Portland Man Stole Money In Iraq, Mailed It Home
PORTLAND, Ore. — An Army captain from Oregon pleaded guilty Monday to stealing $690,000 from the government while he was on deployment in Iraq. Capt. Michael Nguyen is stationed at Fort Lewis, Wash. He gained access to the stolen money while working as the project purchasing officer in the 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment of the U.S. Army. Nguyen mailed the money to himself at his family’s Portland home before he returned from Iraq, federal officials said. Shortly after he returned, he opened new bank accounts at four different banks and deposited $387,550 of the stolen money into the accounts, according to a news release from the Department of Justice.
Over a four month span, he continued to make deposits in hopes of evading federal reporting requirements for the deposit of large amounts of money, authorities said. He generally deposited less than $10,000 in $100 bills at a time to try to avoid detection, according to court documents. Nguyen went on to purchase a BMW for $70,000, a Hummer for $45,000, new computers, guns, electronics and furniture. However, a federal investigation was launched when the Portland office of the Internal Revenue Service noticed the deposits were beyond Nguyen’s legitimate income level. When authorities searched his home, they found more than $300,000 of the stolen money in the attic, federal officials said. The stolen money was intended for security contract payments, humanitarian relief and reconstruction programs. Nguyen will be sentenced on charges of theft of government property and structuring financial transactions in March 2010.
