SAN DIEGO -- Thom Tullis, who is well-known to San Diego's social elite as an Air Force Colonel, is being called a fraud by a veterans' group that claims his title and medals weren't earned. Now, the man who boasted of being highly-decorated is telling 10News that the accusations are part of a vendetta and that this report, which has caught the interest of the FBI, could get him killed.

Tullis' pictures grace the society pages and he likes to rub elbows with San Diego's movers and shakers.

"I met him through a social event," said Matt Shillingburg, who met Tullis five years ago. "I told him I had retired as a captain in the Army and he said, 'Glad to meet you, I'm Col. Tullis and I'm an Air Force colonel."

Shillingburg has a picture of Tullis in full military uniform taken at a party last year. He said Tullis claimed he piloted a B-52 during the Vietnam War. Shillingburg also said Tullis said he was the commanding officer at March Air Force Base.

"He said he was in Vietnam in combat missions and more recently he said that he had been part of the bombing run in Tora Bora to try to find Osama Bin Laden,” Shillingburg said.

Tullis also said he worked with Oliver North in Nicaragua. He told 10News he was on covert missions and testified against powerful people, which made him a target for persecution.

Robert Elridge also knows Tullis and said the he often made a point of his rank.

"He told me he outranked me because I'm a Lt. Colonel, a pilot, and he's a full colonel," Elridge said.

Tullis, who is from Solana Beach, decorated his military uniform with among the highest military honors one can receive.

"I saw him wearing an Air Force Cross, the highest medal you can receive in the Air Force, a Silver Star and a Purple Heart," said Shillingburg.

Records showed the medals that Tullis displays prominently were not earned, and after 10News' report, the FBI has taken an interest in Tullis.

“We are aware of your news story concerning that particular individual who is allegedly involved in this kind of activity,” said Darrell Foxworth, Special Agent with the FBI in San Diego.

"He's a fraud," said Mary Schantag, who runs the veterans' services group called The POW Network. Her online database, the "Wall of Shame," has exposed thousands of phony heroes.

"This is an epidemic across the country. Our website alone lists 3,700 frauds and impersonators," she said.

Tullis is now one of those posted impersonators. The proof is in his real military record and discharge papers, obtained by the POW Network through the Freedom of Information Act.

"We show no record of awards of valor of any kind," Schantag pointed out.

She said Tullis was really a staff sergeant who mostly worked in supply, not combat.

"I was in shock," said Elridge.

"To me, that's very disgraceful, having served in the military honorably for over 20 years," Shillingburg added.

It's not only a disgrace to wear a medal like a Purple Heart when unearned or to impersonate an officer, it could be a crime under the Stolen Valor Act.

Foxworth said it’s the only misdemeanor the FBI investigates.

“Anyone caught violating the statute could serve up to one year in jail and have several thousand dollars in fines assessed,” he said.

Last month, a Ramona man who posed as a major general and wore two Purple Hearts was convicted.

Tullis was not easy to reach to respond to the accusations. His home in Temecula, where he claimed to neighbors to have a secret bunker, is foreclosed. After multiple attempts, it was finally through e-mail that 10News heard from Tullis.

"There is no story here," he wrote. "The FBI investigated my background in 2008."

10News was told by a former friend of Tullis that he was in fact reported to the FBI previously, but not with a picture showing him in uniform with the medals on his chest.

Additionally, Tullis wrote, "My military records are 'classified' and are only available on a 'need-to-know' basis."

"As soon as someone gets out in public and says my missions were classified, it's a huge red flag," Schantag pointed out. "They're looking to be somebody they're not, to be a hero to somebody."

Tullis warned 10News that his mission and life would be in jeopardy if the story was reported.

His email said, "… you are going to get me killed, and I have the right to bear arms under the 2nd Amendment to protect myself so that doesn't happen."

Tullis said the accusations are all part of a vendetta against him that was launched when he accused a Rancho Santa Fe real estate agent of fraud.

Foxworth said, “I can’t confirm or deny any investigation, but again we do have criminal laws that do address this particular behavior.”