A 76-year-old man found living in Vietnam who is the focus of a documentary claiming he is a POW presumed dead 44 years ago appears to be a hoax,
The Daily Mail reports.
The documentary 'Unclaimed' follows the tale of Sgt. John Hartley Robertson and raised the possibility that he somehow escaped captivity as a POW and never left Vietnam -- even starting a family there, despite having a wife and children in the U.S.
The Mail reports that the man is actually a known conman who has attempted before to extort the POW/MIA community. The CIA, the newspaper reports, confirmed he is not Robertson some 20 years ago after obtaining DNA.
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Best-selling author and former Special Forces soldier Don Bendell told the Mail that the man claiming to be Robertson is likely a Vietnamese-French man he says may have stolen tens of thousands of dollars from the POW community over years. He is known to the U.S. military.
Bendell is a Vietnam veteran. Bendell says that 'The man seen in the documentary posing as John Hartley Robertson is a guy from France, an impostor, who has been used to scam money from well-meaning veterans and others who would LOVE to see any POW rescued.'
However, Robertson's sister met the man and says "There’s no question. I was certain it was him in the video, but when I held his head in my hands and looked in his eyes, there was no question that was my brother", she told the Toronto Star.