Phony Navy SEAL faces felony gun charges related to military-training program

A convicted felon is reportedly facing gun charges in Nevada after setting up a military-style training school and a security firm on the strength of a long-running and widely disseminated lie that he was a decorated Navy SEAL.

ABC News reports A.J. Dicken, 57, parlayed such lies into nearly a million dollars in financial backing from unsuspecting investors, as well as untallied sums allegedly swindled from the people who went to his Carson City school.

"He can be very charming, very engaging," Dr. Brian Romaneschi, one of Dicken’s principal investors, told ABC News after learning the truth. "He presents a face that kind of draws you in."

More