A U.S. Army specialist was sentenced Friday in Fairbanks federal court for allowing the theft of two truckloads of fuel while stationed in Afghanistan in exchange for $5,000 kickbacks.
Sheldon Morgan was sentenced to four months in prison and two years of probation, according to court records. He also has to pay restitution totaling $37,300, the estimated value of the fuel.
When prosecutors filed an indictment in May listing a single charge of conspiring to receive bribes and defraud the U.S., Morgan was assigned to Fort Wainwright in Fairbanks, an official said.
[Fairbanks-based soldier charged with taking bribes for stolen fuel]
Morgan was serving with the Army's 426th Brigade Support Battalion at a forward operating base in Jalalabad for about a year starting in May 2010.
The base in Jalalabad was used as a hub for the distribution of fuel to other nearby bases, and Morgan oversaw its operation, according to the charges.
An Afghan trucking company distributed the fuel in what the court documents call "Jingle" trucks, colorfully decorated transport trucks. Around December 2010, a translator for the driver of the Jingle trucks asked Morgan if the driver could steal some of the fuel being loaded at the base, and Morgan agreed, according to the charges. Morgan was paid $5,000 each for two stolen tankers of fuel.
Prosecutors wrote in a sentencing document that the government does not know where the stolen fuel ended up, but they noted the defendant and his wife used the bribe money for "personal purposes."
The U.S. Attorney's Office recommended a two-year sentence for Morgan. Prosecutors noted Morgan's honesty when confronted by law enforcement but argued his actions in Afghanistan corrupted and caused direct financial harm to the military contracting process.
U.S. District Court Judge Ralph Beistline opted for the four months of imprisonment.
At least seven other individuals, members of units from the same forward operating base and a contractor, have pleaded guilty to similar fuel theft schemes, court records show.
Those instances of theft involved more money than Morgan's case, Assistant Federal Defender Gary Colbath wrote in a sentencing document.
"The closest case monetarily, was that of Morgan's supervisor, Bilal Abdullah. Abdullah was ordered to serve one year and one day in custody and pay restitution of $466,250," Colbath wrote.
The defense attorney also noted Morgan's military service — he enlisted at 19 and was deployed four times. During one such deployment, he lost his index finger on his left hand, Colbath said.
Morgan is being discharged from the Army and will lose all of his benefits due to the criminal case.