NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- More than $1 million in weapons parts and sensitive military equipment was stolen from Fort Campbell, Ky., and sold in a vast black market, some of it to foreign buyers through eBay, according to testimony at a federal trial this week.
The equipment -- some of it resold to buyers in Russia, China, Mexico, Hong Kong, Kazakhstan and Ukraine -- included machine gun and rifle parts, body armor, helmets, gun sights, generators, medical equipment and more.
John Roberts of Clarksville, Tenn., was being tried Wednesday in Nashville on charges of wire fraud, conspiracy to steal and sell government property, and violating the Arms Export Control Act. Six soldiers and Roberts' civilian business partner made plea deals in exchange for their testimony.
Roberts, 27, testified Wednesday that he did not know the soldiers were supplying stolen equipment, and said the military items he bought and sold were commonly found in surplus stores, on eBay and in gun stores.
"I didn't try to hide anything," Roberts said Wednesday. "That's why I filed taxes on everything I sold on eBay. I thought it was OK."
Roberts said the soldiers told him the equipment was legally purchased from other soldiers or that the Army was discarding the equipment. He also said he didn't know that he needed to have a license to export certain items overseas.
But a former business partner, Cory Wilson, testified that he and Roberts would find soldiers selling military items through classified ads or on Facebook, and then ask them for more expensive and harder-to-find items. It was "fast, easy money," Wilson said. Wilson pleaded guilty to buying and selling stolen military equipment, wire fraud and violating the Arms Export Control Act.
The soldiers they targeted were often young and broke or needed money for drugs, Wilson said, so "there were a lot of items and good money to be made."
Wilson and Roberts shared a warehouse in Clarksville where they stored the equipment, but Roberts said they were not sharing funds. Roberts said the two just had a shared interest in selling things on eBay.
Wilson said Roberts set up multiple accounts to sell the equipment on eBay. They removed packaging that identified it as government property and used fake descriptions on shipping labels to avoid suspicion, he said.
Michael Barlow, a former Fort Campbell platoon sergeant who pleaded guilty to theft of government property and conspiracy, testified that the sales started small, but eventually escalated to truckloads of military equipment.
"They wanted more and more, mostly weapons parts," Barlow testified.
Barlow said his company returned home with five large cargo containers filled with equipment as the U.S. military drew down troops and closed bases in Afghanistan. Barlow said he and other soldiers sometimes got $1,000 to $2,000 per truckload.
Roberts said he was invited to go to the Fort Campbell military post to look at cargo containers belonging to Barlow's unit. Roberts said he was told that the containers needed to be cleaned out of "pretty used stuff," and that he took some items. He said the transaction occurred in broad daylight in front of other soldiers.
The conspiracy allegedly continued from 2013 into 2016. Text messages between the soldiers and the civilians pointed to regular meet-ups to swap cash for ballistic plates, helmets, scopes and gun sights, according to Chief Warrant Officer 2 Sarah Perry, an agent with the Army Criminal Investigation Command who testified Tuesday.
Another former Fort Campbell soldier, Jonathan Wolford, testified Wednesday that he and another soldier, Dustin Nelson, took about 70 boxes of weapons parts and other gear, some of it labeled with the name of their company, to Wilson and Roberts, who paid them $1,200.
A 14-member jury will hear closing arguments and begin deliberations in the case today.
A Section on 08/31/2017