Arizona National Guard Public Affairs
March 3, 2014
TUCSON, Ariz. – As overseas contingencies and deployments for U.S. armed forces taper off, Arizona’s citizen soldiers are shifting their focus to domestic missions to gain real-world experience and maintain readiness.
The Arizona Army National Guard’s Tucson-based 2220th Transportation Company found a creative way to hone their skills and help secure the Arizona-Mexico border in the process. Working with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the light-medium truck company moved 193 tons of concrete barriers from El Centro, Calif., to Naco, Ariz., over drill weekend March 1 to fortify a porous section of the state’s border.
Army Guard and Customs officials called the convoy operation a success and said it was a model for future inter-agency coordination.
“We’ve been working on a solution for getting that border infrastructure into place in Naco for quite some time,” said Manuel Padila, Jr., the chief patrol agent for the Tucson sector. “When the Guard saw this as a training opportunity it became a win-win situation for everyone. This certainly highlights the long-standing partnership we’ve had with the Guard and it points to new ways we can work together.”
Where once a fence line was the only impediment for vehicles looking to illegally breach the border at Naco, now a robust barricade denies ease of entry.
In all, the Guard delivered 115 cement blocks – 15 more than originally requested by CBP. In a matter of days, 52 Arizona Guardsmen mobilized 26 vehicles to transport the load more than 400 miles.
“We used every section in the company to support the mission,” said Army Capt. Janek Kaslikowski, the company commander. “We have an operations section that planned the mission – estimated fuel, rest stops, and driver changes – and a maintenance section that kept us running. Our soldiers received invaluable experience with securing a load, off loading, vehicle recovery, and the importance of preventive maintenance checks and services.”
According to Kaslikowski, the mission was the perfect vehicle for bridging the gaps in experience between his junior soldiers and his combat-tested senior noncommissioned officers.
“It was interesting to see them work together on this mission because this is exactly what we would do in theater,” he said. “The NCOs led this mission and gave the junior soldiers plenty of opportunity to gain experience that they may not get without deploying.”
“We paired experienced drivers with inexperienced drivers,” said Army 2nd Lt. Sha-raya Harris, first platoon leader on her third drill with the Guard. “I was one of the inexperienced drivers.”
Some of the most junior motor transport operators in the company had only 10 minutes behind the wheel from initial training, said Harris. Now they all have seven-to-eight hours of experience negotiating turns, hills, and stops with 16 tons in tow.
“It was great training, but I think this mission was equally important for building relationships. Everywhere we went people supported us. Border Protection employees, the ranchers in Naco, even other drivers on the Interstate – everyone found this mission interesting and wanted to help us along the way,” said Harris.
Read more: http://www.dvidshub.net/news/121445/arizona-soldiers-us-cbp-unite-secure-border-hot-spot#.UxVbQ7vn8-g#ixzz2uy50eN00
Showing posts with label National Guard. Show all posts
Showing posts with label National Guard. Show all posts
Monday, March 3, 2014
Friday, September 17, 2010
Former National Guardsman who stole scraps of border fence sentenced
Arizona Daily Star
September 16, 2010
by Brian Pedersen
A former Air National Guardsman has been sentenced to 15 months in federal prison for stealing scrap metal from from a project to build a border fence in Arizona.
Wyoming resident Robert J. Kelley, 50, was found guilty in March of one count of theft of government property, a crime that could have sent him away for 10 years.
Kelley was part of a National Guard taskforce that helped build fences along the U.S. border with Mexico in 2007 and 2008. He was accused of stealing at least five truckloads of scrap metal, selling the materials for $11,450, according to U.S. District Court records.
Prosecutors say Kelley, who spent more than 25 years in the National Guard, used money from the sale of the scrap metal to buy things such as a handgun, a garage door opener, cowboy boots and tools.
In addition to the prison time Kelley was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Cindy Jorgenson to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay nearly $43,000 in restitution, according to court records.
http://azstarnet.com/news/local/crime/article_94d56c24-c1cb-11df-aa40-001cc4c002e0.html
September 16, 2010
by Brian Pedersen
A former Air National Guardsman has been sentenced to 15 months in federal prison for stealing scrap metal from from a project to build a border fence in Arizona.
Wyoming resident Robert J. Kelley, 50, was found guilty in March of one count of theft of government property, a crime that could have sent him away for 10 years.
Kelley was part of a National Guard taskforce that helped build fences along the U.S. border with Mexico in 2007 and 2008. He was accused of stealing at least five truckloads of scrap metal, selling the materials for $11,450, according to U.S. District Court records.
Prosecutors say Kelley, who spent more than 25 years in the National Guard, used money from the sale of the scrap metal to buy things such as a handgun, a garage door opener, cowboy boots and tools.
In addition to the prison time Kelley was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Cindy Jorgenson to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay nearly $43,000 in restitution, according to court records.
http://azstarnet.com/news/local/crime/article_94d56c24-c1cb-11df-aa40-001cc4c002e0.html
Thursday, June 3, 2010
US-Mexico border isn't so dangerous
Associated Press
June 3, 2010
by Martha Mendoza
It's one of the safest parts of America, and it's getting safer.
It's the U.S.-Mexico border, and even as politicians say more federal troops are needed to fight rising violence, government data obtained by The Associated Press show it actually isn't so dangerous after all.
The top four big cities in America with the lowest rates of violent crime are all in border states: San Diego, Phoenix, El Paso and Austin, according to a new FBI report. And an in-house Customs and Border Protection report shows that Border Patrol agents face far less danger than street cops in most U.S. cities.
The Customs and Border Protection study, obtained with a Freedom of Information Act request, shows 3 percent of Border Patrol agents and officers were assaulted last year, mostly when assailants threw rocks at them. That compares with 11 percent of police officers and sheriff's deputies assaulted during the same period, usually with guns or knives.
In addition, violent attacks against agents declined in 2009 along most of the border for the first time in seven years. So far this year assaults are slightly up, but data is incomplete.
"The border is safer now than it's ever been," said U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman Lloyd Easterling.
He said one factor is that with fewer jobs available amid the U.S. recession, illegal immigration has dropped. And responding to security concerns after 9-11, the Border Patrol has doubled the number of agents in the region since 2004.
Nonetheless, border lawmakers and governors say their region is under siege and needs more troops.
"Violence in the vicinity of the U.S.-Mexico border continues to increase at an alarming rate. We believe that this violence represents a serious threat to the national security of the United States as well as a serious threat to U.S. citizens that live along the 1,969-mile long border," a dozen bipartisan members of Congress from border states wrote President Obama.
In Arizona, a stringent new immigration law takes effect next month, requiring police to question suspects' immigration status if officers believe they're in the country illegally. Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer said in a televised interview last weekend: "We are out here on the battlefield getting the impact of all this illegal immigration, and all the crime that comes with it."
In response to the concerns from the border states, Obama pledged to send 1,200 National Guard troops to help and spend an extra $500 million on border security.
His one-time rival for the presidency, Arizona Sen. John McCain, said he should send at least 6,000 troops, which are needed because he said Arizona leads the nation in marijuana seizures, suffered 368 kidnappings in 2008 and has the highest property crime rates in the U.S.
But FBI crime reports for 2009 says violent crime in Arizona declined. And violent crimes in southwest border counties are among the lowest in the nation per capita — they've dropped by more than 30 percent in the last two decades. Of America's 25 largest cities, San Diego — with one out of four residents an immigrant — has the lowest number of violent crimes per capita.
Opponents of increased border security are frustrated by descriptions of a wave of violence when the statistics show the region to be relatively safe.
"Politicians are hyping up this incredible fear across the country about the border, but these numbers show these are lies being perpetrated on the American public," said immigrant advocate Isabel Garcia at Tucson-based Derechos Humanos. "The warnings about violence are just an excuse to crack down on migrants who want to work and be with their families."
Even residents of the border region who want more security are surprised by the talk of violence.
"I have to say, a lot of this is way overblown," said Gary Brasher of Tuboc, Arizona, who is president of the Coalition for a Safe and Secure Border.
So why send troops to the region?
"That's really something to ask the White House," Easterling said.
White House spokesman Mike Hammer said "there are other rationales for why those border deployments are occurring" but declined to name any of them. "I would really put this to the Department of Homeland Security," he said.
Homeland Security spokesman Matthew Chandler would not answer the question on the record during a telephone interview with the AP. He later sent a written statement that said more help is needed to build upon "the unprecedented resources the Administration has dedicated over the past 16 months and will serve to expand long-term the successes that have been realized to date."
Governors along the border say improved crime rates don't counter their concerns about risk.
"The federal government currently does not know who is entering our country and when, which obviously creates tremendous security concerns," said Brewer's spokesman Paul Senseman.
And in Texas, "we respond to threats based on risk, not occurrence," said Gov. Rick Perry's spokeswoman Katherine Cesinger. Thus Perry has activated a secret state border protection emergency plan.
"With the safety of Texans on the line, we can't afford to wait," he said.
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who ordered the National Guard to patrol the border in his state six weeks ago, is concerned about "the potential for drug cartel violence spilling over the border," spokesman Gilbert Gallegos said.
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger spokesman Francisco Castillo said that while "we've seen some success," troops are needed "to provide more security along our borders."
Concerns about danger come, in part, from Mexico, where raging cartel violence has taken 23,000 lives in three years, often within view of the U.S. border. There's frequent talk of the potential for that violence to spread across the border, although so far it hasn't happened to any significant degree.
Several high-profile and frightening incidents have added to the fears: Authorities suspect an illegal immigrant working for drug smugglers killed Arizona rancher Robert Krentz in March, and last year Border Patrol agent Robert Rosas, 30, was murdered while on patrol near San Diego.
"Agents now have to question if they will be ambushed," U.S. District Judge M. James Lorenz said as he sentenced a 17-year-old Mexican to 40 years for killing Rosas.
In fact, agents in the San Diego region are less likely to be attacked these days.
"Agent Rosas' death changed the way we do business. Agents are on high alert, we have to be ready. But if you just look at the numbers, assaults here are down 27 percent," said Border Patrol spokesman Jerry Conley, who worked with Rosas. He said that since Rosas' death, officers don't venture into potentially dangerous situations without backup. Solo patrols are rare, and they emphasize safety precautions.
There are exceptions to the trend: Assaults on agents in the Laredo, Texas, region increased from 44 in 2008 to 118 in 2009, and they increased in the neighboring Rio Grande Valley as well. Agents also fired their guns on 49 separate occasions in 2009, a 50 percent increase from 2008.
Customs spokesman Easterling said that while fewer people are trying to sneak across the border, those who do are more likely "engaged in activity other than illegal entry, such as drug smuggling, and are more likely to use violence as a means to help them escape apprehension."
But the bigger picture is one of increased safety. In fiscal year 2009, there were 1,073 violent attacks — mostly thrown rocks, bottles and sticks but also 48 incidents in which a gun was fired — against the 20,119 Border Patrol agents, down from 1,097 violent incidents against 17,819 agents in 2008.
In addition to those agents, another 22,000 officers work at the nation's border crossings and airports, checking people as they enter and exit the country.
It's one of the safest jobs in law enforcement: Last year 17 of them were assaulted, a 74 percent decrease from 2008.
Edward Alden, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, said it's time for lawmakers to reconsider what they'd like to see happening in the region.
"Border security has become the most overused, and least understood, concept in the struggle over what to do about our broken immigration system," he said. "While an election year may not be the best time, the United States finally needs an honest debate over what it means to secure the country's borders."
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gr25xbV37mkGaC8-iRa16HHp5FlwD9G3SEA01
June 3, 2010
by Martha Mendoza
It's one of the safest parts of America, and it's getting safer.
It's the U.S.-Mexico border, and even as politicians say more federal troops are needed to fight rising violence, government data obtained by The Associated Press show it actually isn't so dangerous after all.
The top four big cities in America with the lowest rates of violent crime are all in border states: San Diego, Phoenix, El Paso and Austin, according to a new FBI report. And an in-house Customs and Border Protection report shows that Border Patrol agents face far less danger than street cops in most U.S. cities.
The Customs and Border Protection study, obtained with a Freedom of Information Act request, shows 3 percent of Border Patrol agents and officers were assaulted last year, mostly when assailants threw rocks at them. That compares with 11 percent of police officers and sheriff's deputies assaulted during the same period, usually with guns or knives.
In addition, violent attacks against agents declined in 2009 along most of the border for the first time in seven years. So far this year assaults are slightly up, but data is incomplete.
"The border is safer now than it's ever been," said U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman Lloyd Easterling.
He said one factor is that with fewer jobs available amid the U.S. recession, illegal immigration has dropped. And responding to security concerns after 9-11, the Border Patrol has doubled the number of agents in the region since 2004.
Nonetheless, border lawmakers and governors say their region is under siege and needs more troops.
"Violence in the vicinity of the U.S.-Mexico border continues to increase at an alarming rate. We believe that this violence represents a serious threat to the national security of the United States as well as a serious threat to U.S. citizens that live along the 1,969-mile long border," a dozen bipartisan members of Congress from border states wrote President Obama.
In Arizona, a stringent new immigration law takes effect next month, requiring police to question suspects' immigration status if officers believe they're in the country illegally. Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer said in a televised interview last weekend: "We are out here on the battlefield getting the impact of all this illegal immigration, and all the crime that comes with it."
In response to the concerns from the border states, Obama pledged to send 1,200 National Guard troops to help and spend an extra $500 million on border security.
His one-time rival for the presidency, Arizona Sen. John McCain, said he should send at least 6,000 troops, which are needed because he said Arizona leads the nation in marijuana seizures, suffered 368 kidnappings in 2008 and has the highest property crime rates in the U.S.
But FBI crime reports for 2009 says violent crime in Arizona declined. And violent crimes in southwest border counties are among the lowest in the nation per capita — they've dropped by more than 30 percent in the last two decades. Of America's 25 largest cities, San Diego — with one out of four residents an immigrant — has the lowest number of violent crimes per capita.
Opponents of increased border security are frustrated by descriptions of a wave of violence when the statistics show the region to be relatively safe.
"Politicians are hyping up this incredible fear across the country about the border, but these numbers show these are lies being perpetrated on the American public," said immigrant advocate Isabel Garcia at Tucson-based Derechos Humanos. "The warnings about violence are just an excuse to crack down on migrants who want to work and be with their families."
Even residents of the border region who want more security are surprised by the talk of violence.
"I have to say, a lot of this is way overblown," said Gary Brasher of Tuboc, Arizona, who is president of the Coalition for a Safe and Secure Border.
So why send troops to the region?
"That's really something to ask the White House," Easterling said.
White House spokesman Mike Hammer said "there are other rationales for why those border deployments are occurring" but declined to name any of them. "I would really put this to the Department of Homeland Security," he said.
Homeland Security spokesman Matthew Chandler would not answer the question on the record during a telephone interview with the AP. He later sent a written statement that said more help is needed to build upon "the unprecedented resources the Administration has dedicated over the past 16 months and will serve to expand long-term the successes that have been realized to date."
Governors along the border say improved crime rates don't counter their concerns about risk.
"The federal government currently does not know who is entering our country and when, which obviously creates tremendous security concerns," said Brewer's spokesman Paul Senseman.
And in Texas, "we respond to threats based on risk, not occurrence," said Gov. Rick Perry's spokeswoman Katherine Cesinger. Thus Perry has activated a secret state border protection emergency plan.
"With the safety of Texans on the line, we can't afford to wait," he said.
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who ordered the National Guard to patrol the border in his state six weeks ago, is concerned about "the potential for drug cartel violence spilling over the border," spokesman Gilbert Gallegos said.
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger spokesman Francisco Castillo said that while "we've seen some success," troops are needed "to provide more security along our borders."
Concerns about danger come, in part, from Mexico, where raging cartel violence has taken 23,000 lives in three years, often within view of the U.S. border. There's frequent talk of the potential for that violence to spread across the border, although so far it hasn't happened to any significant degree.
Several high-profile and frightening incidents have added to the fears: Authorities suspect an illegal immigrant working for drug smugglers killed Arizona rancher Robert Krentz in March, and last year Border Patrol agent Robert Rosas, 30, was murdered while on patrol near San Diego.
"Agents now have to question if they will be ambushed," U.S. District Judge M. James Lorenz said as he sentenced a 17-year-old Mexican to 40 years for killing Rosas.
In fact, agents in the San Diego region are less likely to be attacked these days.
"Agent Rosas' death changed the way we do business. Agents are on high alert, we have to be ready. But if you just look at the numbers, assaults here are down 27 percent," said Border Patrol spokesman Jerry Conley, who worked with Rosas. He said that since Rosas' death, officers don't venture into potentially dangerous situations without backup. Solo patrols are rare, and they emphasize safety precautions.
There are exceptions to the trend: Assaults on agents in the Laredo, Texas, region increased from 44 in 2008 to 118 in 2009, and they increased in the neighboring Rio Grande Valley as well. Agents also fired their guns on 49 separate occasions in 2009, a 50 percent increase from 2008.
Customs spokesman Easterling said that while fewer people are trying to sneak across the border, those who do are more likely "engaged in activity other than illegal entry, such as drug smuggling, and are more likely to use violence as a means to help them escape apprehension."
But the bigger picture is one of increased safety. In fiscal year 2009, there were 1,073 violent attacks — mostly thrown rocks, bottles and sticks but also 48 incidents in which a gun was fired — against the 20,119 Border Patrol agents, down from 1,097 violent incidents against 17,819 agents in 2008.
In addition to those agents, another 22,000 officers work at the nation's border crossings and airports, checking people as they enter and exit the country.
It's one of the safest jobs in law enforcement: Last year 17 of them were assaulted, a 74 percent decrease from 2008.
Edward Alden, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, said it's time for lawmakers to reconsider what they'd like to see happening in the region.
"Border security has become the most overused, and least understood, concept in the struggle over what to do about our broken immigration system," he said. "While an election year may not be the best time, the United States finally needs an honest debate over what it means to secure the country's borders."
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gr25xbV37mkGaC8-iRa16HHp5FlwD9G3SEA01
Thursday, May 27, 2010
DeMint bid to build border fence defeated
McClatchy Newspapers / Miami Herald
May 26, 2010
by James Rosen
WASHINGTON -- The Senate late Thursday defeated Sen. Jim DeMint's bid to require completion of a 700-mile fence along the U.S.-Mexico border within a year.
The 52-45 vote against DeMint's measure largely followed party lines, with Sen. George Voinovich of Ohio the only Republican to oppose it. Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Seneca, S.C., Republican, voted for the DeMint legislation.
Four Democrats voted for setting a deadline to complete the border fence: Sens. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, John Rockefeller of West Virginia, Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Jon Tester of Montana.
DeMint, a Greenville, S.C., Republican who helped lead opposition to a bipartisan immigration reform bill in 2006, said only 34 miles of a double-layer border fence authorized by Congress have been built.
"The federal government is ignoring its own law at the peril of citizens in Arizona, Texas and really those all over the country," DeMint said on the Senate floor before the vote.
The vote was on whether to attach DeMint's amendment to a $59 billion supplemental spending bill providing funds for U.S. military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, disaster relief in Haiti and the United States and other needs.
DeMint dismissed as "temporary and insufficient" President Barack Obama's decision earlier this week to send 1,200 National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border and to seek $500 million in new funding to help fortify the frontier.
The Mexican government's crackdown on drug cartels has increased violence along the border in areas where illegal narcotics are smuggled into the United States.
"Thousands of Mexicans have been killed," DeMint said.
"We've encouraged the drug cartels to ship their goods to our border. We have mass chaos on our border because we will not do what we know works." The Senate in May 2006 defeated an immigration overhaul that would have helped 12 million undocumented workers in the United States gain legal status while taking steps to fortify the southern border.
DeMint branded that bill "amnesty," helping spark opposition to it among conservative activists across the country.
After that measure failed, Congress in September 2006 passed a narrower bill authorizing construction of the 700-mile-long, double-layered fence along the border.
Only short segments of the fence have been built since Democrats gained control of Congress in the November 2006 elections.
The Homeland Security Department in 2007 began to shift its focus to erecting a "virtual fence" along the 2,000-mile border, using sensors, cameras and other high-tech equipment to prevent illegal crossings.
That plan, however, has been delayed by technical glitches and cost overruns. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano decided in March to slash funding for it.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/05/27/1652269/demint-bid-to-build-border-fence.html
May 26, 2010
by James Rosen
WASHINGTON -- The Senate late Thursday defeated Sen. Jim DeMint's bid to require completion of a 700-mile fence along the U.S.-Mexico border within a year.
The 52-45 vote against DeMint's measure largely followed party lines, with Sen. George Voinovich of Ohio the only Republican to oppose it. Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Seneca, S.C., Republican, voted for the DeMint legislation.
Four Democrats voted for setting a deadline to complete the border fence: Sens. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, John Rockefeller of West Virginia, Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Jon Tester of Montana.
DeMint, a Greenville, S.C., Republican who helped lead opposition to a bipartisan immigration reform bill in 2006, said only 34 miles of a double-layer border fence authorized by Congress have been built.
"The federal government is ignoring its own law at the peril of citizens in Arizona, Texas and really those all over the country," DeMint said on the Senate floor before the vote.
The vote was on whether to attach DeMint's amendment to a $59 billion supplemental spending bill providing funds for U.S. military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, disaster relief in Haiti and the United States and other needs.
DeMint dismissed as "temporary and insufficient" President Barack Obama's decision earlier this week to send 1,200 National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border and to seek $500 million in new funding to help fortify the frontier.
The Mexican government's crackdown on drug cartels has increased violence along the border in areas where illegal narcotics are smuggled into the United States.
"Thousands of Mexicans have been killed," DeMint said.
"We've encouraged the drug cartels to ship their goods to our border. We have mass chaos on our border because we will not do what we know works." The Senate in May 2006 defeated an immigration overhaul that would have helped 12 million undocumented workers in the United States gain legal status while taking steps to fortify the southern border.
DeMint branded that bill "amnesty," helping spark opposition to it among conservative activists across the country.
After that measure failed, Congress in September 2006 passed a narrower bill authorizing construction of the 700-mile-long, double-layered fence along the border.
Only short segments of the fence have been built since Democrats gained control of Congress in the November 2006 elections.
The Homeland Security Department in 2007 began to shift its focus to erecting a "virtual fence" along the 2,000-mile border, using sensors, cameras and other high-tech equipment to prevent illegal crossings.
That plan, however, has been delayed by technical glitches and cost overruns. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano decided in March to slash funding for it.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/05/27/1652269/demint-bid-to-build-border-fence.html
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Guardsman stole $13K in border-fence scrap
Air Force Times
March 18, 2010
by Tom Spoth
A federal jury has found a former Air National Guard master sergeant guilty of stealing scrap metal while supervising the construction of a fence on the U.S.-Mexico border.
Robert Kelley, 49, sold 90 tons of ill-gotten steel for $13,055 between July 2007 and March 2008. He then used the money to buy a laptop computer, a printer, a router, Geek Squad home install services, a chop saw, a ratchet set, cowboy boots, a .45-caliber handgun, an AR-15 rifle and a variety of tools, according to a press release from the U.S. attorney’s office in Arizona.
Kelley was serving with the Wyoming Air National Guard at the time. He was the noncommissioned officer in charge of a team of Air and Army National Guardsmen building the border fence. Kelley told his unit he had the authority to sell scrap from the project, and ordered the Guardsmen to load it in dump trucks, sell it at a metal recycler in Tucson, and give the proceeds to him so he could spend it on unit welfare.
Guardsmen testified at the trial that Kelley ordered them to intentionally create scrap to increase the size of the loads sold in Tucson. Witnesses from the U.S. Border Patrol and the military testified that Kelley had no authority to sell the scrap.
Kelley was convicted of theft of public property, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years, a $250,000 fine, or both.
http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2010/03/airforce_scrap_theft_031810w/
March 18, 2010
by Tom Spoth
A federal jury has found a former Air National Guard master sergeant guilty of stealing scrap metal while supervising the construction of a fence on the U.S.-Mexico border.
Robert Kelley, 49, sold 90 tons of ill-gotten steel for $13,055 between July 2007 and March 2008. He then used the money to buy a laptop computer, a printer, a router, Geek Squad home install services, a chop saw, a ratchet set, cowboy boots, a .45-caliber handgun, an AR-15 rifle and a variety of tools, according to a press release from the U.S. attorney’s office in Arizona.
Kelley was serving with the Wyoming Air National Guard at the time. He was the noncommissioned officer in charge of a team of Air and Army National Guardsmen building the border fence. Kelley told his unit he had the authority to sell scrap from the project, and ordered the Guardsmen to load it in dump trucks, sell it at a metal recycler in Tucson, and give the proceeds to him so he could spend it on unit welfare.
Guardsmen testified at the trial that Kelley ordered them to intentionally create scrap to increase the size of the loads sold in Tucson. Witnesses from the U.S. Border Patrol and the military testified that Kelley had no authority to sell the scrap.
Kelley was convicted of theft of public property, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years, a $250,000 fine, or both.
http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2010/03/airforce_scrap_theft_031810w/
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