Just when we thought we’d seen it all …
Here is a story from the Beaverton Valley Times, a media outlet that covers the local scene in Oregon. The news article reports that a former U.S. Army Captain, Michael Dung Nguyen, age 28, was sentenced on May 3, 2010 to serve 30 months in prison plus three years of “supervised release” for the crime of theft of government property and “structuring financial transactions”. We investigated further, being interested in the criminal aspects of structuring financial transactions, as well as the whole theft of government property thing. What we found was a sordid little tale of stupidity and greed, reminiscent of an NCIS TV show episode we watched a couple of years ago.
What did our Captain Nguyen do? According to the article—
During a December court hearing, Nguyen admitted that while on duty in Iraq, he stole about $690,000 in U.S. currency he had access to as the project purchasing officer in the Army’s 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment.
The money was stolen from commander's emergency response program funds, which were suppose[d] to be used for security-contract payments with the Sons of Iraq, as well as humanitarian relief and reconstruction programs.
Okay. The “government property” Captain Nguyen stole was cash—“uncirculated bundles of $100 bills”. Well, yes, we suppose U.S. dollar bills of any denomination are technically “government property;” they are printed by the U.S. Mint and were in the possession of the U.S. Government in Iraq. But seriously—don’t you think there’s a better description of the crime?
While you ponder that question, back to the sad tale of Captain Nguyen.
According to the article, “Nguyen admitted that while on duty in Iraq, he stole about $690,000 in U.S. currency he had access to as the project purchasing officer in the Army’s 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment.” Importantly, “Nguyen was the only person who had access to the money, which was kept in a safe at his battalion’s station in Iraq.” That’s some cunning plan there, Captain Mike. Make sure you’re the only person with the combination to the safe where the cash is stored, so that you are the only possible suspect when somebody comes to investigate where the money went. And he would have gotten away with it too, if not for those meddling kids ….
Nguyen’s cunning plan consisted of three key parts:
- Steal money from the safe.
- Mail the money to himself at his family’s home in Beaverton, OR.
- Profit.
As the article reports, “When Nguyen returned from Iraq in June 2008, according to the U.S. Department of Justice, he opened new bank accounts at Bank of America, Washington Mutual Bank, America's Credit Union and Heritage Bank, and deposited $387,550 of the stolen cash into those accounts in Oregon and elsewhere.” Moreover, “After depositing the money, Nguyen bought new cars – a 2008 BMW and a 2009 Hummer H3T – in addition to buying computers, firearms, electronics and furniture.” But wait—there’s more: “A search of his Beaverton home turned up more than $300,000 in stolen cash hidden in the attic.” Nice work, Mike. We hoped you enjoyed tooling around in the Bimmer and the Hummer, no doubt displaying your firearms along the way.
So how was Captain Mike Nguyen caught? Did somebody notice the missing $700,000 and start an investigation? Did his commanding officer conduct an inventory on funds in his possession? Did Nguyen’s replacement turn him in? Nope. None of the above.
In fact, it was the good old IRS who noticed something was amiss in the city of Beaverton. According to the article, “The investigation was initiated by the Portland office of the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation, following the discovery of large and frequent currency deposits and substantial expenditures above Nguyen's legitimate income level.” Oops. Captain Mike was enjoying the ill-gotten funds just a little too much.
As an aside, in the past we have bemoaned the lack of controls over operations in Iraq. As we wrote in a previous post (link above)—“where are the controls on this type of behavior? We understand there is a war or two going on, and things get messy in a combat zone … but as taxpayers we expect better of our government personnel—and we expect better controls to prevent and/or detect the wrongdoing at the time the wrongdoing is committed, and not six or seven years after the fact.”
Hey, it’s nice Captain Mike got caught and was sentenced to 30 months in prison. It’s great that “Nguyen was also ordered … to serve three years of supervised release after his prison sentence, pay $200,000 in restitution and to forfeit his interest in all personal property he bought with the stolen money.” That’s keen and no doubt represents a victory for the taxpayers. But we have to ask:
- Why didn’t the U.S. Army know that $700,000 was missing?
- Was there an IG investigation? If Nguyen could mail home $700,000, what could his brother and sister officers get away with?
- Was his commanding officer disciplined?
- Is “theft of government property” really the most appropriate charge here?
- Is 30 months of prison time supposed to deter future wrongdoers? Really?
According to the article, the investigation took the combined efforts of “the FBI, the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division’s Major Procurement Fraud Unit, and the Department of Defense’s Criminal Investigative Service.” All that horsepower, and this is the result we get? Color us disappointed.
Oh, and that “structuring financial transactions” thing? The article gives no details. But here’s an overview article for your information.
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