The U.S. Justice Department
released the below information:
An employee of the U.S.
Department of the Navy pleaded guilty
today to accepting more than $250,000 in cash bribes from three people making
unauthorized liquor purchases from the Navy Exchange Service Command where he
worked, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Blanco of the
Justice Department’s Criminal Division and Special Agent in Charge Leo Lamont
of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service’s (NCIS) Northeast Field Office.
Eric Jex, 29, of Uniondale,
New York, pleaded guilty to one count of bribery before U.S. District Judge
Joanna Seybert of the Eastern District of New York. Sentencing is set for Feb.
2, 2018.
According to admissions made
in connection with his guilty plea, as a supervisory sales associate at the NEX
at Mitchel Field in Garden City, New York, Jex was responsible for preparing
and processing retail transactions, and he had direct authority to make
decisions concerning large liquor orders and shipments from the NEX’s
warehouse. He was also subject to policies limiting access to the NEX’s goods
to authorized personnel, such as Navy service members, and requiring NEX
employees to check purchasers’ IDs. In connection with his guilty plea, Jex
admitted that from approximately November 2015 through December 2016, he agreed
with three unauthorized purchasers, one of whom had a New York State Liquor
License, to arrange repeated large purchases of liquor from the NEX. He allowed
the three unauthorized purchasers access to the NEX’s low prices and frequently
provided additional price-matching discounts to which the purchasers were not
entitled. In exchange, the three unauthorized purchasers paid cash bribes to
Jex, typically $5 to $20 per case of liquor. According to plea documents, these
bribes added up to more than $250,000 for the period of the scheme.
The NCIS; U.S. Treasury
Department, Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau; and the New York State
Department of Taxation and Finance, Criminal Investigations Division
investigated this case. Trial Attorneys Luke Cass and Andrew Laing of the
Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section are prosecuting the case with the
assistance of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York.
Paul, the story gives me more evidence for my argument that the military exchange and commissary systems ought to be abandoned except for overseas, non-U.S. locations. Consider the savings! Stateside facilities, except for uniform shops and small on base convenience stores are not needed; commercial markets make low cost merchandise readily available, and make big exchanges and commissaries redundant.
ReplyDeleteTim,
ReplyDeleteGood points, but active military people might disagree...
Paul
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