Joshua Fry spent the first year of his life homeless on the streets of Los Angeles.
His mother was addicted to crack; his father to heroin. After his parents were arrested for shoplifting, Fry was sent to live with a series of relatives.
When Fry was brought to live with his grandmother in Newport Beach at age 3, he did not speak, was not potty trained and tested out at an IQ of 70. Social Service workers said he was severely mentally disabled. Autism was later diagnosed as well.
"He was like a wild animal," said Mary Beth Fry, his grandmother.
By the time he was 18, Fry had spent years on psychotropic drugs. He finished high school in a lock-down facility for troubled youth, where he also received treatment for an attraction to child pornography.
By all accounts, he was an unlikely choice to become one of the few, the proud, the Marines.
Nine days before he was approved for federal long-term disability, a Marine recruiter picked Fry up from a group home in Irvine and helped him enlist. Court papers allege the recruiter told him to lie about his mental problems. The recruiter has declined to speak with the reporters.
<snip>
To try and improve young Joshua's social life, his grandmother enrolled him in a variety of activities, including the Young Marines program at Camp Pendleton.
"When he was 16, (psychologists) were saying he was probably equivalent to an 11 or 12 year old," Mary Beth Fry said. "It was a very good program for him."
It was in the Young Marines camp that Fry was befriended by a Marine recruiter, Gunnery Sgt. Matthew Teson, according to court documents.
If Fry's childhood was tough, his teen years weren't much better. Fry got into trouble at Newport Harbor High School and was charged with vehicular theft and possession of a dagger. The charges were eventually dropped, but he was sent to finish high school at a lock-down facility in Colorado, where he also received counseling for an attraction to child pornography.
Things didn't get much better when Fry came back to Orange County. He had gone off his meds in Colorado and his behavioral problems had gotten worse.
At the urging of friends and professionals concerned for her safety, Mary Beth Fry moved her grandson into a group home. She signed him up for disability and made plans to register him at Orange Coast College.
Then, both sides agree, Gunnery Sgt. Teson picked Fry up from the group home and drove him to the Marine recruiting station.
<snip>
At the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego, Fry had problems right away.
He got into daily trouble during the first two weeks of basic, according to recruit evaluation documents. He missed training. He refused to shave. He urinated in his canteen. He stole peanut butter from the chow hall. On the 15th day, he told his drill instructor that he had autism and he wanted out of the Marines.
Fry's training log shows the drill instructor sent him to get a medical exam. His grandmother was contacted to confirm his autism and according to her testimony, was informed that Fry would be going home.
But he didn't come home.
Marine medical records from training day 14 note that Fry has autism, was receiving disability and had admitted to lying about his history because he thought he wanted to be a Marine. Fry's training log states that the medical officer reported back that "there was nothing wrong with him."
After informing his drill instructor and a medical officer that he was autistic, Fry's problems seemed to vanish. The record doesn't show one negative report for the remaining 10 weeks of camp.
Fry graduated from basic training in April, 2008 and was sent to Camp Pendleton. It was there that he was caught twice with child pornography. He left the base without authorization and was discovered hanging out in the section of Camp Pendleton where he once attended the Young Marines.
Records show Fry never received a psychological evaluation in boot camp, not even after he informed his drill instructor that he was autistic. After he was confined at Camp Pendleton, he received an evaluation to decide if he was fit to stand trial. It was determined that he was competent to stand in his own defense.
Regardless of Fry's mental history, he graduated boot camp and proved his worth as a Marine in that respect, Logan said.
But not everyone sees it that way.
<snip>
She remembers that Teson called looking for Fry during his time in Colorado. She told Teson that her grandson was autistic, was at a lock-down facility and was not Marine material.
"Please take him off your list," she remembers telling him. She said it was the last she heard from the recruiter until after Fry had enlisted.
Fry's defense attorney, Michael Studenka, alleged in court papers that Teson coached Fry to leave his psychological history off the enlistment papers.
<snip>
After a year in confinement at Pendleton, Fry pleaded guilty to charges of unauthorized absences, possession of child pornography and fraudulent enlistment. He received a bad conduct discharge and four years confinement. As part of the plea bargain, the judge suspended three years of his sentence, and released him on time served.
The day of his conviction, Fry's grandmother picked him up from Camp Pendleton and drove him to a behavioral health hospital. He is being treated for his attraction to child pornography, possible bipolar disorder and possible past drug abuse.
"So many of the interventions that we have done have been successful," Mary Beth Fry said. "I am just really hopeful that with the correct and proper interventions everything can be turned around."
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/fry-marine-camp-2507106-recruiter-trainingThe recruiter is still in the Marines. He should be in the brig!
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