Of Ranks and Titles: The Faked Certificates of Sam Lonewolf

 "So far not one judan certificate that I have come across supposedly from my father has turned out to be authentic. Now it is quite possible that my father an 8th dan could have given someone a judan certificate. However, a tenth dan certificate coming from an 8th dan could only be considered honorary at the most, not a promotion. Since my father only claimed to be an 8th dan that would mean the recipient purposely misrepresented it to the public or their students as something more than honorary. This does not however explain the fake certificates like the ones mentioned and pictured above and below."

---Samantha Lonewolf

In January 2022 Gary Lee was contacted by Samantha Lonewolf about his claims to be the inheritor of her father's system of Kenpo. As has been shown Lee has done every dip and dodge devised to get away from that pesky thing called evidence. The evidence? Simple. It shows Lee never inherited a thing from Lonewolf as he had been claiming steadily since 2013, actually within weeks of the man's passing.

So it came as a surprise when Lee invoked the help of the good reverend Donald Miskel. Miskel you see had his own claims to Lonewolf as well as a nifty certificate that he assumed would soothe the anger of Samantha. An email exchange between the two quickly sent him scurrying away and stating he never knew her father at all. Yes, I did publish that in a previous article. 

 

Pictured above: not friends of Sam Lonewolf

And that nifty certificate? It seemed to bring to the table a whole lot of questions. Why would a senior member of the Black Dragon Fighting Society who is now proven to have never had a single known or proven interaction with Lonewolf have one? Who gave it to him? Mind you more disturbing is the fact that Miskel is also friends with Frank Dux himself.

Thanks to good old Miskel the mytery of Sam Lonewolf opened up pathways one never saw coming. And the months afterward have been absolutely entertaining and, dare I say, educational. Because whether he knew it or not Miskel had inadvertently shown to me the scope of how far this went and more importantly who all may be involved. I guess that's the problem with rank-grabs and rank-mills is that eventually the lies that built them become too much to sustain them anymore. And once they start falling well, the entire thing falls down like a mobile home in a tornado, just less gracefully.

Of Ranks and Titles:

The Faked Certificates of Sam Lonewolf

by Gerald J. Greysmith

Certificates abound

At the outset Gary Lee and Donald Miskel offered as their only proof of a connection to Samantha Lonewolf some certificates which they claimed were issued to them by her father. 

Let's start this off with a recap of the emails between Samantha with Lee and Miskel that I think are most important at the moment:

Right from the beginning we see Lee bring Miskel in to head off Samantha. Thing was is that Miskel says something here that is quite interesting. He says he "counter-signed" on the one for Professor Lee. Now that's fascinating. As I have shown in articles prior to this Miskel's alleged association to Lonewolf was fabricated. Why in the world would he feel the need to sign anything for Gary Lee if he himself wasn't ranked in Lonewolf's system?

Continuing:

It took a few emails before Samantha informed him he had no affiliation with her father. He could produce no evidence aside from a certificate that looked suspiciously similar to the one Lee had paraded about on his own social media and websites for almost a decade. 

Well he gave us a certificate, so obviously he was ranked as a 10th dan

by Sam Lonewolf, 8th dan. Case closed....time to go home....pack it up, guys.

An obvious problem was that that Lonewolf himself was NOT a 10th dan in his own system, but 8th dan. This presented a severe issue (and hopefully headache) for the ones giving these as "proof" that they were chosen by Lonewolf as the rightful ones to carry on his art. Samantha was very fast to say this to the two men. And this sent Miskel into hiding ever since. No joke. Not even a response to my email to him on the subject either.

Email from June 25th, 2022:

So by now I've had nothing but time on my hands waiting for a response that I think we all agree is never going to come. While Miskel refuses to answer me or Samantha, Lee himself won't stop emailing me (and occasionally calling me.) He is stoic about his response that he never claimed to be the inheritor....even though he did many times on multiple posts and articles. 

So what did I decide was the final factor in this? The certificates themselves. I knew they were faked, and so did Samantha. Obviously the dates on some were off and the chops were wrong. And we knew the chops were in the hands of someone on Lee's side of the fence. I've long suspected Miskel has them, but can't be sure. And Lee? Well he says they were destroyed because that's what friends do: burn the items of a loved one.

Certificate Forensics

Details about the absolute hilarious fakery which these certificates represent require a bit more explanation and I happen to have resources who can help. You see your buddy Gerald here has at his disposal a few people who are kind of good at graphic design. And I sent them off to be processed and analyzed. At Greysmith Investigations we deal in only the best in terms of evidence. 

So what was the final verdict? According to the lead guy, who asked to be called "RJ", because I deal with lunatics in this endeavor, it was simple. 

The certificates were created on a printer using various apps, images and the chops as a stamp in some cases. These certificates bear evidence of some parts being pre-rendered images created BEFORE the creation of the final product. 

I asked him exactly what programs they used and he said it was narrowed down to around eight or so that he could detect. This would mean:

- Creating .png, .jpeg, .gif and assorted clip arts for rendering items onto a document. This would include the chops, Lonewolf's signature, and caligraphy placed on the document which RJ believed to be done pre-rendering and scanned in with the document itself.

- Creating topical layers for each item to be placed between each other thereby adding a layer of realism and flair to the overall document.

- Ensuring the layers were stacking in order to make sure it could pass for authenticity to the casual observer.

- Lastly, a final program would load them together to give a document that resembled a certificate complete with signatures and words specifically geared to that document.

The most intriguing part he said was the handwriting.

Additionally using a handwriting analysis program RJ insisted much of the writing on them were done by the same person at different times using different types of pens. For example two comparisons of Lonewolf's signature show signs of the handwriting coming from one person, but with different types of instruments.

RJ states that according to the program the top signature was written by whoever signed Lonewolf to Miskel's as well. His report states that it has a lot of the same characteristics as another signature on the "Peter Lee" one:

According to the report the most original one seems to be issued to Gary Lee and was done in a slightly off-kilter way. The writing still bears characteristics of later certificates and this is highly suspicious.

 

The word "Judan" here is according to RJ the dead giveaway. He said the ones on Gary Lee's were a bit different, but they were also the earliest examples he was given.

His final analysis:  the certificates were faked using photo programs, someone with the same handwriting is signing them, and Lonewolf's signature and chops were often seen as images added on in layers of the rendered document. He also stated this may have been abandoned later except in cases where the certificates were being given to someone of importance. Otherwise the rank and file people were given the shoddy photocopies which when examined had many of the same giveaways as the professional versions. Looking at the untouched original certificates from Sam Lonewolf given to his actual students the handwriting from him is completely different from the ones which have been presented by those such as Lee, Miskel and others which have come to the public eye. It is without a doubt these certificates were fabricated after his death.

Based on the forensic evidence presented now it is without a doubt that the certificates presented by Gary Lee, Donald Miskel and others were not filled out by Sam Lonewolf, his students or anyone on his register of authorized instructors. These certificates paraded about by Lee and his friends are without a doubt fraudulent and should be seen as so.

Samantha's Blog

Many of you don't know but I have made it clear in my previous writings that Samantha Lonewolf herself has a blog discussing this situation. I urge you all to go read it. As I have said when the loved ones or victims come forward we want to give them the full attention they need for these situations. 

I am going to quote her blog here so we can lay to rest any idea that ANYONE was ranked Judan in Sam Lonewolf's system:

"Not one of my father's longtime personal students and blackbelts holds a tenth dan rank in 

my father's system. My father wasn't a tenth dan. My father did not claim to be a 

grandmaster, he did not have hundreds of blackbelts under him. My father had an 8th dan in

Kenpo and Karate and he had studied Judo. He did not consider himself a Grand master 

even in his own system, only a hachi dan (8th degree black belt). My father based his rank 

in his system on the ranks he already attained in kenpo and karate. He did receive a 

Meritorious Service award where he was awarded a tenth-degree black belt in his own 

system posthumously.

My father did not charge for lessons or rank or certificates. He taught for free. Everyone 

regardless of rank got the same big certificates. It wasn’t a business to him. So those in 

league with Mr. Lee who are selling these certificates are not honoring my father in any 

way.

My father’s list of blackbelts is small. It is easy to verify who actually trained with him and 

who did not. He did not train anyone from 2010 onward, he simply couldn't anymore. He 

did not refer to his system as “kosho ryu kenpo karate or jiujitsu. He identified as a Native 

American and things were done very much in the Native American way, even the naming 

of his system and how it was structured. My father's system and lineage, if you will, is 

protected and will remain guarded. Out of my father’s blackbelts there is only one person 

that actually teaches what my father taught, you want a rank go to him train with him. He 

is the one the system solely lies with. This was decided by the family and by the council 

that my own father appointed, in other words, done the way my father wanted it to be done. 

All others have no claims."

To date while Miskel has disappeared and others have grown silent, Mr. Lee has literally recanted and back pedaled on all previous statements regarding his so called "inheritance" of Lonewolf's system. He has also recently claimed in an email to no longer have any affiliation with Don Miskel. 

Could it be that Miskel and others in the BDFS put Gary Lee up to this long running ruse? It seems collectively they all had a hand in the hi jacking of Sam Lonewolf's system. 

Does a certain member of the IFAA Black Dragons purposely target elderly or dead Martial artists to take advantage of them for the sole purpose of appropriating their histories and styles? To misquote or misrepresent them so that he can bolster his own agenda. And do the other IFAA BDFS members just go along?

Yes, Gary Lee has now stated his rank is fake. 

Samantha has presented a valid point in closing this out and it should be addressed. It appears that this is just one of many elderly or deceased martial artists who members of the Black Dragon Fighting Society have inserted themselves into the history of in order to make themselves appear as more than they are. I mean with Sam Lonewolf they just outright ran away with the entire thing and made good for a decade with it before it caught up to them all thanks to Samantha standing her ground time after time. She has a right to tell her father's story. Little did I know what I'd see as I stepped into this with her is that the evidence of what was done to her family is showing up in other places and with other people. How many have they done this to? How many are out there who's entire lineage was hijacked?

As of now Gary has not only stated his rank is fake, but has also stated that Miskel's ranks were his own doing. He is pointing the finger at everyone else. 

To quote Samantha again:

"Mr. Lee to this day hasn't removed anything. He is more interested in spinning his misrepresentations to avoid any legal culpability for his actions. I don't care how many ways Mr. Lee, Mr. Miskel or other's try to spin things, they never represented my father or his system in ANY capacity at all. They had no claim legal or otherwise to his system or anything else that belonged to my father. They weren't my father's friends close or otherwise. They had no position in my father's council and were not among my father's list of students or black belts. This alone eliminates any and all claims. My father certainly didn't issue certificates after he passed away. They stole from the Lonewolf family and have taken advantage of my father since his passing."

As this story draws to a close we can lay to rest the many lies of Gary Lee, Donald Miskel and others who had these ranks, partly thanks to those who came forward demanding answers as well. I now look ahead to the path opening ahead of me. Sam's legacy has led me right to the top of the Black Dragon Fighting Society with even more questions which demand answers. This story has people talking and some of the worst offenders are staying quiet. Maybe it's time they had a reason to talk again. Perhaps some of these claims shouldn't be disputed, but they need to be disproven. 

And it seems like I'm just the troll to do it. 

Cue the lightning and maniacal laughter, fellas.