A soldier on Fort Bragg has been charged with conspiring to defraud with respect to claim and theft of public funds, in what federal authorities have said was a small ring of military personnel submitting false travel vouchers and inflating travel claims.
Richard T. Kelley, who was formally charged in June, was the designated official whose duties were to handle travel claims for an unnamed unit on Fort Bragg, according to court documents.
Accused of embezzling nearly $750,000 from the Department of Defense, authorities say the alleged activity occurred between 2009 and April 2010.
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According to court records, in an attempt to recoup embezzled funds investigators seized nine vehicles, a home in Lillington at the 600 block of Eisler Drive, and nearly $650,000 immediately after filing the charges. The vehicles included a BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Mustang and two Nissan Armadas.
Beginning in January 2009, Kelley supposedly began abusing his position. Although no military or civilian individuals have been named in the court documents or investigations, Kelley was the leader of the group who allegedly benefited from the illegal activity.
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Earlier this year, two Fort Bragg soldiers pleaded guilty to embezzling nearly $1.3 million while deployed to Afghanistan. Those two soldiers, Sgt. Edwin Vando of Hope Mills and Sgt. Juan Lamboy Rivera of Fayetteville, had allegedly abused their positions in the finance office; and coaxed a local Afghani company to pay them directly for services to the DOD.