Where Does Misguided End and Fraud Begin?

One of best parts of the internet in recent months has been the debut of a radio station ran by a group called Uncle Sam’s Misguided Children. Edgy music, dispersed with anti-Obama tirades, combined with a bad boy style pirate branding have made it attractive to a global audience of those under 40. What makes it work is the appeal of the network to audiences that traditionally vote for Democratic candidates. Combined with news staff from the  Examiner like Joe Newby, the Uncle Sam’s branding has carried a conservative style message to an audience that would traditionally not seek it. Wrapped in the Hispanic voices such as Rafa Mora, or as bad boy monikers such as Mayhem and Tank, the station resonates good, old-fashion patriotic themes, Cuban conservatism, free market capitalism, military service, and many other themes that appeal to a large cross section of America. They were able to draw on angst over the state of the nation and transport the discontent of the current national leaders, both Republican and Democrat, into expression in popular culture.

It was a masterpiece reminiscent of "Rock the Casbah."

They had a fan page that was no small matter; it grew to well over 60,000 "likes" on Facebook in a very short amount of time. It also made them a target of sorts for competitors and Facebook moderators.  Like  many pages that were "taken down" over this past year, Uncle Sam's Misguided Children" was one of the pages that met the wrath of Facebook's conservative crackdowns. Unlike most groups, they were actually targeted by a Congresswoman who felt the group was a shame to the military. That peaked my interest all that much more, because irritating Democratic Congresswomen is regarded by many, including myself, to be an entertaining past time. Finding a way to make money doing it made it all that more attractive.

It seemed a shame for them to "hog up" all the fun.

They restarted the page under the name America's Misguided Children, and opened a Facebook group titled Uncle Sam's Misguided Children. The group continued to have problems with Facebook and decided to roll out their own social media. Despite Facebook's best efforts, the group grew to large numbers in a short time. They developed a large group of volunteer staff, and a very successful organization began to emerge from the ashes of Facebook persecution.

At least, that is how it appeared to those on the outside. 

Then the bottom caved in. T-Shirts, the sales of which drive revenue to maintain the website, did not appear to be arriving to those ordering them. Despite the advertising that “No Hacker’s Allowed,” it seemed that those who logged into the Uncle Sam’s Webpage would receive a key logger program that would access their bank account when they logged into the web site. (To check your computer, go to C:/windows/livekernel and see if KeyLogger or other programs are there).

Along the lines of the misguided path, those who have logged into Uncle Sam's Misguided Children's web site should carefully check their bank statements. There are some who have reported double and triple billing by the web site, and others who suggested far worse. Misguided or fraudulent, it depends upon perspective and intent, but the results are the same.  When one does business with someone who uses a pirate based logo on the high seas of the intent, finding a scalawag or two is hardly shocking.

Malware Bytes is also very good software to run in case you are unsure about things. It is strongly recommended by the admins who left the group, apparently en masse a few days ago.


While Uncle Sam's Misguided Children claim "No Hackers Allowed"  Robert Rice, the IT person for Uncle Sam’s has an interesting background which includes the White House and OpSec. He has a friends list of interesting folks that includes the recently deposed President of Egypt, Mohammed Morsi. For a group that claims to disdain Hackers and the Muslim Brotherhood, that is a tie that is quite disconcerting, particularly given the marketing niche of the group is one that opposes Obama and the Muslim Brotherhood.   Is Obama trying to make money off trashing him as well as those supporting him? Are they using this group to develop a database for Obama? It makes you wonder ....

Staff departures have also become problematic. "Stage names" for DJs were curated and originally consistent people filled the personae. It gave the sound stage a consistent feel. However, as staff left, the “stage names” of the personalities used clearly had “rotating” people in that personae,  eroding the “genuine feel” that the group had at the beginning. Undelivered T-shirts, hacking, and long hours by volunteers have taken their toll. As t-shirt and billing problems came to the attention of staff and  DJs on the front lines became frustrated over customer issues, questions were raised and rebuffed by management. When answers were not forthcoming, it became a serious morale issue.  A large number of their DJs and staff left. Those that have stayed have clear ties to strange connections, like the  Examiner, the White House IT, or Leatherneck Marketing, LLC.

Like all things masterful, there is usually a master behind it. 

 According to sources at the heart of the Uncle Sam’s, the core of the operations is not a “team of veterans making t-shirts” At its core, the T-Shirt Operation employing “veterans” is really one guy with an ironing board. I will take him at his word that he is a veteran. Now, this isn't a bad thing necessarily, and on the face of it, it would seem to be a business that simply grew too fast to keep pace with demand. It was heavy on marketing, but a solo production outfit. Clearly, expansion should have taken place in production. Sadly, this is the point where things seemed to have taken a turn for the worse. Rather than admitting they were over their head and taking the high road, it appears they took a misguided path. This is hardly surprising, for they do claim to be “misguided” children.

For those wondering, Uncle Sam’s Misguided Children is owned by Leatherneck Marketing LLC. It is based out of Sarasota, Florida. When you buy one of those t-shirts, your payment is sent to a paypal owned by Leatherneck as shown in the screenshot below.

According to Visulate,  Leatherneck Marketing LLC is based in Sarasota, Florida. There is one sole owner of Leatherneck Marketing who is listed as Pedro Ferran. In the spirit of misguided children, Pedro has had a few scrapes with Florida's finest law enforcement, but then, it has been those encounters that give the misguided moniker a genuine feel. Sadly for Pedro Ferran, Florida takes its driving laws a bit more serious than he does. But one would expect no less from America's misguided.

 Anyway, Leatherneck is clearly Pedro Ferran. It is registered with several addresses, and one of them is consistent with his rap sheet, so it is the same gentleman. Another address associated with the LLC is this one below at 1900 Main, in Sarasota County, Florida. 

For those who would have not received their t-shirt or who have unresolved billing problems, the hotline to the Attorney General’s office  in Florida is 1-866-966-7226. Clearly, the number listed on the receipt for the LLC is directory information, not the LLC itself.

Now, why is this of interest to me, for I normally do not concern myself with these sort of matters. The obvious problems are the billing problems and lack of product problems. However, one could, in theory, chalk this up to a business that grew beyond its capacity to deliver. But given Uncle Sam's associations, that capacity to deliver should have been there.

What peaked my interest was the use of the employment of  Examiner  writers and the attempt to connect to groups that are targeted by the GOP’s operations. It is long established that the Examiner is connected to big names in the industry like Gannet, Disney, and AOL. It is no secret that there is a data driven effort to to engage urban,  youth, and minority populations into the political process.  Uncle Sam’s Misguided Children has all the elements of a front for the establishment elite. 

Is it? 

If so, then those involved should take a closer look at their operations. Perhaps they should consider resumes and back ground checks a bit more carefully in their next set of operations.  Being misguided is one thing, but there is a line between misguided and criminal. It sounds like Pedro found the line.

As a side note, Pedro is the quintessential entrepreneur. He has a quite diversified portfolio of businesses, including a company that is able to sell financial instruments. His other business listings can be found below for the curious investor to research and evaluate.

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I hope his ability to deliver in those industries is better than his ability to deliver on t-shirts.