Former Army National Guard soldier Ryan Patrick Breiding, 29, of Akron, has pleaded guilty to theft of public money, said Steven M. Dettelbach, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio.
The theft of Department of Defense funds, which occurred between 2008 and 2010, totaled approximately $27,000.
The Army National Guard established the Guard Recruiting Assistance Program (G-RAP) to aid in its recruiting efforts. G-RAP was designed to offer monetary recruiting incentives to part-time soldiers to identify and encourage individuals to serve in the Army National Guard and other military branches, according to court documents.
Breiding fraudulently submitted 14 potential soldiers through his online G-RAP account from July 2006 to November 2010. None of the 14 potential soldiers provided his or her information to Breiding. Breiding submitted fabricated details of his relationship with these potential soldiers in order to receive recruiting incentives to which he was not entitled. Breiding received $27,000 belonging to the United States to which he was not entitled because of the inappropriately procured personal information and fabricated relationship details he provided, according to court documents.
The U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command conducted the investigation. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Justin Seabury Gould.
Breiding will be sentenced on July 8, 2015, at 11:30 a.m., before United States District Judge Patricia A. Gaughan. His sentence will be determined by the court after review of factors unique to this case, including the defendant’s prior criminal record, if any, the defendant’s role in the offense, and the characteristics of the violation. In all cases, the sentence will not exceed the statutory maximum and in most cases it will be less than the maximum.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
