Kevin Conde
Kevin Conde is a former United States Air Force Security Police NCO who was stationed at RAF Woodbridge and RAF Bentwaters (now abandoned) in England, best known for an alleged prank on fellow security personnel relating to a UFO sighting known as the Rendlesham Forest Incident. The incident was covered by the BBC documentary program 'Inside Out'. According to an 'exclusive confession' made to the BBC, this claim was a hoax.[1]
Conde was a Law Enforcement Specialist assigned to RAF Bentwaters between 1978 and 1981.
Conde became aware of the “Rendlesham Forest Incident almost 15 years after it was originally reported. Upon learning of the incident Conde contacted researcher James Easton in 2001 and related that he had played a practical joke on a Security Specialist assigned as a gate guard at the East Gate of RAF Woodbridge. The practical joke occurred during the same general time as the “Rendlesham Forest Incident”, and the circumstances of the practical joke were remarkably similar to the description of the UFO reported by several witnesses.
Conde told Easton that he used the bright white spotlight of his patrol vehicle along with his red and blue emergency lights and green and blue military flashlights to fool the gate guard into thinking he saw a UFO.
Conde has never claimed he was the UFO. He only claimed that he played a practical joke that is remarkably similar to the description of the witnesses. His role in the Rendlesham Forest incident has been widely misreported, and/or his statements taken out of context by believers.
Conde continued as a police officer after retiring from the USAF and was a sworn police office with the Marysville, CA Police department from 2001 through 2015. He was initially retired as a detective corporal in 2013 due to a knee replacement that was the result of a line of duty injury. He continued as a retired annuitant working as a detective until 2015. From 2009 until 2013 he was a member of the Sacramento Valley High Tech Crimes Task Force. He worked all manner of cases to include on-line child predation, child molestation, sexual assaults, attempted homicide, and homicide.
Conde is originally from Yuma, Arizona.
References
External links
- BBC article stating incident was a hoax
- BBC Slideshow related to incident
- Was the Rendlesham Forest incident a hoax? (Includes Conde's original statement made in 2001.)
- Claim investigated by UFOlogist who also found it to be a hoax