Former Army National Guard Major Sentenced for Receiving Bribes in Afghanistan

A former Major in the U.S. Army National Guard was sentenced to 60 months in prison for receiving bribes from military contractors in exchange for fraudulently verifying the receipt of concrete bunkers and barriers that were never received.

Christopher P. West, of Chicago, Illinois, was sentenced on December 20, 2011, by U.S. District Judge Matthew F. Kennelly. In addition to his prison term, West was sentenced to two years of supervised release and was ordered to pay $500,000 in restitution to the United States Department of Defense.

West pleaded guilty in June 2009 to a superseding indictment charging him with eight counts of bribery, conspiracy and fraud. According to court documents, West was deployed to Bagram Airfield from March 2004 until March 2005.

West and Lieutenant Robert Moore had sole responsibility over ordering, receiving and verifying the receipt of bunkers and barriers at Bagram. West and Moore conspired with the bunker and barrier contractors at Bagram to fraudulently inflate the number of bunkers and barriers delivered to Bagram, and to profit in the resulting overpayments made by the DOD.

The contractors fraudulently billed the DOD for bunkers and barriers never delivered to Bagram. West and Moore fraudulently verified on material inspection and receiving reports that the contractors had delivered the inflated number of bunkers and barriers. As a result, the contractors were able to receive payment for the falsely inflated number of bunkers and barriers. Upon receiving payment, the contractors paid West and Moore a portion of the money received.

West is the eighth defendant sentenced in this investigation. Ten additional defendants remain to be sentenced, some in the Northern District of Illinois and others in the District of Hawaii.

West’s co-conspirators, Robert Moore and Patrick Boyd, were sentenced to 15 months and 40 months in prison, respectively, for their roles in this criminal activity. Sergeant Sheryl Ayeni was also sentenced recently to one year in prison for the receipt of $30,000 in return for her official acts as a vendor pay agent at Bagram during 2004 and 2005. Also arising from this investigation, John Mihalczo was sentenced to 15 months in prison for accepting approximately $115,000 in bribes at Bagram between 2003 and 2004.

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