A soldier currently stationed at Fort Wainwright is accused of allowing someone to steal truckloads of fuel from a military base in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, federal prosecutors say.
Sheldon Morgan faces a single charge of conspiring to receive bribes and defraud the U.S., according to a charging document filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Fairbanks.
U.S. Army Alaska spokesman John Pennell said Morgan was assigned to Fort Wainwright in Fairbanks. He did not provide additional information about Morgan and said he did not have information about the charges.
According to the charging document, 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. It says he was an E-4 specialist.
The base 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 he could steal some of the fuel being loaded at the base. Prosecutors say Morgan agreed.
Morgan "subsequently allowed (the translator) to steal two truckloads of fuel," which was accomplished by adding an extra 5,000-gallon tanker onto an already scheduled mission without filling out the required paperwork, the charges say.
The extra tanker joined trucks being fueled for a mission and was diverted once it left the base, according to the charges.
Morgan was paid $5,000 for each stolen tanker of fuel, prosecutors say. He had his wife open a bank account in the Philippines in an effort to avoid any connection with the payments, which were wired from Afghanistan, they say.
Prosecutors estimate the stolen fuel was worth $37,000. They filed a criminal forfeiture allegation against Morgan, seeking any proceeds traceable to the alleged offense, including $10,020 in cash.
The support battalion is located at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, but procedure required that Morgan was charged at his current station of duty, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Cooper.
It's probable that Morgan was charged in U.S. District Court rather than through the military because his alleged crimes involved civilians who were benefiting by conspiring with a military member, Cooper said.
Morgan is set to make an initial court appearance in Fairbanks on July 5.