Last week I posted about teachers who taught through youtube. If you want to read it, just hit the "previous" button at the bottom of this page. One of the people I used as an example was a man named Ron Collins. It turns out that a few hours after I posted my blog, Collins was arrested for possessing sexual explicit child pornography.

http://www.register-herald.com/local/x733696226/Local-news

I would remind folks that Collins had already served time for what he had done with a girl that seems to have been 13 at the time.

People wonder why I dislike frauds so much and why I bother. As Edmund Burke wrote, "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." It amazes me that so many people are fine with the idea that people can lie about their martial arts background. Some folks associate with them for their own benefit. I have railed against soke councils in a prior blog. They are filled with people with dodgy backgrounds. Yet others join up and go to their dinners to gain some respectability in the eyes of others. Is it not ironic that many of these folks join in order to gain some sort of rise in status by associating with a soke board, and yet when it is pointed out that the group is filled with frauds they whine that they should not be considered guilty by association?

It amazes me that so few people are willing to take a stand against this sort of thing. I know it does not make one popular to be so negative and that can take away from your cash flow. I also have experienced a lot of grief and attacks for pointing out that people are frauds and some people just don't seem willing to put up with that sort of trouble just to save some innocents. It is a sad state that so many people who claim to be teaching martial arts with the excuse of bettering the world sit on the sidelines and merely watch while Collins uses his claims to do what he does…. to children. Beware of folks that claim to be fighting for the truth and a better world, but won't distance themselves from folks like Collins.

I am not talking about going on a crusade against frauds. In fact the martial arts message board I am a junior moderator (budoseek.net) at has a "no fraud busting" rule in place. If someone makes claims and is on our boards, they can be challenged (as they should be.) But using our board to run a crusade is not allowed. We have found that a lot of people try to use the accusations of fraud for their own political end. So people who have made strange claims have been tossed, but we don't let it get out of hand. That is a good balance in my opinion. We tossed Ron Collins when we heard about his first conviction of fooling around with a minor, but he had stopped posting there after his bizarre martial arts claims had been questioned years prior to it.

A few days before he was nabbed, Collins put together a rather rambling video detailing what he claims was a conspiracy theory against him. In hindsight, his brief mention of child pornography is telling. It is probable that he knew someone was going to go to the police and he was trying to get those still too stupid to see the truth about him to continue to suspend common sense. I would advise watching all 24 minutes of it only if you are interested in seeing just how desperate most frauds can get in trying to explain away the truth.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1Qeyn92rRM&feature=relmfu

It is interesting that at just short of the five minute mark, Collins claims that his case was thrown out. Yet if you look at the following link to a news source,

http://www.register-herald.com/policecourts/x519093650/Man-gets-one-year-in-jail

It is quite clear that he was convicted of the charge.

At this point, you really have to wonder about his credibility. You may note that he never shows any evidence at all for his version of events or his conspiracy theories. He waves pieces of paper around, but no one but him can see him and confirm that they are authentic or say what he claims.

His talk of a large conspiracy against him, as well as his talk of how all the evidence he had for it was burned in a fire would really only be taken seriously by the terminally stupid. Well, there are a lot of folks like that out there.

This brings up a point, how do you spot a fraud? The best way is to just determine if they can confirm the claims they make about what happened to them or what they went through. That is pretty much it. In all of Collins' claims in that video, he presents not a single piece of evidence that anyone else could use to confirm what he says on their own. The same goes for his story of being trained as a child by a Japanese teacher. I know folks who have been fooled by frauds. They are quite eager to prove what happened to them. Most of them are pretty decent and trustworthy and are guilty of nothing more than being a bit gullible. But when someone says they were in the military, or fought in a secret tournament, or learned from a mysterious Japanese teacher and then won't give proof to their claims….run! Collins' case proves that frauds are rarely bad in just one area.

If anyone thinks Collins is an exception, I point to the case of Bryce Dallas. He too claimed to have been taught by a teacher that he won't let folks like me contact. He claimed the title of "Shidoshi", which is actually a term created by Hatsumi of the Bujinkan and not an historical title but he claimed it was passed onto him by his teacher. He is dead now, but I had a small part in the collapse of the cult he built up. After people left, they started comparing notes. Here is a statement of one of those that left.

"Anywho, things have just now been brought to my attention that I did not know at the time. I have found out though sources that I do not wish to revel, that Shidoshi did some things to my oldest daughter. Now of course this will be turned around, on Stasya, because she is slow, and of a low I.Q, but you must ask yourself if more than one person makes the same statement and they have not talked is it true or is it a lie?"

People making false claims about whom they trained with, setting themselves up as martial arts teachers and then abusing young children. It seems a very common pattern.

If you are considering a teacher for you or your children it is vital that you check out the teacher's background. Sadly this is getting harder and harder as the morally bankrupt use things like soke councils and fake certificates to fool the unwary. Beginners do not know what to look for. Things that set off my alarms do not register to a mother doing a quick internet search. But they must try. If you know someone, you should help them avoid the traps out there.

For those who do martial arts, a line in the sand must be drawn against these fraudulent predators. Those who lie can't be overlooked. Not only do we need to speak out against those that make claims about what happened to them but won't prove it, but we must distance ourselves from those that look the other way. A person who stays silent while a child is being molested is almost as guilty as the pervert himself, and those that don't care that someone is a fraud enable them to abuse others.

In this day and age, taking a stand does not make you popular and won't make you as much money. But some things are worth more than 30 pieces of silver. I myself do not want to look in the mirror and see the reflection of a man who let harm happened to children because he was afraid to take a stand.

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http://www.coloradospringsninjutsu.com/Blog/Archive.html