A soldier assigned to third Special Forces Group at Fort Bragg, N.C., used his job to siphon off extra army gear and promote the objects for a revenue between 2018 and 2022, in keeping with an indictment unsealed Monday by federal prosecutors.
The indictment towards Chief Warrant Officer 3 Christopher Hammond chronicled $1.8 million price of wire transfers allegedly related to unlawful gross sales deposited right into a checking account separate from the one his army paychecks went into.
The illicit funds have been later parceled out to funding accounts at Charles Schwab and Robinhood, the indictment said. Hammond’s spouse, Army Maj. Heather Hammond, was additionally named within the indictment and accused of serving to arrange the funding accounts and aiding her husband.
A spokesman for 1st Special Forces Command, which oversees third Group, confirmed the costs.
“Yesterday, CW3 Christopher Hammond self-reported to the U.S. District Court docket for the Japanese District of North Carolina pursuant to his federal indictment on a number of prices,” Maj. Rick Dickson informed Army Instances in an announcement. “As all the time, all troopers are presumed harmless till confirmed responsible.”
No different members of third Group “have been arrested or charged presently in relation to those prices,” Dickson added.
Hammond, who specialised in armament methods upkeep, managed small arms restore in his unit, changed damaged gear and was capable of request provides by the Protection Division’s sprawling logistics community. He used this place, in keeping with prosecutors, to request government-owned objects after which resold them or saved them for private use.
The listing of stolen objects included weapons components and equipment, optics, firearm magazines, guitars, welding gear, steel working gear, all-terrain autos, instruments and toolboxes, in keeping with the indictment.
Assistant U.S. Lawyer Barbara D. Kocher, the lead prosecutor listed in courtroom filings, didn’t reply to a request for remark relating to how a lot of that gear, particularly the weapons-related objects, has been recovered. An electronic mail to Kocher’s workplace was forwarded to spokespeople.
“Sadly, we’re not capable of remark outdoors of the general public file, and the knowledge within the indictment you reference is all the info we will present presently,” stated Justice Division public data officer Don Connelly.
This isn’t the primary time gear has been stolen from provide outlets at army bases, however the unlawful gross sales allegedly pocketed by the Hammonds are fairly massive. It’s additionally noteworthy {that a} comparable incident involving one other third Special Forces Group soldier occurred throughout the timeframe Hammond is accused of participating in his personal scheme.
Former Chief Warrant Officer 2 Bryan Craig Allen was sentenced in 2020 to 2 years’ imprisonment and fined $250,000 after being convicted of stealing dozens of night time imaginative and prescient goggles in 2018. Allen stole the gadgets by reducing the digital stock within the unit’s property books and claimed the objects have been transferred to a different unit.
In Allen’s case, the stolen gadgets have been offered to a army surplus retailer outdoors Fort Bragg and later auctioned on eBay. Nevertheless it’s unclear from the indictment how precisely the Hammonds resold the objects they allegedly stole.
A civilian, who the indictment solely named as M.S., wired massive funds to the Hammonds, however the doc doesn’t additional element who they’re or their relation to Hammonds. M.S. bumped into hassle once they tried to get a producer to restore two dozen rifle scopes below a guaranty given to the federal government for the objects.
The producer positioned the request on maintain on July 26, 2021, and requested M.S. to talk with them by a U.S. authorities electronic mail account. Hammond despatched an electronic mail to the producer that very same day claiming, “I had one in every of my items that was out conducting coaching give a contractor a bunch of Leupold optics to return for service. [A company employee] is holding them up from service. Are you able to get this resolved for me as I’m in a foreign country with no entry to army electronic mail.”
It’s unclear from the doc whether or not or not that suspicious alternate sparked the investigation that finally ended within the Hammonds’ indictment. However Mr. Hammond was finally charged with theft of U.S. authorities property, wire fraud and crimes associated to cash laundering. His spouse was charged with spending laundered cash and aiding and abetting him.
An legal professional for Mr. Hammond just isn’t but listed on courtroom filings and he couldn’t be reached for remark. Mrs. Hammond’s legal professional didn’t reply to inquires made Wednesday morning.
Kyle Rempfer is an editor and reporter who has lined fight operations, prison instances, international army help and coaching accidents.
Earlier than getting into journalism, Kyle served in U.S. Air Pressure Particular Ways and deployed in 2014 to Paktika Province, Afghanistan, and Baghdad, Iraq. Observe on Twitter @Kyle_Rempfer
