Guardsman convicted of scrap metal theft
A former Wyoming Air Guardsman was found guilty of theft of public property after selling scrap metal from a border fence project.
After an investigation by the FBI and Air Force Office of Special Investigations, a federal jury found Robert J. Kelley, 49, guilty of theft of public property after he sold scrap metal from a border fence project, according to a news release Monday from the U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Arizona.
Sentencing is set for May 24. A conviction for theft of public property carries a maximum penalty of 10 years, a $250,000 fine or both.
The Yuma Sun previously reported Kelley's story after his father, Robert Kelley of Yuma, contacted the paper to share his side of the story. Monday, he declined to comment.
Robert J. Kelley was assigned to Operation Jump Start, Task Force Diamondback, near Sonoita, Ariz. Kelley was the noncommissioned officer in charge (NCOIC) of Air and Army National Guardsmen constructing a border fence on the international border between the U.S. and Mexico.
According to Monday's news release, Kelley told his unit he had authority to sell the scrap from the project and ordered the Guardsmen to load it in dump trucks from the construction site, sell it at a metal recycler in Tucson and give the money to him so he could spend it on unit welfare.
According to the release, Guardsmen testified that Kelley also ordered them to intentionally create scrap in order to increase the size of the scrap loads being sold in Tucson.
Witnesses from the U.S. Border Patrol and the military testified that Kelley had no authority to sell the scrap from the fence project, according to the release.
Between July 2007 and March 2008, 90 tons of steel were sold for $13,055 and deposited into a bank account in Kelley's name, according to the release.
Kelley reportedly spent thousands of dollars from the sale of government steel on himself for a personal laptop computer, printer, router, Geek Squad home install services, chop saw, ratchet set, cowboy boots, 45-caliber handgun, AR-15 rifle and a variety of tools.
In a previous Yuma Sun story, Kelley's father said his son had asked the Army lieutenant colonel in charge of the project for direction on how to dispose of the scrap metal, but received no instruction.
Kelley said his son told him that he even went so far as to ask the Border Patrol what do with all the scrap iron, which supposedly suggested selling it also. He said since Border Patrol was the agent for the Department of Homeland Security, and the U.S. Army was working for the DHS, when he was told to sell the scrap metal, that constituted permission.
Kelley said, his son knew that the previous NCOIC was taking loads of scrap iron to a scrap dealer in Tucson, selling it and dividing the proceeds with the people on the crew.
After getting no direction from the lieutenant colonel in charge of the project, and knowing how the previous NCOIC disposed of the scrap iron, Kelley said his son decided that he and his crew would haul and sell the scrap iron themselves.
He said his son used the funds from selling the scrap for new coveralls for crew members, tools, tires and repairs for rental trucks, carwashes, plumbing parts for the water well, water pump parts, going-away parties when crew members left the unit and ice-breaker parties for new unit members on the project.
The prosecution was handled by Mary Sue Feldmeier and Kyle Healey, assistant U.S. attorneys with the District of Arizona in Tucson. The case was tried before U.S. District Judge Cindy K. Jorgenson over a period of seven days.
