A U.S. Army National Guard soldier admitted Tuesday that he took phony recruiting bonuses, becoming the twenty-fourth person in the San Antonio and Houston areas to plead guilty in a fraud and bribery scheme that started nearly ten years ago.
Sergeant First Class Eduardo Ruesga-Larracilla, 41, of San Antonio, Texas, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bribery and wire fraud, and one count of bribery of a public official.
Ruesga was the twenty-sixth individual charged in the case.
The National Guard Bureau contracted in 2005 with Document and Packaging Broker Inc. to administer the Guard Recruiting Assistance Program (G-RAP).
G-RAP offered incentives to soldiers in the Army National Guard who referred others for recruitment. A soldier could win a bonus up to $2,000 for a referral.
Ruesga admitted that between early 2010 and late 2011, he conspired with a recruiter and paid him for the personal information of potential Army National Guard soldiers.
Ruesga used the personal information for the potential soldiers to claim that he was responsible for referring them for enlistment in the National Guard.
He’s scheduled to be sentenced on October 9 before U.S. District Judge Orlando L. Garcia in San Antonio, Texas.
The DOJ’s July 8, 2014 release is here.
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Richard L. Cassin is the publisher and editor of the FCPA Blog. He can be contacted here.
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