The U.S. Department of Justice this week announced that former U.S. Army Specialist Stephanie Charboneau has been sentenced to seven years and three months in prison for her role in a plot to steal fuel from the U.S. Army.
Last September Charboneau pleaded guilty to the charges, which include bribery and conspiracy to commit bribery. Her thefts are estimated to have cost the U.S. over $1.2 million.
Charboneau was stationed at Forward Operating Base (FOB) Fenty in Afghanistan in early 2010, when the thefts occurred. She was assigned to oversee the delivery of fuel from Fenty to other bases in Afghanistan.
To facilitate the thefts, Chaboneau forged false transportation movement requests (TMRs) which were used to fill truck and send the fuel to a trucking company involved in the conspiracy. She was directly involved in the theft of around 70 truckloads of fuel and has admitted to taking bribes from the trucking company for her part in the scheme.
Charboneau is the fourth person to be prosecuted for crimes related to the fuel thefts. Civilian contractors Jonathan Hightower and Christopher Weaver were sentenced to two years in prison and three years, one month in prison, respectively in October 2013. Army Sergeant Bilal Kevin Abduallah has pleaded guilty to charges related to the thefts and is scheduled to be sentenced on February 12.