figure in his community, regaling listeners with tales of how he was
wounded in action.
The U.S. District Court also ordered Stern to write a
personal letter of apology to all 169 living recipients of the Medal of Honor
and volunteer for 250 hours in a Veterans Administration Hospital as part of
his punishment.
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| U.S. NEWS Article December 4th, 1996 |
