SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - Twenty-five individuals have been charged in fourteen separate indictments for their alleged participation in a conspiracy to defraud the United States and the National Guard Bureau of money and property, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft, announced Rosa Emilia Rodríguez-Vélez, United States Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico. The United States Secret Service is in charge of the investigation with the collaboration of the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command, the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General, the Department of Defense- Defense Criminal Investigative Service, and the Puerto Rico Police Department. The indictments were unsealed today upon the arrest of the defendants.
The indictments, returned yesterday, Oct. 21, 2015, by a federal grand jury in the District of Puerto Rico, include the following individuals: Recruiters Cristobal Colón-Colón; Ángel D. Rivera-Rodríguez; Enrique Costas-Torres; Gregorio Quiñones-Pacheco; Guillermo Cruz-García; Edwin Izquierdo-Montañez; Luis De Jesús-Negrón; Gabriel González-Franco; Gilberto Rivera-Quiñones; Juan Rivera-Rivera; and Héctor Rodríguez-Colón; and Recruiter Assistants Axel Aponte-García; Gilberto Gierbolini-Emanuelli; Freddie García-Ruiz; Félix González-Rodríguez; Radamés Robles-Meléndez; Emilio Rivera-Maldonado; Carlos Meléndez-González; Natalio Soto-Rivera; José Rivera-Pereles; Félix Lasen-Nieves; Ángel Perales-Muñoz; Alexis Betancourt-Jiménez; José Velázquez-Lugo and Garby Ruiz-Rosado.
These charges stem from a scheme utilized by the defendants from 2007 through 2011. In or about September 2005, the National Guard Bureau, located in Arlington, Virginia, entered into a contract with Document and Packaging Broker, Inc. (“Docupak"), located in Pelham, Alabama, to administer the G-RAP. The G-RAP was a recruiting program designed to offer referral bonus payments to Army National Guard soldiers to recruit civilians to serve in the Army National Guard. As part of the G-RAP, the National Guard Bureau reimbursed Docupak for the recruiting referral bonus payments that Docupak paid to participating soldiers. The National Guard Bureau also paid Docupak an administrative fee for disbursing each of the referral bonus payments.
The Program had two primary participants: (1) Recruiters: whose job it was to assist the Docupak subcontractors in enlisting new members into the Army National Guard; and (2) Recruiter Assistants, who were Docupak subcontractors: whose job it was to identify and assist recruit new potential members into the Army National Guard, and assist Recruiters with other related duties. Under the contract specifications of the Program, only Recruiter Assistants were eligible for recruiting referral bonuses.
The Program required Recruiter Assistants to establish an online account in their name to record their referral and recruitment efforts. The Recruiter Assistant would input the personal identifying information of each recruit into the account. A Recruiter Assistant could receive a bonus between $500 and $1,000 for every referred soldier that enlisted in the Army National Guard, and an additional bonus between $500 and $1,000 once the referred soldier was sent to Basic Training. If the referred soldier had previously served in a different military branch, did not need to attend Basic Training, or joined the Army National Guard as an officer, the Recruiter Assistant could receive a bonus between $2,000 and $8,500. The Recruiter Assistant could receive the referral bonus payments either through direct deposit in a bank account, or a VISA account.
It was the goal of the conspiracy for the Recruiters to enrich themselves unlawfully by defrauding the United States and performing acts in violation of their official duties, in exchange for things of value. The Recruiter Assistants provided things of value to the Recruiters, in exchange for their assistance in defrauding the U.S. National Guard.
Defendants’ scheme knowingly caused the transfer, possession, and use without lawful authority, of a means of identification of another person, which contained the name, date of birth and social security number of potential soldiers; and by submitting the Personal Identifying Information (PII) for unauthorized purposes, they generated a fraudulent referral bonus of the G-RAP program, that would then create an interstate wire transfer to the coconspirator’s different bank accounts.
An example of the scheme, as alleged in one of the indictments, is as follows: The defendants allegedly cheated the program, known as the U.S. Army National Guard Recruiting Assistance Program, or “G-RAP," by having the Recruiter Assistants create a G-RAP account and or allow the Recruiters to use the RA’s G-RAP account to enter all information necessary to claim recruiting bonuses that the RA’s had not earned. Defendants applied for the G-RAP bonuses using personal identifying information (PII) given to the Recruiters by enlistees who would go to the recruitment office seeking orientation to enlist in the Puerto Rico Army National Guard (PRANG). The Recruiter’s would obtain the PII in their official capacity as a Guard recruiter and would use the RA’s G-RAP account to apply for fraudulent recruiting bonuses. The RA’s were paid bonuses that would be deposited by Docupak in their personal bank accounts or a VISA Card that was given to them by Docupak, based on the misrepresentations made by the defendants of the recruitment process. Some RA’s withdrew a cash amount from each bonus and paid a kick-back of approximately half of the bonus to the Recruiters and in some cases the Recruiter’s kept the bonuses for themselves.
“These charges clearly demonstrate that we will take firm action against those who choose to exploit our military system for personal and criminal gain. We remain committed to investigating and apprehending those who cheat the system for personal gain, and will continue to work towards the eradication of this type of fraud in Puerto Rico," said U.S. Attorney Rosa Emilia Rodríguez-Vélez.
“The U.S. Secret Service will continue to aggressively pursue those that commit fraud and identity theft for their own enrichment. These crimes remain a top investigative priority for our agency," said Carlos Colón, Resident Agent in Charge of the Secret Service Office in Puerto Rico.
“We should expect honesty and integrity from our military personnel," said Defense Criminal Investigative Service Special Agent in Charge John F. Khin. “This case demonstrates the commitment of DCIS, along with our investigative partners, to relentlessly pursue and bring to justice those who commit fraud and violate positions of trust for personal enrichment."
“The conduct alleged in the criminal Indictments is beyond disgraceful," stated USPS-OIG Special Agent-in-Charge Eileen Neff. “The USPS-OIG, along with our law enforcement partners, will continue to aggressively investigate those who seek to defraud our government programs."
If found guilty, defendants face a maximum penalty of ten years in prison for the conspiracy, 20 years in prison for wire fraud, and a mandatory two year consecutive term in prison for aggravated identity theft.
The case is being investigated by the U.S. Secret Service. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Olga B. Castellón-Miranda and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Amanda C. Soto-Ortega.
Indictments contain only charges and are not evidence of guilt. Defendants are presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty. The investigation is ongoing.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
