Woman pleads guilty to pretending to be veteran, child cruelty

By Kylie Jones

Click here for updates on this story

    CARNESVILLE, Georgia (WYFF) — A Georgia woman has admitted to pretending to be a veteran, a Purple Heart recipient and child cruelty.

Gabrielle Beutler pleaded guilty to charges of forgery, false representation of a veteran and child cruelty Wednesday in Franklin County, Georgia.

Beutler faced charges out of Franklin County and Hart County.

The District Attorney’s Office says Beutler lied on her paperwork to join the Lavonia VFW about serving in the Air Force in Afghanistan.

“This individual had, in fact, altered and fabricated information on her form,” Lavonia Police Chief Bruce Carlisle said. “She reported she had been injured in the military to the extent of losing a leg in the military, when in fact, I believe it was determined she had never made it out of basic training.”

Prosecutors say Beutler was elected as Post Commander and took money from the VFW while using her children as pawns.

“All with the belief that this was a veteran of the military who had received a serious injury and was really down on her luck, and now her child had cancer,” Carlisle said.

The District Attorney’s Office says Beutler also lied about her 9-year-old daughter having terminal cancer. Prosecutor says she went so far as to shave her daughter’s head, set up a GoFundMe and take money from fundraisers the VFW held for her daughter.

“The saddest thing about this is she had her own child convinced she was a cancer victim,” Carlisle said. “So far as to do check-ins on Facebook and social media at different cancer treatment facilities.”

Police believe this wasn’t the first time Beutler was accused of scamming veteran organizations.

“It was my understanding she did this starting in as Vegas, and once she felt like they were getting onto here there, the people were starting to get onto her, she moved on to Georgia where she was in Gainesville,” Carlisle said.

The Lavonia police uncovered the scam with the help of its officers and a group of veterans from the VFW.

“At first when all this starts, you think it’s just an embellishment of a story, where the ad-lib or add a little bit to it, and it turns out to be completely made up and bologna,” veteran Christian Nelms said.

“None of this would have come to fruition had it not been for the efforts of Officer Jonathan Merk,” Carlisle said.

Officer Jonathan Merck, who’s also a member of the VFW, says he and several other veterans first became skeptical of Beutler’s paperwork.

“There were several inconsistencies with her stories and things of that nature,” Merck said. “What she was stating.”

Merck says they quickly pieced it together that none of her information, which was later determined to be forged, added up.

He says this case was different than some others because it hit home for him.

“Every day I look at my hands and I’m reminded of what happened to my buddy,” Merck said. “What happened to me.”

As a former military police officer of 11 years, Merk says he served two tours in Iraq and is a Purple Heart recipient himself.

“I got wounded in combat in 2011,” Merck said. “That same incident, my buddy who was right next to me got killed.”

He held this case especially close to his heart, as he was reminded of the loss of his close friend, who was later awarded a Purple Heart posthumously.

“These are his handcuffs,” Merck said. “His military-issued police handcuffs. His name’s etched in them right here. You can’t see it very well.”

He says it was those handcuffs that were placed on Beutler when she was arrested on fraud charges.

“And I only saw it fitting that someone who claimed to be a Purple Heart recipient and combat veteran and a security forces officer in the Air Force to be handcuffed with handcuffs that belong to an actual American hero,” Merck said.

Beutler accepted a plea deal Wednesday. She plead guilty to all charges, and was sentenced to two years in prison and 15 years of probation.

A judge also ordered Beutler to undergo a mental evaluation and pay restitution. The amount will be determined at a later time.

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.