x
Breaking News
More () »

Lebanon soldier accused of taking bribes while serving in Afghanistan

A Lebanon County soldier has been charged with taking $25,000 in cash bribes from an Afghan business man while serving in United States Army at Bagram, Afghanis...
cash

A Lebanon County soldier has been charged with taking $25,000 in cash bribes from an Afghan business man while serving in United States Army at Bagram, Afghanistan, according to a news release from the United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.

Timothy H. Albright, 37, of Lebanon,  was charged Friday with conspiracy to receive bribes while serving in the United States Army.

According to U.S. Attorney Peter Smith, Albright, a Specialist with the Pennsylvania National Guard,  was assigned to the 53rd Joint Movement Control Battalion, 101st Joint Logistics Command, Combined Joint Task Force, with duties at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan. Albright served  in the United States Army at Bagram between January 2008 and October 2008.

Part of his duties while serving as Commercial Vendor Services Specialist included processing invoices resulting from the provision of supplies by Afghan vendors to restock supplies at the Humanitarian Aid Yard at Bagram. Albright was responsible for reviewing invoices submitted by Afghan vendors who had been awarded contracts to replenish the Humanitarian Aid Yard. If the documents were in order, Albright would date-stamp and submit them for payment.

An Afghan vendor who had several million-dollar contracts through his company with the Humanitarian Aid Yard through the Army began to give cash to Albright as a way of thanking him for expeditiously processing his invoices, investigators said.  Albright allegedly received at least $25,000 in cash bribes from the Afghan vendor.

According to authorities, Albright sent the money he received from the Afghan vendor to his home in Lebanon. He allegedly concealed the money in envelopes inserted in boxes filled with DVDs. Investigators said Albright told his supervisor at Bagram about the payments and encouraged him to participate in the scheme. The supervisor did so, and Albright and his supervisor would split up stacks of $100 bills provided by the vendor, investigators said.

The case was investigated by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, United States Army’s Criminal Investigation Division, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Air Force Office of Special Investigation. The prosecution is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Gordon Zubrod and Trial Attorney Daniel Butler of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.

The maximum penalty under the federal statute is 5 years imprisonment, a term of supervised release following imprisonment, and a fine up to $250,000.

 

Before You Leave, Check This Out