American Contractor in Afghanistan Sentenced to Prison for Theft of Military Equipment

On Wednesday, an American military contractor was sentenced to more than three years in prison for his role in an illegal theft ring on a military instalment in Kandahar, Afghanistan.

Acting Assistant Attorney General Brian C. Rabbitt of the Department of Justice's Criminal Division, Attorney General Zachary Terwilliger from the Eastern District of Virginia, and Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) John F. Sopko made the announcement on Wednesday.

Larry J. Green, an American military contractor from Chesapeake Virginia, was sentenced to 41 months imprisonment, followed by a two months supervised probationary release, and was ordered to pay restitution to the amount of up to $180,000.

In July 2020, Green pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United States, to commit theft of property worth over $300,000, and to aiding and abetting the submission of false statements; admitting that between April and July 2015, he along with others stole military property including generators and a truck.

Furthermore, Green also admitted to negotiating the sale of the stolen property to a third-country national middleman, who facilitated the sale of the items to unknown personnel in Kandahar. The investigation revealed that in an effort to facilitate the theft of the generators, Green aided one of his co-conspirators Varita Quincy, a security and escort pass supervisor, in creating false documents.

The investigation highlighted the tremendous security risk posed by these actions, as the false official documents allowed the entry of unvetted and unknown Afghan nationals (and their vehicles) into the secure military compound, and facilitated the subsequent removal of the stolen property from the compound.

This investigation highlights the numerous instances of corruption and the deliberate mismanagement of financial resources in the United States' long-drawn war in Afghanistan.