It used to be an old joke around the boat that Leavenworth had softball teams for CMS Custodians, Rec Fund Officers, and Supply Officers. It looks like the Chop team will be
getting a new member from the San Diego surface fleet:
A Navy officer has been sentenced to 28 months in prison for stealing up to $140,000 from the safe aboard his San Diego-based ship to pay debts racked up through an Internet scam.
Lt. Milton Guy pleaded guilty to charges of wrongful appropriation, making a false official statement and dereliction of duty, during a court-martial June 26 in San Diego...
...Guy, 29, was the disbursing officer aboard the frigate McClusky. He oversaw the ship's petty cash, much of it earned through sales of items in the ship's store...
So why would the disbursing officer need $140K? The article goes on to explain:
The court records show that Guy received an e-mail in August 2004 from a man named Barnabus, who claimed to be a representative of the Nigerian government. Barnabus said Mark Guy, a supposed relative of the lieutenant's, had died in a car accident in Nigeria.
In a series of e-mails and phone calls, Barnabus explained that Milton Guy had been left one-tenth of Mark Guy's estate, or $2.6 million. To claim the cash, he would need to pay a string of fees to set up a foreign bank account and cover the cash transfer.
Between October 2004 and July 2005, Guy took $120,000 to $140,000 out of the McClusky's safe in amounts of $3,000 to $10,000 each time, according to the court documents.
He sent most of the money to Barnabus but also used about $4,000 for a laptop computer, a down payment on a car and a deposit on an apartment, the court records show.
In May 2006, auditors from the Navy's Pacific Fleet command discovered that money was missing from the safe. Guy rushed to a bank and cashed a government treasury check to cover the loss, but the scheme quickly unraveled. He later admitted to falsifying the McClusky's ledgers to cover up his theft.
Seriously, how stupid do you have to be to fall for a
Nigerian E-mail scam nowadays? I mean, I knew skimmer Staff Corps officers generally weren't that bright, but this is going above and beyond. Still, I shouldn't be too hard on the guy; like
another famous Milton, I'm sure he's had problems with people picking on him his whole career:
