Thirteen National Guard Bureau members received sentences for their roles in wide-ranging bribery and fraud schemes that caused the U.S. a loss of more than $170,000. Seven of those members were sentenced in Houston this past week.
Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson of the Southern District in Texas said the following pleaded guilty and were convicted and sentenced to prison time and/or probation:
- Jammie Martin, 38, of Katy, Texas
- Michelle Davis, 34, of Houston, Texas
- Vanessa Phillips, 37, of Houston, Texas
- Zaunmine “Orlando” Duncan, 39, of Douglasville, Georgia
- Annika Chambers, 29, of Houston, Texas
- Lashae Hawkins, 29, of San Antonio, Texas
- Christopher Renfro, 27, of Houston, Texas
- Michael Rambaran, 52, of Pearland, Texas
- Edia Antoine, 29, of Houston, Texas
- Ernest A. Millien III, 51, of Houston, Texas
- Melanie Moraida, 35, of Pearland, Texas
- Elisha Ceja, 28, of Bourboursvile, West Virginia
- Kimberly Hartgraves, 30, of League City, Texas
Judge Lee H. Rosenthal in the Southern District of Texas imposed the prison terms and ordered all 13 defendants to pay restitution. Danielle Applin, 29, of Harker Heights, Texas, one remaining defendant who previously pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and one count of bribery, will face sentencing on Sept. 2, 2015 in Houston.
In approximately September 2005, the National Guard Bureau entered into a contract with Document and Packaging Broker Inc. to administer the Guard Recruiting Assistance Program, or G-RAP. A participating soldier, through this program, referred to as a recruiting assistant, could receive bonus payments for referring another individual to join the National Guard. Based on certain milestones achieved by the referred soldier, a participating soldier received direct deposit payment into a designated bank account. To participate, recruiting assistants had to create online accounts.
According to the evidence presented at trial and in connection with the various guilty pleas, recruiting assistants conspired with recruiters to defraud the program by falsely claiming they were responsible for referring potential soldiers to join the National Guard. Evidence showed these recruiters used their positions to obtain the names and social security numbers of potential soldiers, which they provided to the assistants so they could use the information to obtain fraudulent recruiting referral bonuses.
In exchange for this information, one recruiter, Martin, personally received approximately $15,000 in payments from the recruiting assistants and resulted in more than $30,000 in losses to the National Guard Bureau overall. Recruiter, Rambaran, received $29,000 and caused an additional $70,000 in losses. The final scheme, led by Duncan, resulted in another $70,000 loss and he received approximately $24,000 in payments from recruiting officers.
The San Antonio Fraud Resident Agency of Army Criminal Investigation Command’s Major Procurement Fraud unit investigated.
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