Timothy Warren Mann Sentenced To Serve Six Months In Prison For Stealing Military Body Armor

KNOXVILLE, Tenn.- On Apr. 29, 2014, Timothy Warren Mann, 50, of Morristown, Tenn., was sentenced to serve six months in federal prison, by the Honorable Thomas A. Varlan, Chief U.S. District Judge. Upon his release from prison, Mann will be required to serve two years of supervised release, the first six months of which will be served under a condition of home detention.

Mann pleaded guilty in September 2013 to a federal indictment charging him with stealing body armor manufactured for the U.S. government. The body armor, consisting of approximately 500 protective vests, was manufactured by BAE Specialty Defense Group, Inc., (“BAE”) for the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD). The vests, which had not been delivered to DOD, were slated for destruction pursuant to the terms of the government contracts under which they were manufactured, in order to prevent the body armor from being used by civilians for improper purposes, including criminal activity. Over a period of several months in 2012, Mann stole the vests from BAE’s facility in Morristown, Tenn., and sold them to persons who were re-selling them, typically at gun shows, to members of the public.

A six-month long undercover investigation conducted by the Defense Criminal Investigative Service and the Army Criminal Investigative Command identified Mann as the source of the stolen vests. Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Morris represented the United States.