A White Hall couple must serve time in federal prison and pay $248,535 in restitution for stealing government property and reselling it, a federal judge said Thursday.
U.S. District Judge D. Price Marshall Jr. sentenced Lee Anne Branch, 41, to 2½ years in prison, and her husband, Kyle Branch, also 41, to one year and eight months in prison, in addition to the restitution that Marshall said must be paid jointly and severally - meaning either or both people are liable for the repayment.
The Branches and Travis Love Donald, 38, of Sherwood pleaded guilty on Nov. 21 to theft of government property, admitting that they schemed from March 30, 2012, to April 16, 2013, to steal excess U.S. Army equipment that was being transferred from the Pine Bluff Arsenal to the National Center for Toxicological Research during the planned destruction of chemical weapons stored at the arsenal, according to an indictment and a news release.
Chris Thyer, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, said in the news release that Lee Anne Branch worked at the research center, where she was in charge of property and the process of obtaining property from other federal agencies. Thyer said she stole the property by personally picking up pallets of items from the arsenal in a box truck and then driving them to a private storage unit she rented in White Hall, instead of to the research facility, where they were supposed to be inventoried.
Kyle Branch then sold the stolen items from the storage unit, using eBay, Craigslist and other methods, Thyer said.
He didn’t reveal Donald’s role in the thefts, but said Donald is scheduled to be sentenced May 22.
In addition to being ordered to repay nearly $250,000 to the research center, the Branches must turn over to the government all property they used to commit the theft and any proceeds of the sale of the property, Thyer said, identifying the assets to be forfeited as a 1998 Baja Outlaw boat with a MerCruiser motor and a trailer.
“When pronouncing the sentences for the Branches, the judge stated that he took into consideration Kyle’s medical condition, namely cancer,” Thyer said in the news release, noting that the judge “recommended that Kyle be placed in a medical facility close to Central Arkansas.”
While Lee Anne Branch was ordered to report to prison on June 9, Marshall gave Kyle Branch until Sept. 30 to report. Both Branches were also ordered to serve three years’ probation after their release from prison.
The Branches were both represented by Little Rock attorney Richard Turbeville, while the government was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ed Walker.
Arkansas, Pages 12 on 04/25/2014