US soldier pleads guilty to taking bribes

A US soldier based at Fort Knox pleaded guilty today to taking USD 57,000 from an Afghan trucking company as part of a scheme to divert loaded fuel trucks from an American military outpost.
Spc. Albert Kelly III, who appeared in US District Court in Louisville, admitted to diverting fuel trucks from Forward Operating Base Salerno near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border and logging in more fuel than was actually delivered in exchange for cash.
Kelly, 28, faces up to 10 years in prison at sentencing in May. Kelly, dressed in US Army fatigues and standing with his hands clasped behind his back, gave short answers of "yes, sir" and "no, sir" to questions from US Magistrate Judge James Moyer.

Assistant US Attorney Michael Bennett told the court that between November 2011 and January 2012 Kelly helped divert 25,000 gallons of fuel. At USD 4 a gallon, that diversion cost the United States about USD 100,000, which Kelly will repay in restitution as part of his sentence, Bennett said.
"Are these facts true?" Moyer asked Kelly.
"Yes, your honor," Kelly responded.

Kelly's attorney said he would seek to have the sentencing hearing delayed to avoid his client receiving a dishonorable discharge, if possible. Kelly is due to leave the military in July and a sentencing before then could result in the loss of an honorable discharge, public defender Don Meier said.

"The felony conviction is going to carry lifelong implications, obviously," Meier said.
Kelly's plea is the latest in a series of convictions stemming from a scheme to get truckloads of fuel out of a base in Afghanistan.
Former Sgt Bilal Kevin Adullah, who served with the 426th Brigade Support Battalion based at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, pleaded guilty in August to taking money from an Afghan trucking company to divert loaded fuel trucks from an American military outpost. He is scheduled to be sentenced in March in Paducah.