WASHINGTON–A U.S. Army sergeant pleaded guilty today to theft charges for his role in the theft of fuel at Forward Operating Base (FOB) Salerno in Afghanistan.
The plea was entered in federal court in Louisville, Ky., before Magistrate Judge James D. Moyer of the Western District of Kentucky. Sergeant Albert Kelly III, 28, of Fort Knox, Ky., faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison when he is sentenced on May 22 by U.S. District Judge John Heyburn II.
According to court records, Kelly was a soldier in the United States Army and was assigned to FOB Salerno from January 2011 to January 2012. For most of that time, Kelly served as a specialist, and his duties included overseeing the delivery of fuel into FOB Salerno. Typically, the fuel was brought into the base by Afghan trucking companies driven by Afghan nationals. Kelly’s duties included verifying the amounts of the fuel that were downloaded at FOB Salerno and preparing and certifying documents that accounted for the fuel that was downloaded.
From in or about November 2011 through January 2012, Kelly diverted and permitted the diversion of fuel delivery trucks from FOB Salerno to other locations, where the trucks would then be downloaded and the fuel stolen. To conceal this diversion, he falsely certified that the diverted fuel was in fact delivered and downloaded at FOB Salerno.
In exchange for assisting the fuel theft, Kelly received approximately $57,000 from the Afghan trucking company for diverting approximately 25,000 gallons of fuel. The loss to the government was approximately $100,000.
