LostAngeles
21st July 2004, 02:01 PM
..or maybe not.
I first stumbled across this here. (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=519&ncid=519&e=8&u=/ap/20040712/ap_on_re_us/attacks_fraud_claim_2) There were concerns of a fradulent claim being made.
...
Copp has said he and a so-called death-detection device helped find as many as 40 bodies. He initially got support from the Journal, members of Congress and a state archaeologist before being selected for victim compensation.
...
A google search gave me nothing but news stories, but I did notice that the information came from the Alberquerque Jourbal (http:///www.abqjournal.com). A search there for his name brings up some pretty damning stuff.
From Part 4 of their series "'Knucklehead' or Hero" (http://www.abqjournal.com/terror/197538nm07-14-04.htm)
...
But he said Copp's video of the rescue of a little girl from an apartment building in the 1999 Turkey earthquake looks convincing.
Copp has used that footage and photos and videotapes he has taken of himself at other earthquakes, bombings and disasters to build an impressive-looking portfolio.
Video of the rescue of 12-year-old Tugba Altun from a crevasse in Turkey— with Copp visible in the hole— has been included in a special that has aired on the Discovery Channel and ABC. The special features Copp and credits him with rescue. Copp says he interceded when a French rescue team was about to pull a pin that was holding up concrete that would have crushed her.
When questioned about his rescue résumé by the Journal, Copp angrily cited the Turkey video:
"Have you seen the videotape of me saving the little girl?" Copp said. "Well that's me. She's a real little girl. My head's stuck in with her under those slabs. That's me."
The Journal contacted French rescue team, Secouristes Sans Frontieres, and talked to Fusun Ulu, a Turkish member who acted as the team's translator during Tugba's rescue, standing next to the little girl during the several hours it took to dig her out.
Ulu was surprised by Copp's claim that he saved Tugba and that he stopped the French from allowing her to be crushed.
"No, no," Ulu said. "That is not possible."
She said she did not remember the name of the American who showed up with a cameraman, but that he was the only American there and that he was heavy and shouting orders.
Ulu said the camera got in the way and made it harder to work and that the American was loud, telling people what to do and getting in the way.
"He was trying to give orders but he's not the one who rescued her," Ulu said. "If he's saying that, shame on him. It's not true. It cannot be true."
...
...
In New York, Copp stayed at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square. A hotel spokeswoman said she could not comment on any guest. But Copp and the four men he brought with him from Albuquerque said they stayed free.
The current room rate is about $300 a night.
Stephen Lentz said Copp cleaned out the mini bar in his room and then drank all the liquor in the mini bar in Lentz's room. Lentz said the hotel took care of the mini bar bill.
In New York, FEMA chief Sargent worked the night shift at the World Trade Center from Sept. 13 to Oct. 2.
When he saw Copp's video from ground zero, even though Sargent had ordered him off the site, Sargent posted this message on a FEMA message board:
"American Rescue Team are basically a bunch of disaster buffs who represent themselves as the guru of collapse rescue. ... Those of us in the business know these kinds of phonies for who they are."
In his posting, he said he was "damn tired of phonies like them trying to make a name off the backs of dead firemen, civilians ..."
Sargent's missive ended with a suggestion that the American Rescue Team "find a hole and crawl in because you are just about at the end of your bag of lies."
...
Then we have this one, (http://www.abqjournal.com/terror/199911fire07-18-04.htm) about a widow who had put her faith in his device.
...
Her husband, Fred, and her 14-year-old son, Paul, had drowned in the Perkiomen Creek when their canoe was sucked under the water near a dam.
Paul's body was recovered within a week. But House, her family and volunteers had searched for more than a month for Fred's body.
...
He said the machine would find her husband within a day— they just had to take it up and down the river in a motor boat and it would alert when it detected the gases given off by the decomposing body.
The machine, Copp said, could sniff out the body from a mile away.
It didn't alert on anything the first day. (Cliff Roach, Fred House's best friend, said in an interview there were dead cats and dogs and other decaying things in the river.)
Copp said the machine needed to be fixed and the family agreed to pay for the repair.
Then Copp told Roach he could take the machine on the river and Copp spent the day in the bar, Roach said.
When it didn't alert on anything after four days, Copp told the family that Fred's body wasn't in the creek, it had washed away.
Copp went back to California and Joanna House was out about $2,500.
...
After Copp left, Roach and others kept looking for Fred's body in the river. They found it a few days later.
Copp had left the machine behind, but Roach and House said it played no role in finding the body.
They said that Copp had told them it was the only one in the world and to insure it for $150,000 when they shipped it back to him.
They sent it back "one week mail."
...
"He said my late husband was a good man and would be very disappointed in me for not compensating Doug for his time," House said. "He wrote that my other children were going to think badly of me for not doing the 'right thing.' He did his best to intimidate, shame and harass me."
...
Upshot of Journal report
Publish Doug Copp's name in the newspaper and this is a sampling of what you get:
*A phone call from an Albuquerque businessman who says Copp owes him about $2,000 for an unpaid backhoe rental bill.
*A call from a Turkish newspaper concerned that Copp was wearing a patch from a Turkish rescue team in the laid-out-on-the-bed-in-the-red-jumpsuit-with-a-rip-down-there photo that ran on the Journal's front page and in the New York Post.
*An e-mail from a member of the Fairfax, Va., urban search and rescue team who says he helped to remove Copp from the World Trade Center command center.
*An e-mail from a woman in Pennsylvania who says Copp took advantage of her after her husband drowned four years ago.
*A call from the Bernalillo County sheriff saying, "I'd like to kick his ass. Seriously, let me have five minutes alone with him."
*A call from the man who said he, not Copp, really found JFK Jr.'s body.
*A challenge from "the world's most outspoken investigator of the paranormal, the psychic and the just plain weird" to Copp to prove his body-sniffing machine works. (That was Randi wasn't it?:) I can't find it in a search though. - LA)
*A call from firefighters at a firehouse in Pittsburgh to offer their support— to the Journal, not to Copp.
*Loads of e-mails and phone calls from angry search and rescue professionals and volunteers who said things like "... it makes me sick to read of the fraudulent actions of those like Copp." And, "Thank you for finally exposing Mr. Copp. His antics have frustrated and embarrassed legitimate SAR volunteers for years."
*And e-mails from people angry at the newspaper for picking on Copp and wasting newsprint when there are many stories that are more important.
And finally, The American Rescue Team's website. (http://www.amerrescue.org/) Those sons of bitches. Though their knowledge (http://www.amerrescue.org/knowledge.htm) consists soley of "Don't get under a desk." which has been discredited by a number of engineers according to the ABJ.
They sell a Quake Alarm (http://www.amerrescue.org/qal.htm), which would be a very useful device to geologists, FEMA, and other emergency teams especially here along that nice fat fault line. Why don't we have one?
Oh yes, because it's a bunch of crap. I notice there's no scientific endorsement at all on that page. If the device could do that, wouldn't the USGS be all over it?
So you have John Edward who goes around and does cold-readings to reassure people that their loved ones are still around for money. You have Doug Copp and his crew with bad advice, b.s. devices who go around and tell people that they can find the lost bodies of their loved ones who were taken away by an accident or disaster for money.
One preys off the woos, and the other has a base in the currently shocked and grieving and the fearful.
You know what, nevermind that title. Both of these jerks suck.
[Edit - forgot the testemon... I mean, credentials (http://www.amerrescue.org/credentials.htm).]
[Edit - Republicans should take advantage of this and claim that John Edwards does "Crossing Over"]
I first stumbled across this here. (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=519&ncid=519&e=8&u=/ap/20040712/ap_on_re_us/attacks_fraud_claim_2) There were concerns of a fradulent claim being made.
...
Copp has said he and a so-called death-detection device helped find as many as 40 bodies. He initially got support from the Journal, members of Congress and a state archaeologist before being selected for victim compensation.
...
A google search gave me nothing but news stories, but I did notice that the information came from the Alberquerque Jourbal (http:///www.abqjournal.com). A search there for his name brings up some pretty damning stuff.
From Part 4 of their series "'Knucklehead' or Hero" (http://www.abqjournal.com/terror/197538nm07-14-04.htm)
...
But he said Copp's video of the rescue of a little girl from an apartment building in the 1999 Turkey earthquake looks convincing.
Copp has used that footage and photos and videotapes he has taken of himself at other earthquakes, bombings and disasters to build an impressive-looking portfolio.
Video of the rescue of 12-year-old Tugba Altun from a crevasse in Turkey— with Copp visible in the hole— has been included in a special that has aired on the Discovery Channel and ABC. The special features Copp and credits him with rescue. Copp says he interceded when a French rescue team was about to pull a pin that was holding up concrete that would have crushed her.
When questioned about his rescue résumé by the Journal, Copp angrily cited the Turkey video:
"Have you seen the videotape of me saving the little girl?" Copp said. "Well that's me. She's a real little girl. My head's stuck in with her under those slabs. That's me."
The Journal contacted French rescue team, Secouristes Sans Frontieres, and talked to Fusun Ulu, a Turkish member who acted as the team's translator during Tugba's rescue, standing next to the little girl during the several hours it took to dig her out.
Ulu was surprised by Copp's claim that he saved Tugba and that he stopped the French from allowing her to be crushed.
"No, no," Ulu said. "That is not possible."
She said she did not remember the name of the American who showed up with a cameraman, but that he was the only American there and that he was heavy and shouting orders.
Ulu said the camera got in the way and made it harder to work and that the American was loud, telling people what to do and getting in the way.
"He was trying to give orders but he's not the one who rescued her," Ulu said. "If he's saying that, shame on him. It's not true. It cannot be true."
...
...
In New York, Copp stayed at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square. A hotel spokeswoman said she could not comment on any guest. But Copp and the four men he brought with him from Albuquerque said they stayed free.
The current room rate is about $300 a night.
Stephen Lentz said Copp cleaned out the mini bar in his room and then drank all the liquor in the mini bar in Lentz's room. Lentz said the hotel took care of the mini bar bill.
In New York, FEMA chief Sargent worked the night shift at the World Trade Center from Sept. 13 to Oct. 2.
When he saw Copp's video from ground zero, even though Sargent had ordered him off the site, Sargent posted this message on a FEMA message board:
"American Rescue Team are basically a bunch of disaster buffs who represent themselves as the guru of collapse rescue. ... Those of us in the business know these kinds of phonies for who they are."
In his posting, he said he was "damn tired of phonies like them trying to make a name off the backs of dead firemen, civilians ..."
Sargent's missive ended with a suggestion that the American Rescue Team "find a hole and crawl in because you are just about at the end of your bag of lies."
...
Then we have this one, (http://www.abqjournal.com/terror/199911fire07-18-04.htm) about a widow who had put her faith in his device.
...
Her husband, Fred, and her 14-year-old son, Paul, had drowned in the Perkiomen Creek when their canoe was sucked under the water near a dam.
Paul's body was recovered within a week. But House, her family and volunteers had searched for more than a month for Fred's body.
...
He said the machine would find her husband within a day— they just had to take it up and down the river in a motor boat and it would alert when it detected the gases given off by the decomposing body.
The machine, Copp said, could sniff out the body from a mile away.
It didn't alert on anything the first day. (Cliff Roach, Fred House's best friend, said in an interview there were dead cats and dogs and other decaying things in the river.)
Copp said the machine needed to be fixed and the family agreed to pay for the repair.
Then Copp told Roach he could take the machine on the river and Copp spent the day in the bar, Roach said.
When it didn't alert on anything after four days, Copp told the family that Fred's body wasn't in the creek, it had washed away.
Copp went back to California and Joanna House was out about $2,500.
...
After Copp left, Roach and others kept looking for Fred's body in the river. They found it a few days later.
Copp had left the machine behind, but Roach and House said it played no role in finding the body.
They said that Copp had told them it was the only one in the world and to insure it for $150,000 when they shipped it back to him.
They sent it back "one week mail."
...
"He said my late husband was a good man and would be very disappointed in me for not compensating Doug for his time," House said. "He wrote that my other children were going to think badly of me for not doing the 'right thing.' He did his best to intimidate, shame and harass me."
...
Upshot of Journal report
Publish Doug Copp's name in the newspaper and this is a sampling of what you get:
*A phone call from an Albuquerque businessman who says Copp owes him about $2,000 for an unpaid backhoe rental bill.
*A call from a Turkish newspaper concerned that Copp was wearing a patch from a Turkish rescue team in the laid-out-on-the-bed-in-the-red-jumpsuit-with-a-rip-down-there photo that ran on the Journal's front page and in the New York Post.
*An e-mail from a member of the Fairfax, Va., urban search and rescue team who says he helped to remove Copp from the World Trade Center command center.
*An e-mail from a woman in Pennsylvania who says Copp took advantage of her after her husband drowned four years ago.
*A call from the Bernalillo County sheriff saying, "I'd like to kick his ass. Seriously, let me have five minutes alone with him."
*A call from the man who said he, not Copp, really found JFK Jr.'s body.
*A challenge from "the world's most outspoken investigator of the paranormal, the psychic and the just plain weird" to Copp to prove his body-sniffing machine works. (That was Randi wasn't it?:) I can't find it in a search though. - LA)
*A call from firefighters at a firehouse in Pittsburgh to offer their support— to the Journal, not to Copp.
*Loads of e-mails and phone calls from angry search and rescue professionals and volunteers who said things like "... it makes me sick to read of the fraudulent actions of those like Copp." And, "Thank you for finally exposing Mr. Copp. His antics have frustrated and embarrassed legitimate SAR volunteers for years."
*And e-mails from people angry at the newspaper for picking on Copp and wasting newsprint when there are many stories that are more important.
And finally, The American Rescue Team's website. (http://www.amerrescue.org/) Those sons of bitches. Though their knowledge (http://www.amerrescue.org/knowledge.htm) consists soley of "Don't get under a desk." which has been discredited by a number of engineers according to the ABJ.
They sell a Quake Alarm (http://www.amerrescue.org/qal.htm), which would be a very useful device to geologists, FEMA, and other emergency teams especially here along that nice fat fault line. Why don't we have one?
Oh yes, because it's a bunch of crap. I notice there's no scientific endorsement at all on that page. If the device could do that, wouldn't the USGS be all over it?
So you have John Edward who goes around and does cold-readings to reassure people that their loved ones are still around for money. You have Doug Copp and his crew with bad advice, b.s. devices who go around and tell people that they can find the lost bodies of their loved ones who were taken away by an accident or disaster for money.
One preys off the woos, and the other has a base in the currently shocked and grieving and the fearful.
You know what, nevermind that title. Both of these jerks suck.
[Edit - forgot the testemon... I mean, credentials (http://www.amerrescue.org/credentials.htm).]
[Edit - Republicans should take advantage of this and claim that John Edwards does "Crossing Over"]