I waited to post this one until I could get a copy of the indictment. 10TV reported:
A former Fort Campbell inspector whose job was to investigate misconduct has been charged with stealing the identities of fellow Army personnel, including a soldier who had been killed in combat.
Acting U.S. Attorney David Rivera in Nashville says 42-year-old James Robert Jones of Woodlawn, Tenn., was indicted Wednesday on charges of aggravated identity theft, bank fraud and making a false statement to a financial institution. Jones was an assistant inspector general at Fort Campbell along the Kentucky-Tennessee line.
The indictment claims Jones used his position to obtain Social Security numbers, dates of birth and other personal information of active-duty Army officers. Some of them were deployed to Afghanistan at the time.
The federal grand jury said Jones obtained fraudulent loans under the victims’ names.
The indictment, which I’ve uploaded here, refers to four specific victims by their initials, but does not indicate how many victims, total, had their identity information allegedly misused by the defendant.
For his part, Jones has denied the charges. The Associated Press reports that in an e-mailed statement to them, Jones wrote that he is not guilty and
“What I find the most disturbing and shocking about these charges is the allegations that I would use information from deceased soldiers to pull off this so-called scheme,” Jones wrote. “I am embarrassed and saddened for the government that they would stoop to a level of using a fallen soldier’s sacrifice in order to provide a dramatic element to their case.”
The case is U.S. v. Jones (3:13-cr-00122-1) in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee.