Former U.S. Army Contractor in Iraq Sentenced to Federal Prison for Stealing in Excess of $2.6 Million in U.S. Military Equipment

In Waco, 47-year-old Stacey B. Hines of Lacey, WA, a former contractor for the U.S. Army employed by Raytheon and assigned to Camp Taji in Iraq as an advisor to the Iraqi Army, was sentenced to 46 months in federal prison for stealing U.S. government property valued at more than $2.6 million and selling it on the black market in Iraq announced Acting United States Attorney Richard L. Durbin, Jr.

In addition to the prison term, United States District Judge Walter Smith, Sr., ordered that Hines pay $2,638,736.34 restitution and be placed on supervised release for a period of three years after completing his prison term. Judge Smith sentenced Hines yesterday afternoon.

On April 9, 2015, Hines pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and one count of theft of Government property.  By pleading guilty, Hines admitted that from December 2012 to September 2013, he and others conspired to steal eight cargo containers full of U.S. goods from Camp Taji.  Those containers were primarily filled with vehicle parts, machine parts, computers and communications equipment.  According to court records, in January 2013, Iraqi officials in Baghdad recovered multiple cargo containers full of U.S. Government property while in the possession of two Iraqi citizens. It was determined that those containers were among eight unaccounted for containers from Camp Taji.  Furthermore, investigators discovered that Hines agreed to sell the containers and their contents to the two Iraqi citizens for approximately $210,000.

On April 9, 2014, Judge Smith sentenced 34–year-old co-defendant David Rodriguez of Killeen, TX, to 27 months in federal prison for his role in the scheme.  During the scheme, Rodriguez was a Department of Defense employee serving as the Director of Logistics at Camp Taji.  Rodriguez admittedly helped arranged for the loading of the containers and their transportation off of Camp Taji.

The case resulted from an investigation by the United States Army Criminal Investigation Division (Army CID), Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) and the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR).  The United States Air Force Office of Special Investigations (USAFOSI), Force Protection Detachment in Iraq assisted in this investigation.  This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Greg Gloff.