The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-11-09
DECORAED GEN. ALLEN
Posing As King Albert's Envoy, Swind-
 Ter Pinned Medal On American

I
 Posing As King Albert's Entoy, Swind' Ter Pinned Medal On American July IA a man who had registered at hotel on the Avenue des Ternes as "Ardagnan de Sabreuse, officer or ma management that he couldn't settie ms station when he informed the hotei management that he couldn't settle ms account. At the station he declared that his real name was Yvan Morcetti, born December %, 1905, at Moscow, and that he was student.
 The following day the police discov- cred that their man was in reality an internationally known swindler, wanted by the authorities all over France and At one time ordered deported from the country. one Stephane Otto, born De cember 25, 1899, at Liege, Belgium, the son of Caroline Otto, a German woman.
 Otto, it appears, had perpetrated va rious swindles at Biarritz, Bayonne, St. Calais Gin the Sarthe) and Le Mans. Arrested at Rennes, he had been re- leased for lack of evidence. From there he went to St. Malo and Dinard, where he was hospitably entertained by some priests to whom he introduced himself as "Plessis de Grenedant," naval of- ficcr and nephew of Cardinal Char OSt. -
 July 12 he turned up at Fontaine- bleou' where he stole a blank order signed by the major of the garrison which entitled him ot receive eighth grams, of cocaine from the military hospital. Two days later he was ar rested in Paris.
 Accused of the illegal wearing of decorations, violation of the laws gov erning the sale and distribution or mar cotics, the forgery and use Of false pass, ports and the evasion of an order or deportation, the Belgian appeared re, gently before the twelfth correctionai chamber. Dr. Bonnet, the alientist who examined him, decided that ne was mentally unbalanced, If not lrrespon- sibly.
 Otto's counsel. Gabriel 'Delattre, re- late the remarkbgfe adventurous ca reer of his young client as the latter narrated it.
 In 1924, Otto then 15 years old, it apnears. was made a prisoner by che German invaders of Belgium and sen fenced to death, He escaped and, en- listing in the Belgian army, fought Tn Flanders, where he was three times wounded and, he declares,- three times cited. 7Ett@
 The truth as to the citations has not been established, but it appears that ln 1916 he was enrolled in special Bel gian command and held under suspi- cion because of the nationality of his mother. He says that after the armi- stice he became General Wrangefs sec retary and, following the generals de- bacle, was refugee at Constantinople, where he employed his enforced leisure reciting poetry to the harem inmates.
 Last year a Belgian, council of war sentenced him by default to year in prison for having presented himself to the American army of occupation in Germany as a special envoy of King Al bert. On that occasion he actually pinned a decoration on General Allen before the assembled American troops. When this was discovered the Belgian government hastily "confirmed' Otto's decoration.
 The court, taking cognizance of the defendants mental condition, sentenced him to six months in prison. When he has served this sentence he will be deported.-Le Petit Parisien.