US Marshals arrested Dicken outside a home in Garfield, Arkansas on a warrant from Nevada. The charge -- possession of a firearm by a felon. As Dan Noyes reported one year ago, Dicken has convictions for burglary, receiving stolen property, forgery and child concealing.
Tony Overstreet, Deputy US Marshal, announced at the arrest, "Mr. Dicken was out front of the residence, he was getting ready to take the children to school, everything went smoothly."
Retired Navy SEAL Don Shipley was thrilled by Dicken's arrest -- he helped on our first reports. Shipley spends much of his time exposing the fakes, using a SEAL database. He told Dan by Skype from his Chesapeake, Virginia home, the FBI is also on the case: "The FBI had done a lot of work. They sat down right at this very desk, two agents, for over two hours going over it. And they're very thorough. They're going to cross the T's and dot the I's and build that case."
The lead detective from the Carson City Sheriff's Office told Dan, last year's I-Team reports played a role in his investigation. We showed Dicken firing all sorts of weapons on videos he made, of training classes he held in Carson City. He convinced these doctors to invest heavily in that business, and in a security firm Dicken launched to get contracts from the United Nations.
Dan: "All told, how much money did you give AJ Dicken?"
Dr. Greg Ginn: "$375,000."
Dan: "How about you, Brian?"
Dr. Brian Romaneschi: "About the same amount."
Dan: "Almost $400,000?"
Dr. Brian Romaneschi: "Yes."
And Dan introduced you to a documentary producer who paid Dicken $50,000 for his life story, based on claims that he's the most decorated Navy SEAL in history who made one, high-profile kill.
Harry Vested: "He was the one that actually shot Osama Bin Laden."
Dan: "And you bought that?"
Harry Vested: "No, I knew that this was a charade at this point, there was no question about it."
As the pressure mounted on Dicken, he hit the road and we were able to track him down last year at his mother's house in Southern California.
Dan: "AJ, I need to talk to you about your Navy SEAL background."
Dicken: "I don't have a Navy SEAL background."
Dan: "You told a lot of people that, didn't you?"
Dicken: "No, I did not."
Dan: "You have a line of people who are claiming you scammed them out of a lot of money."
Dicken: "No."
Investigators tell Dan that's part of the FBI's case. By the way, Dicken's wife also has an arrest warrant in Carson City, for contempt of court. She failed to provide a judge with proof that her dog had been fixed.
