KENTUCKY
U.S. Army Sgt. First Class who got a Rolex watch and $100,000 while serving in Afghanistan plead guilty this week to conspiracy to commit bribery, according to officials.
Ramiro Pena Jr., 43, of Fort Campbell, Kentucky, plead guilty Thursday before U.S. District Judge Thomas B. Russell to a one-count information charging him with conspiracy to commit bribery.
Pena is scheduled for sentencing on Oct. 15.
He allegedly committed the bribery while contracting for supplies while working at the Humanitarian Assistance Yard at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan, officials said.
Here are the allegations, according to the indictment:
- From January 2008 through September 2009, Pena and his supervisor, Army Master Sergeant Jimmy W. Dennis, were responsible for contracting with local vendors to purchase supplies necessary to support humanitarian relief in Afghanistan.
- On behalf of the Army, between June 2008 and March 2009, Pena and Dennis entered into approximately 217 such contracts for approximately $30,760,255.
- In connection with his guilty plea, Pena admitted that he received money and jewelry from the vendors – primarily through Dennis – in return for Pena and Dennis taking action favorable to the vendors in connection with the HA Yard contracts.
- Specifically, Pena admitted that he received from the vendors, through Dennis, a Rolex watch in addition to $100,000 in bribe payments, which he received in approximately six payments.
- Pena admitted that he sent some of the cash to his family in Kentucky, which he dispersed throughout numerous greeting cards to avoid drawing attention to the thickness of any particular envelope.
- Pena also used the bribe money to pay his family’s personal expenses and to purchase a Harley Davidson motorcycle.
In May 2014, officials said Dennis plead guilty in Tennessee to conspiracy to launder bribe payments.
In January 2015, Dennis was sentenced to serve three years and five months in prison and was ordered to forfeit $115,000, officials said.
This case was investigated special inspector general for Afghanistan Reconstruction, FBI, Army Criminal Investigative Division, Defense Criminal Investigative Service, and Air Force Office of Special Investigation, according to officials.