Arizona Air National Guard members indicted on fraud charges

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Reuters

Arizona Air National Guard members indicted on fraud charges
Source: Reuters - Mon, 21 Oct 2013 08:10 PM

PHOENIX, Oct 21 (Reuters) - Members of an Arizona Air National Guard unit in Tucson have been indicted on charges they falsified military records to defraud the U.S. government out of hundreds of thousands of dollars of extra pay meant for troops on deployment, authorities said on Monday.

Eight officers and 13 enlisted members of the Guard's 214th Reconnaissance Group were accused of using fake home addresses to collect as much as five times as much pay as they were due, Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne said on Monday.

The Air National Guard members, based in Tucson, Arizona, operate MQ-1B Predator reconnaissance drones that fly over Iraq and Afghanistan but are controlled via satellite from Tucson.

Most of those indicted in the alleged scam, said to have operated between November 2007 and September 2010, were fraudulently paid more than $100,000 during the three-year period, Horne's office said in a statement.


Read more: http://www.trust.org/item/20131021200007-s013p/?source=search

[Rebellious Republican]

1. Wouldn't be the first time something like this has happened.....

George W. Bush's National Guard service is an unresolved issue that first gained widespread public attention in the 2000 presidential campaign and in the 2004 presidential campaign. The controversy centers on questions of how George W. Bush, who became the 43rd President of the United States in January 2001, came to be a member of the Texas Air National Guard, why he lost his flight status, and whether he fulfilled the requirements of his military service contract.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_W._Bush_military_service_controversy

[Deny and Shred]

2. Makes you wonder -

Just how much fraud has transpired in military-contractor-intelligence expenditures. How little oversight is there? This isn't a particularly sophisticated scam.

For a second I thought Karma had come around to W when I saw 'Air Guard' , 'falsified military records' and 'indicted' in the same sentence.

[Blue_Tires]

4. You'd be surprised...

for those who know how to work the system, they might as well be printing money....

[Judi Lynn]

3. AP: Arizona Air National Guard Members Face Criminal Charges

Arizona Air National Guard Members Face Criminal Charges
By BRIAN SKOLOFF 10/21/13 04:22 PM ET EDT AP

PHOENIX -- PHOENIX (AP) — Nearly two dozen current and former members of the Arizona Air National Guard have been indicted on charges including theft and money laundering in a $1.4 million scam to defraud the federal government, authorities announced Monday.

The eight officers and 13 enlisted men and women, including the colonel and former commander of the 214 Reconnaissance Group, falsified their records and used fake home addresses in order to receive money meant for those traveling outside of their home regions for duty assignments, Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne said.

Between November 2007 and September 2010, authorities said some of the defendants took home salaries that were up to five times the amount they should have been receiving.

Some of the suspects defrauded the government of more than $100,000 each, Horne said.

More:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/21/military-criminal-charges_n_4138689.html

[gussmith]

5. Jail Time

is a must. Abuse of their positions to cheat Americans is among the lowest of the low actions. Forfeiture of pension and jail time are not vindictive; they have been earned.