Lisa Jane Phillips (b. 1981 - ) is the only woman to have been charged and convicted of impersonating a service member under the Stolen Valor Act of 2005. As a military impostor, she attended Meredith College for three years, where she was exposed by an official. She had received waivers of $42,000 in tuition.
In August 2002, Phillips started attending classes at Meredith College, Raleigh, North Carolina wearing a US Air Force captain's military uniform. More than 30 years old, she claimed to be a pilot and to have served in Iraq and Afghanistan; she left school for purported two-week missions in those areas. She won the admiration of other women students, and the college invited her to give talks about her military experience.[1]
In 2005 campus Police Chief Frank Strickland noticed that the medals on her dress uniform included one awarded for service in World War II. Upon questioning, her accounts of fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq did not stand up to scrutiny. Meredith College officials called in the FBI.[2]
In 2006, Phillips was charged with impersonating a military officer. She repaid the tuition costs, and received a sentence of a year and one day. Since the passage of the "Stolen Valor Act" (2005), Phillips is the only woman to be charged and convicted of impersonating a service member. There have been more incidents of people impersonating service members since the beginning of the Iraq War.[3]