Family Outraged to Find Photo of Fallen Green Beret Being Used for Fake Facebook, Online Dating Accounts

Army Staff Sgt. Matthew Pucino, a Green Beret, was killed in action in 2009 while fighting in Afghanistan. But recently his likeness made its way onto phony Facebook and online dating accounts, outraging his family.

Matthew Pucino died in combat in 2009, but his family recently learned someone was using his image in fake Facebook and dating site accounts. (Image source: Matthew A. Pucino Memorial Foundation, Ltd/Facebook)

"I was about coming out of my skin. I don't even know how to describe it, I mean the anger it was hard to sleep that night I was so furious that someone would disrespect his name and pose as Matthew. He's a fallen hero," Pucino's sister Lisa Haglof told Boston's WFXT-TV after she learned someone claiming to live in Dallas had used his image as their Facebook profile picture.

Pucino's photo, which was also used to create an account on an online dating site, was taken from the Matthew A. Pucino Memorial Foundation website, according to his family.

"He died for this country; he died for everyone in it. Let him rest in peace," Haglof said.

Haglof told WBZ-TV she finds it "absolutely despicable that somebody would do this."

The Bourne, Mass., family asked Facebook to remove the profile, which the social media site did as of Thursday morning. But Haglof told WFXT the amount of time it took -- three days -- for Facebook for remove the impersonator was "disgraceful."

Watch this report from WBZ with the family expressing their disappointment and anger over the situation:

WBZ reported that Facebook said it takes "seriously all reports of fake accounts on Facebook and remove these for violating our community standards. We apologize to the family for the inconvenience.”

The family is investigating who might have created the fake accounts.

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