Bragg WO2 admits to theft of $1.1 million in equipment
FrostyCWO sends us a link to the Fayetteville Observer report of Chief Warrant officer 2 Kurt Allen Bennett who pleaded guilty to theft of government property worth over a million bucks while he was stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan;
U.S. Attorney Thomas G. Walker’s office announced that Kurt Allen Bennett, 41, of Fort Bragg, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Terrence W. Boyle to conspiring to steal and convert property belonging to the U.S. Government and two counts of theft and conversion of government property.
He could be sentenced up to 25 years in prison.
Bennett stole more than $100,000 worth of military equipment from Iraq in 2008 and 2009, when he was an Apache helicopter pilot with the Georgia-based 1st Battalion, 3rd Aviation Regiment, the U.S. Attorney’s office said in a news release.
He had a co-conspirator, SFC Robert Alan Walker, who helped him abscond a boat load of stuff, a partial list of which is at the link above – stuff like an ATV and a trailer that they packed in a shipping container. Walker took a guilty plea last year. Dumbasses. They must’ve watched too many CPO Sharkey episodes.
Category: Military issues
And this is why we can’t have nice things.
Wow.. just wow. This stuff always goes on but these guys went major league!
When I was in AWACS we had a gig in puerto rico to help the DEA track drug planes. So naturally, three geniuses (1 maintenance MSgt, his SSgt buddy and a pilot) hatched a plan.
There’s a classified compartment on the E-3 (comm stuff) that customs isn’t allowed to check. These rocket surgeons packed it hip deep in rum lol! Made like 7 trips before they got busted by OSI.
You want to buy them t-shirts with “go big or go to leavenworth!” on the back.
so Leavenworth is going to start filling with officer types and senior NCOs instead of just quartermasters? seems to be the trend anyway
Jon, you beat me to it, and you said it all in a nutshell!!
Tango09.
RUM, you’re going to risk your career for farking RUM?!??!?!
At least the F-15 mechanics in Okinawa tried to stash pot in the F-15s in the body and then take it out when the pilots flew them back from the Philippines.
Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time….not applicable to 0-7s and above.
What Jon the Mechanic said, for real.
I can’t remember the handle but there is a poster here who says it the best…”play stupid games, win stupid prizes” Sorry for robbing your phrase but it fits for so many of the ass hats we read about here on TAH.
Jesus, and to think I got threatened with mast if I didn’t MAKE SURE I turned in all my boat bedding to the Chief of the Boat when I checked out. Granted, Navy blankets are pretty decent, but threatening mast over a $20 horse blanket? And don’t even THINK of snagging a foul-weather jacket.
“Why is the rum always gone?” – Jack Sparrow
@11–The U.S.S. Constitution (Old Ironsides) as a combat vessel carried 48,600 gallons of fresh water for her crew of 475 officers and men. This was sufficient to last six months of sustained operations at sea. She carried no evaporators (fresh water distillers). However, let it be noted that according to her log, “On July 27, 1798, the U.S.S. Constitution sailed from Boston with a full complement of 475 officers and men, 48,600 gallons of freshwater, 7,400 cannon shot, 11,600 pounds of black powder and 79,400 gallons of rum.”
Her mission: “To destroy and harass English shipping.”
Making Jamaica on 6 October, she took on 826 pounds of flour and 68,300 gallons of rum.
Then she headed for the Azores, arriving there 12 November. She provisioned with 550 pounds of beef and 64,300 gallons of Portuguese wine. On 18 November, she set sail for England.
In the ensuing days she defeated five British men-of-war and captured and scuttled 12 English merchantmen, salvaging only the rum aboard each.
By 26 January, her powder and shot were exhausted.
Nevertheless, and though unarmed, she made a night raid up the Firth of Clyde in Scotland. Her landing party captured a whiskey distillery and transferred 40,000 gallons of single malt Scotch aboard by dawn.
Then she headed home.
The U.S.S. Constitution arrived in Boston on 20 February 1799, with no cannon shot, No food, No powder, NO rum, NO wine, NO whiskey and 38,600 gallons of stagnant water.
Sparky. Thanks for that. Made me laugh. Would said sailors can’t prioritize?
Yep, that sounds like the Navy to me!
As for the “Play stupid games, win stupid prizes” quote, it was common in my Battalion and I use it a great deal. I think other people might be using it, because some of our sayings have made Army-wide.
“Aaand, Roger.” was one that my SSG and I cam up with. It was originally a polite way to tell someone to go frak themselves without facing insubordination charges. One of my friends (Medic-type in Ft. Hood) said that she heard someone use it when they were given an idiotic order from a 2LT.
Sparky, best quote I ever read “The US Navy, 200+ years, of rum, sodomy, and the lash”
Oh, BTW, He was actually a CW3. Don’t know why the newspaper has him listed erroneously.
It’s a shame thievery is such an issue in the US military.
Come fly with me, come fly let’s fly away…” Thank god it wasn’t an SF warrant!
@17. Yep. It’s rampant. There was an anonymous survey that was conducted and 62,000 troops indicated that they had been victimized by theft or knew someone who had. In the 3,400 actual theft complaints, it was determined that most of the victims knew the thieves. Shocking, isn’t it?
In the Early 90s I was in a unit where the “Police Sergeant” ( The Marine Corps fancy title for building and grounds guy) had a 3 year scam going before he was caught. The guy stole anything that wasn’t nailed down and sold it to surplus stores and people out in town. I’m talking complete motor T tool kits, spare humvee tires,computers, printers, chairs, desks, telphones, uniforms, field gear, expended brass, tents, generators, etc. He ended up getting into crystal meth and that was his downfall. He was trading meth for tool kits from motor T, the guys popped on the piss test, then set him up with CID for a bust. He was caught trying to sell a genersator to an undercover agent. The storage unit in Vista had over 300,000 dollars worth of stolen gear in it.
Most people think that the most secure info is kept by intel folks. Nope. Supply sergeants. Those guys have more info to take to the grave with them than anyone.
#21: Airborne! As an S4 in the 82nd, I had a Supply NCO who was awesome. I am confident that he never profited personally but he was a master of “redistribution” of stuff that one one unit was short and another unit had. The only thing better was when we had a heavy drop that streamered into a swamp AND burned. The surveying officer was perplexed as to why there were sheets and desks on the pallets and how the 130 ever got off the ground to begin with.
PS, the streamer resolved all shortages but multimeter TS-352, 2ea. The damned Dominicans stole those in combat right after landing in that 1965 dust-up.
#19,
“There’s only one thief in the Army, everyone else is just trying to get their stuff back.” 🙂