[y04185]

Full story

Two Fort Bragg soldiers, working along with an Afghan interpreter, embezzled more than $1.2 million while deployed in 2009, according to court documents filed Thursday.

Edwin Vando and Juan Lamboy Rivera were each charged in a criminal information filed in U.S. District Court.

The document, sometimes used in lieu of a grand jury indictment, alleges that the men took $1,297,959.31 in vendor payments that were owed to Abdul Wasi Faquiri Co. Ltd.

According to court documents, Vando and Rivera were sergeants with the 82nd Finance Battalion who were deployed to Camp Eggers in Kabul, Afghanistan, at the time of the alleged crimes - between May and June 2009.

It is unclear if Vando and Rivera are still Fort Bragg soldiers. According to the criminal information, Vando lives in Hope Mills and Rivera lives in Fayetteville.

While deployed, both soldiers worked in the Camp Eggers finance office overseeing payments to commercial vendors, according to court documents.

Vando was a commercial vendor service representative and Rivera served first as the disbursing noncommissioned officer in charge of the finance office and later as a customer service representative in charge of personnel matters.

[lew9ball]

         

[y04185]

         

This not the first time something like this has happened.  Most of the service members who have gotten caught were accepting kickbacks.  This happens more than people realize.

[Optimusprime]

And, a lot of it goes unreported / uninvestigated / not-prosecuted.

[lew9ball]

And, a lot of it goes unreported / uninvestigated / not-prosecuted.

Otherwords, another form of "mishandling" taxpayers monies.

[y04185]

And, a lot of it goes unreported / uninvestigated / not-prosecuted.

Otherwords, another form of "mishandling" taxpayers monies.

Technically yes.  These two guys in the article got greedy.

Also, there is abuse of the government credit cards.  This might be in part by lack of proper training.  I know of cases where a soldier made an honest mistake.  Sometimes the chain of command called him/her on the carpet.  Others got Article 15s and/or Courts Martial.  Some units have stricter controls than others.  In some cases the service member reported the mistake they made and was punished.  Even if the government card looked like their personal card. 

[Bison 4 Life]

Y,

You love posting  about soldiers misfortunes and bad decisions but not airmans? Why is that?

[Sierra]

And often times it involves commission officers.

[Cholly]

Y,

You loveposting soldiers mis fortunes and bad decisions but not airmans? Why is that?

Because he and this fellow share a lot in common:

[y04185]

Y,

You love posting  about soldiers misfortunes and bad decisions but not airmans? Why is that?

I have posted about the Air Force.  You have a short memory.  Remember, the tanker bidding and how they rigged the RFP in favor of a foreign company?  There were many others.  Recall is not your forte.