Pataskala Man Sentenced To Two Years In Prison For Interstate Transportation Of Equipment Stolen From Chillicothe VA Medical Center

COLUMBUS, OHIO – Curtis Lee Clark III, 48, of Pataskala, Ohio was sentenced to 24 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for his role in transporting stolen generators and welding equipment worth $89,236.03 from the VA Medical Center in Chillicothe, Ohio which were then sold in West Virginia.

Carter Stewart, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio and Gavin McClaren, Resident Agent in Charge, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs – Office of Inspector General (OIG) announced the sentence handed down today by U.S. District Judge Algenon L. Marbley.

Clark pleaded guilty on January 17, 2014 to one count of interstate transportation of stolen goods. According to court documents, a generator and welder belonging to the VA as well as two generators belonging to VA contractors, were stolen from the Chillicothe VA Medical Center in October 2011. In August 2012, the Mingo County West Virginia Sheriff’s Office contacted the OIG, telling them that some of the stolen items had been recovered in a storage garage in Holden, West Virginia.

Further investigation led to Clark, a patient at the VA, who admitted that he knew the men who stole the equipment and that he helped transport the equipment to West Virginia and sell it. Clark received a few hundred dollars for transporting and selling the items. Clark also admitted to pawning some of the items stolen from the VA at a Columbus pawn shop. Other construction equipment was recovered from Clark’s former residence in Pataskala.

“We're pleased to have obtained justice in this case and look forward to returning this stolen equipment to our veterans at the Chillicothe VA Medical Center,” McClaren said.

U.S. Attorney Stewart commended the investigation by the VA Inspector General’s Criminal Investigation Division, the Chillicothe VA Medical Center Police who assisted with the investigation and Assistant U.S. Attorney Dale Williams, who represented the United States in the case.
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