A noncommissioned officer stationed at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, became the latest soldier charged with stealing jet fuel from a forward operating base in Afghanistan after a Hawaii grand jury handed down a four-count indictment Wednesday.
Ware allegedly recruited Sgt. Regionald [cq per documents] Dixon and Spc. Larry Emmons to assist in the scheme, which ran from December 2011 through March 2012, according to the indictment. The trio allegedly transferred fuel from U.S. military-owned tanker trucks into the jingle trucks and forged transportation requests.
Ware allegedly told Emmons in January 2012 that he and Dixon "had each already made between $30,000 and $40,000 from the scheme," the indictment states. The third count of the document charges Dixon with money laundering for sending $25,000 to Hawaii from FOB Fenty, located on the edge of Jalalabad.
Ware was arrested Thursday and pleaded not guilty to that charge, as well as counts of bribery, conspiracy and theft of government property, Hawaii media outlets reported. Dixon and Emmons both pleaded guilty to one count of bribery in June 2012.
Ware, 46, could face 20 years in prison for the money laundering offense alone, local media reported, with lesser maximum penalties for the other crimes.
A soldier and a civilian contractor at the same base in 2010 pleaded guilty to a similar fuel-theft scam, admitting to actions that cost the government more than $1.5 million worth of JP-8.
Kevin Lilley is the features editor of Military Times.
