Navy SEAL who claimed to have killed bin Laden was arrested in Texas
The Navy SEAL who became famous for publicly claiming to have killed Usama bin Laden has been arrested in Texas.
Robert J. O’Neill, the 47-year-old former member of SEAL Team Six, was arrested in Frisco, Texas and charged with assault and public intoxication, according to a New York Post report Saturday.
O’Neill was arraigned in Frisco and released the same day on $3,500 bail while prison records only listed the assault charge, the report said.
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Former member of SEAL Team Six, Robert J. O’Neill. (NNS, WVLT, CBS)
The former SEAL was in town to record a podcast at a cigar lounge.
Frisco Police did not immediately respond to a Fox News request for comment.
O’Neill rose to fame after publicly claiming to be the Navy SEAL who killed Usama bin Laden during the infamous raid on his Pakistan compound in May 2011, eventually telling the story in his 2017 book The Operator .
Former Navy SEAL Robert J. O’Neill speaks at a conference. (NNS, WVLT, CBS)
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The book’s publication was controversial within the special warfare community, which typically adheres to a code of silence during covert missions. The US government has never corroborated O’Neill’s account of the raid, while his former fellow SEAL Matt Bissonnette claimed in a book of his own that O’Neill’s story was false. Another SEAL fired the shots that killed the notorious terrorist mastermind, Bissonnette said.
According to a report by the WNCT, O’Neill has had previous run-ins with law enforcement, including a 2016 arrest on suspicion of driving under the influence in his native Montana. In that case, authorities said they found O’Neill asleep in the driver’s seat of his still-running car. O’Neil pleaded not guilty to the case, arguing he was “taking a prescribed sleeping pill to help with a long history of severe insomnia.”
Prosecutors eventually agreed to drop the charges after finding his medication was to blame, although he was charged with negligent endangerment under an agreement that allowed him to stay prosecution while he was on a treatment plan with the Department of Veterans Affairs attended.
Robert J. O’Neill attends the Salute to Heroes Service Gala benefiting the National Foundation for Military Family Support. (Michael Tullberg/Getty Images)
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O’Neill was also banned from flying Delta Airlines in 2020 after posting a photo of himself not wearing a mask on a flight despite a COVID requirement in place at the time.
O’Neil did not immediately respond to a Fox News request for comment.