Recently in theft Category

Tommy L. Thompson, Jr., 48, of Indianapolis, Christopher Wells, 45, of Indianapolis, Francis W. Coleman, 41, of Laurel, Md., Carl E. McCreary, 48, of Frisco City, Ala., and Fred D. Bear, Jr., 39, of Avon, Ind., were indicted in connection with an auto theft ring that allegedly stole more than 80 vehicles valued in excess of $1 million dollars. This indictment follows their arrests on Dec. 28, 2009 on a complaint filed in district court.

This indictment is the result of a seven-months long investigation by the U.S. Secret Service and the Indiana State Police with assistance by the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Greenfield Police Department, Shelbyville Police Department, Lawrence Police Department, Muncie Police Department, Greensburg Police Department, Fishers Police Department, Clarksville Police Department, Kokomo Police Department, Brownsburg Police Department, Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department and the Alabama Department of Safety and Alabama Bureau of Investigation.

The indictment alleges that in June 2006, Christopher Wells and Francis Coleman entered into an agreement to steal motor vehicles and use counterfeit motor vehicle titles and counterfeit vehicle identification numbers to fool state title authorities into thinking the stolen vehicles were not stolen, and could be legally sold. Wells and Coleman were purportedly joined by Thompson and McCreary in or about April 2007, and all four participated until their arrest on Dec. 29, 2009. Bear allegedly participated from March 2008 through September 2009. In furtherance of this scheme, the defendants utilized the U.S. Postal Service and Federal Express to send and receive the counterfeit documents.

According to the indictment, Coleman, Wells, Thompson and others would steal motor vehicles from both within and outside of the Southern District of Indiana. They would then locate vehicles of an identical make and model in Canada and copy those vehicles' vehicle identification number (VIN). Coleman would create counterfeit Washington, D.C., or North Carolina motor vehicle titles and VIN stickers bearing the Canadian vehicles' information. Coleman would then either drive or ship the counterfeit documents to Wells in Indianapolis, where Wells, Thompson and others would clone the vehicles. After the vehicles were cloned, either Bear or McCreary would receive the vehicles for sale.

According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Bradley P. Shepard, who is prosecuting the case for the government, all are charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud and each faces a maximum of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Thompson remains in custody and the remaining defendants are on pre-trial release.

An indictment is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is presumed innocent and is entitled to a fair trial at which the government must prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

Captain Michael Dung Nguyen, 28, of Ft. Lewis, Wash., pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Court Judge Ancer L. Haggerty to the crimes of theft of government property and structuring financial transactions. Nguyen is scheduled for sentencing on March 1, 2010 at 9:30 a.m.

In pleading guilty to the offenses, Nguyen admitted that while on deployment to Iraq, he stole and converted to his own use approximately $690,000 in U.S. currency.

Nguyen gained access to the currency in his capacity as the Project Purchasing Officer in the 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment of the U.S. Army. The currency was derived from Commander's Emergency Response Program (CERP) funds. CERP funds are the property of the United States and are managed by the Department of Defense. The currency was intended as payment for security contracts with the Sons of Iraq as well as humanitarian relief and reconstruction programs.

Nguyen transported the stolen currency into the District of Oregon by mailing it to himself at his family's Oregon residence prior to his return from Iraq. Shortly after he returned from Iraq, Nguyen opened new bank accounts at Bank of America, Washington Mutual Bank, America's Credit Union and Heritage Bank, and proceeded to deposit $387,550 of the stolen CERP currency into those accounts in Oregon and elsewhere. Between June 9, 2008 and Sept. 26, 2008, Nguyen made repeated deposits of stolen currency in a manner that was intended to evade federal reporting requirements for the deposit of large amounts of money.

After depositing the money in the accounts, Nguyen purchased a 2008 BMW and a 2009 Hummer H3T, in addition to purchasing computers, firearms, electronics and furniture. During the execution of a search warrant, investigators discovered over $300,000 in stolen CERP currency hidden in the attic of Nguyen's Portland family home.

At sentencing, the maximum penalty for each of the crimes of conviction is ten years in prison and a maximum fine of $500,000. In addition to pleading guilty, Nguyen agreed to forfeit all the stolen currency, as well as all of the personal property purchased with the stolen funds.

The investigation was initiated by the Portland office of the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation, following the discovery of large and frequent currency deposits and substantial expenditures above Captain Nguyen's legitimate income level. The investigation was joined by the FBI, the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division's Major Procurement Fraud Unit, and the Department of Defense's Criminal Investigative Service. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott Erik Asphaug.

Lee William Dubois, a former Department of Defense (DoD) contractor, was sentenced today to three years in prison for his participation in a scheme to steal fuel worth approximately $39.6 million from the U.S. Army in Iraq, announced Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division Lanny A. Breuer and U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Dana J. Boente.

Dubois, 32, of Lexington, S.C., was sentenced today by U.S. District Court Judge Gerald Bruce Lee in the Eastern District of Virginia. Dubois had pleaded guilty to a one-count information charging him with theft of government property on Oct. 7, 2008. In connection with his plea, Dubois testified at the trial of his co-conspirator, Robert Jeffery, who was convicted by a jury on Aug. 11, 2009. Dubois also repaid to the U.S. government $450,000 that represented the illicit proceeds of the scheme.

In his plea, Dubois admitted that between July 2007 and May 2008, he and his co-conspirators, purportedly representing DoD contractors in Iraq, used fraudulently-obtained documents to enter the Victory Bulk Fuel Point (VBFP) in Camp Liberty, Iraq, and presented false fuel authorization forms to steal aviation and diesel fuel from the VBFP for subsequent sale on the black market. According to plea documents, the United States owns and operates the VBFP in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The VBFP supplies aviation and diesel fuel to both military units and U.S. government contractors operating in and around the VBFP. To retrieve and transport the stolen fuel from the VBFP, Dubois admitted he and his co-conspirators employed approximately 10 individuals to serve as drivers and escorts of the trucks containing the stolen fuel. These individuals were able to enter the VBFP illegally by using government-issued common access cards.

Dubois admitted he obtained the cards by falsely representing to the U.S. Army that the drivers and escorts were employees of a DoD contractor, when, in fact, they were not employed by any government contractors. In addition, Dubois admitted he went to the VBFP and presented false documents authorizing his co-conspirators to draw fuel. Dubois also admitted that for two months during the scheme, he served as the lead escort for the stolen fuel. According to information contained in the plea documents, during the course of the scheme, Dubois and his co-conspirators stole approximately 10 million gallons of fuel worth approximately $39.6 million. Dubois received at least $450,000 in personal profits from the subsequent sale of the fuel on the black market.

In related cases, Robert Jeffery was convicted on Aug. 11, 2009, after a two-day jury trial, of one count of conspiracy and one count of theft of government property for his role in the fuel theft. Robert Young and Michel Jamil each pleaded guilty to participating in the same scheme. The evidence at trial showed that Jeffery served as an escort for the fuel trucks and retrieved hundreds of thousands of gallons of fuel from the VBFP. Sentencing for Jeffery is scheduled for December 11, 2009.

Young, 56, a former captain in the U.S. Army, pleaded guilty on July 24, 2009. In his guilty plea, Young admitted that between October 2007 and May 2008, he and his co-conspirators used fraudulently-obtained documents to enter the VBFP and presented false fuel authorization forms to steal aviation and diesel fuel from the VBFP for subsequent sale on the black market. As a result of the scheme, Young received approximately $1 million in personal profits. Sentencing for Young is scheduled for Oct. 30, 2009.

Jamil, 59, pleaded guilty on July 27, 2009, with his role in the scheme. Jamil admitted that in March 2007, he and two of his co-conspirators arranged for the creation of a false Memorandum for Record (MFR) authorizing individuals to draw fuel from VBFP, purportedly on behalf of a company serving as a contractor to the U.S. government. Jamil admitted that he and his co-conspirators used this false MFR and others to steal large quantities of fuel from the U.S. Army for subsequent sale on the Iraqi black market. As a result of the scheme, Jamil admitted he received between $75,000 and $87,500 in profits. Sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 13, 2009.

The case is being prosecuted by Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Steve Linick, Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division's Fraud Section, and Fraud Section Trial Attorneys Andrew Gentin and Brigham Cannon. The investigation of this case was conducted by the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, the Washington Field Office of the FBI and members of the National Procurement Fraud Task Force and the International Contract Corruption Task Force (ICCTF).

The National Procurement Fraud Task Force, created in October 2006 by the Department of Justice, was designed to promote the early detection, identification, prevention and prosecution of procurement fraud associated with the increase in government contracting activity for national security and other government programs. The ICCTF is a joint law enforcement agency task force that seeks to detect, investigate and dismantle corruption and contract fraud resulting from U.S. Overseas Contingency Operations, including in Afghanistan, Iraq and Kuwait.

Source: US Dept. of Justice