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Brother says New Castle man should stay in jail

Pete Fowler
Glenwood Springs Correspondent
Vail, CO Colorado
Mark Mulcahy
ALL |

GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colorado ” A man accused of stealing an Army veteran’s identity and using it for 24 years will hide and avoid prosecution if he posts bails out of jail, the man’s brother said Tuesday.

Mark Mulcahy, 46, is being held in the Garfield County Jail on $45,000 bond on suspicion of identity theft, three counts of forgery of a public record and three counts of criminal impersonation. He also allegedly used the false identity of a soldier who died in 2006 to get free health care.

During his Feb. 28 arrest, he told jail officials he lived in New Castle and worked for a drilling company.



Mulcahy’s brother, Mike Mulcahy, said in a phone interview he plans to contact local authorities and ask for a higher bond.

“Someone needs to get in contact with them and let them know he is a major flight risk,” he said.

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Mike wasn’t sure why Mark allegedly stole the veteran’s identity, or how Mark’s life turned out the way it did.

“I have no idea why,” he said. “He just thinks it’s easier to con somebody or to steal from somebody. … He’s psychologically imbalanced, period.”

According to Mike, the two are from Springfield, Ill., and have several siblings. He said their biological father was dying of cancer and committed suicide when Mark was about 5 and Mike was 15.

Their mother, who stayed at home, got remarried to a man who served in the Air Force. Mike said he remembers Mark getting in trouble as early as 10 or 12 and stealing from his family to get money.

When the Mulcahys’ mother died of cancer in 1998, Mike said, Mark never showed up for the funeral or to visit her while she was dying. Mike doesn’t hide his anger when talking about his brother.

“She wanted to believe in him, wanted to believe he had changed,” Mike said. “I’d tell her, ‘Mom, do not trust him. Do not turn your back on him.’ He’d rip her off, take whatever he could get.”

He said he last saw Mark in 1986 or 1987.

Mark Mulcahy allegedly pretended to be David Keith Anderson, also known as David Ronayne. The real Anderson served in the U.S. Army from 1973-74, according to the an arrest warrant, but Mulcahy, who never served in the military, told people he served in the Marine Corps for 20 years.

He allegedly used his false veteran status to get a free, $6,296 surgery from the Denver VA Medical Center, the affidavit says.

Mulcahy also served as the president of the Veterans of Foreign Wars post in Glenwood from mid-2004 through May 2005, the affidavit says.

The real Anderson lived in Modesto, Calif., and died in a bicycle accident in 2006.

The allegations come as no surprise to Doug Sterner, an Army veteran living in Pueblo who did two tours in Vietnam. Sterner runs the Web site http://www.homeofheroes.com and said there are “tons” of cases of people who pretend to be veterans.

If the allegations against Mark Mulcahy are true, Sterner said, “We have men and women coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan and the VA system is already strained as it is, and this man is stealing money not from the VA, he’s stealing money from legitimate wounded veterans who need those funds.”


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