General Discharged

A 69-year-old San Diego County man pleaded guilty Thursday to a federal charge of posing as a decorated Marine major general.

David Weber entered the plea Thursday to a misdemeanor charge of making false claims about military decorations or medals. Weber, who has prostate cancer and Parkinson's disease, is expected to be sentenced to a year of probation.

In fact, Weber was a Marine staff sergeant, but he claimed to be a retired major general last November at a Veterans of Foreign Wars party in Ramona, according to investigators. The Ramona man wore a full dress uniform with five Legion of Merit medals, two Purple Hearts and a Distinguished Service Cross, authorities said.

Weber, posing as the highest-ranking officer at the event in Ramona, got the first piece of cake at the party, which honored the birthday of the corps.

Weber offered apologies after the story was first broken by the Ramona Sentinel, telling the paper that he loved the Marine Corps very much and that he regretted his actions.

"I have often said that God gave us one mouth and two ears so that we would listen more than we talk," Weber told the paper. "I did not follow that advice."