Belinda Strickland, the Democratic candidate for Russell County Probate Judge is heavily promoting being what she describes as a “21-year military veteran” as a core focus of her campaign. According to a high volume of reports from voters in Russell County, Strickland’s claims of military service would be logistically inaccurate. One resident, Navy veteran Mike Foy, first noticed Strickland’s claims on Facebook and then visited her personal LinkedIn page to gain further information. He tried reaching out to Strickland personally, but never received a response.
“As I started watching from a distance and hearing things about Strickland’s past I said okay I’m going to do my own research,” Mike Foy, Navy Chief Petty Officer (Ret.) told Yellowhammer News. “So I went on to her LinkedIn and looked at her Facebook posts. I noticed that she started saying that she was a military veteran. I’d heard that before and then I went and looked at her background and it doesn’t say anything about being in the military.”
“My concern was wait a minute is this woman trying to get away with claiming she’s a veteran?”
Foy told Yellowhammer News that he reached out to Strickland through Facebook about her service record and was never given a response. A short time later, however, the resident got the unexpected opportunity to ask Strickland face-to-face about her service record at a recent campaign-related event. From the outset of the conversation, Foy said it was clear Strickland was not forthcoming with her answers.
“We said, ‘Where did you serve? What branch?’ She said ‘I served in the Navy for ten years and then I applied for warrant officer in the Army.’ I noticed after the fact that she said ‘applied.’” Foy asked her if she would be willing to publicly produce a copy of her military ID. Strickland declined, saying that she didn’t always carry it with her.
Strickland also said the security clearance she was authorized for during her career was both ‘classified’ and ‘sensitive’. A recent report obtained by Yellowhammer News indicates this claim would be legally and logistically impossible.
According to LexisNexis, Strickland has a lengthy criminal and arrest history, spanning from 1997 to 2013. Strickland was charged with a felony in Texas in 1999. The felony was for property theft between $1,500 and $20,000. According to the Bell County Public Odyssey Portal, this felony case was dismissed in February 2000.
In September 1999, an extradition was filed to move Strickland from Ohio to Texas. Ohio officials declared that it was the responsibility of the state of Texas to transport Strickland. It does not appear that Texas officials ever went through with the extradition. The filing appears related to the July 1999 felony theft charge, which was dismissed in early 2000.
The report flagged a 1997 traffic case in South Carolina as a felony, however, a search of the Lexington County Eleventh Judicial Circuit Public Index did not indicate anything more than a speeding violation with minimal court fees assessed.
She has also filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy four times between 1994 and 2013 in Georgia, Ohio, and North Carolina. In the most recent filing, from April 2013, Strickland was the sole petitioner. The filing was dismissed due to failure to make payments.
This all occurred while Strickland was supposedly serving in the military.
Foy stressed that he is not claiming that Strickland never served in the Army. He is only hoping that she will provide proof and that it was honorable service. Foy claims that he and others in the community have been blocked on social media by Strickland after continued inquiry.
Yellowhammer News requested a response for this story from Strickland, including any documentation to help validate her claims, but did not receive a response.
Austen Shipley is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on X @ShipleyAusten
