National Guard Recruiting Assistance Program kick back indictments
Chief Tango sends us a link to the Washington Post which reports that an Army CID investigation of the “National Guard Recruiting Assistance Program” has netted about a hundred folks who were defrauding the program for personal gain;
According to federal court documents, they simply entered the potential recruit’s name, date of birth and Social Security number into an online account, then told the company under contract with the National Guard that they had signed up another soldier when they had not. When the bonuses was wired to their bank account, they gave half the money to the recruiters, who were barred from getting payments themselves.
These fraudulent bounties were collected for seven years by recruiters and “recruiters assistants” for the Puerto Rico National Guard. The arrangement was laid out in federal indictments Thursday of 25 current and former guardsmen on charges of conspiracy to defraud the government, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. Officials said close to $1 million was stolen.
[…]
A criminal enterprise in every state that military officials say included hundreds of officers and enlisted soldiers has led so far to 108 prosecutions in civilian courts; another 70 soldiers and officers have been fired, reprimanded or demoted, Army officials said Thursday.
The contracting company, Docupak, alerted CID to discrepancies in their records back in 2007. That initial investigation led CID to investigate the entire program and has led to 108 prosecutions.
A final note to the Washington Post; these are not members of the US military in this photo.
Category: National Guard
Graft? Corruption? What is this? Oh, I forgot who was in charge! Silly me.
And those feet belong to the 1st Regiement, Utopia Planetia, Marsbase Uno.
Seriously, nothing surprises me any more. Nothing.
And these were just the ones sloppy enough to get caught.
Puerto Rico again acting like it’s not part of the U.S.
/I know it goes on in CONUS too but damn
To me they are acting JUST LIKE the US
They are not the only ones getting caught up in that. I know a soldier that pretty much ruined a stellar career getting involved in this. I do not know if he got Federal-pounding-in-the-ass-prison time, but he sure has fallen from grace.
Because of your username, here is a Texas story from just a few months ago: http://www.militarytimes.com/story/military/crime/2015/07/30/7-more-sentenced-in-national-guard-recruiting-scam-in-texas/30899929/
I do not recognize any names there. The few dollars they made are going to be hard earned when they get done with their sentences. It is a shame. The individual I am acquainted with was a squared away soldier.
Considering how the Nasty Guard recruiters were when I was out on the streets, this doesn’t surprise me at all. Beg, borrow, steal, cheat, fuck over your buddies to get them contracts and/or that monay despite making a minimal commitment to this nation’s defense.
Since these are National Guard troops, will their serve their sentences one weekend a month and two weeks during the summer?