Alleged extortion, pornographic images latest twist in NEX theft

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Alleged extortion, pornographic images latest twist in NEX theft
By Sandra Jontz, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Monday, November 19, 2007

A top Italian police official and a former Naval Exchange manager in La Maddalena, Sardinia, were placed under house arrest last week, charged with attempted extortion as part of an ongoing probe into roughly 1.5 million euros worth of merchandise allegedly stolen from the NEX warehouse and store.

In July, Carmine Di Martino lost his job as the NEX manager after Italian and U.S. officials raided homes of several NEX employees and confiscated truckloads of suspected stolen merchandise.

In an attempt to regain his job, Di Martino allegedly sought the help of Carabinieri officer Attilio Mele, saying he possessed a compact disc containing “compromising images of U.S. military personnel” that he threatened to make public, according to Capt. Cesare Antuonfermo of Italy’s finance police, the Guardia di Finanza.

Mele, who commanded the carabinieri station in La Maddalena at the time, then allegedly took the CD to the base commanding officer at Naval Support Activity La Maddalena, making the same threats if Di Martino was not reinstated, Antuonfermo said.

Antuonfermo declined to provide details on the content of the images because the matter still is under investigation, but characterized the images as “pornographic.” He said the images do not contain any child pornography.

After being approached by Mele, the base commander then reported the incident to the Guardia di Finanza, who is leading the investigation into the alleged thefts.


Rest of article at: http://stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=50374