Six soldiers from Fort Campbell and two civilians have been indicted for stealing Army equipment and selling it to anonymous bidders from China, Russia and elsewhere. The equipment ranged from “battlefield gauze” to classified laser sights for firearms.
Between 2013 and 2015, prosecutors say the soldiers also stole flack jackets, helmets, machine gun parts and communications gear. All 1,600 stolen items are valued at $1 million. Some of the equipment was apparently from a recently-disbanded unit at Fort Campbell.
“Where I just got that sh– was craaaaazy risky,” one soldier texted to defendant John Roberts, according to the indictment.
Roberts and a man named Cory Wilson are accused of operating a warehouse in Clarksville where they stored the items and listed them on eBay. Some of the stolen gear ended up in a local retail store, but most was shipped internationally, according to prosecutors.
And now they’re trying to track down all of it.
“At a time when tensions are high between foreign nations like China and Russia, it is disheartening — as an American — to see our own military members shipping stolen military equipment and technology to those countries,” Special Agent Robert Hammer of Homeland Security Investigations said at a press conference Thursday.
Fort Campbell authorities say they are aware of the indictments and will cooperate anyway they can.
The service members could end up with sentences of five years if convicted. But the two civilians face the stiffest penalties charges of violating the Arms Export Control Act.
The accused soldiers:
- Sgt. Michael Barlow, 29, of Clarksville
- Sgt. Jonathan Wolford, 28, of Clarksville
- Specialist Kyle Heade, 29, of Fort Campbell, Kentucky
- Specialist Alexander Hollibaugh, 25, of Fort Campbell
- Specialist Dustin Nelson, 22, of Fort Campbell
- Specialist Aaron Warner, 24, of Fort Campbell
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