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Army Recruiter Threatens Recruit With Arrest

HeadlineMay 12, 2005

And it seems that some recruiters have resorted to threatening recruits. In late April in Houston recruiter, Sgt. Thomas Kelt, threatened to have a prospect arrested if he resisted recruiting efforts. Kelt left a voice mail message on the cell phone of 20 year old Christopher Monarch ordering him to show up for an appointment — under the false pretense that Monarch would be violating the law if he didn’t. This is a recording of that voicemail obtained by Houston TV station KHOU:

“Hey Chris, this is Sgt. Kelt with the Army man. I think we got disconnected. Okay, I know you were on your cell probably and just had a bad connection or something like that. I know you didn’t hang up on me. Anyway, by federal law you got an appointment with me at 2 o’clock this afternoon at Greenspoint Mall, okay? That’s the Greenspoint Mall Army Recruiting Station at 2 o’clock. You fail to appear and we’ll have a warrant. Okay? So give me a call back.”

That was army recruiter Sgt. Thomas Kelt leaving a voicemail on a prospective recruit’s voicemail. Kelt reportedly said that threatening to issue an arrest warrant was a “marketing technique.” Army officials confirm the threat was made.

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