From the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Baltimore:
A federal grand jury has returned two indictments charging four civilians employed at Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG) with theft of government property, specifically aluminum and copper to which the defendants had access as part of their jobs. The indictments were returned on June 7, 2012. One of the defendants, Timothy Bittner, was arrested at work today.
Timothy J. Bittner, age 52, of Bel Air, Maryland; Robert W. Reynolds, age 29 of Felton, Pennsylvania; and Steven M..Coale, age 33, of North East, Maryland, are charged in the first indictment with conspiracy to steal and theft of government property, specifically, over $87,000 worth of copper wire.
Ronald Phillips Baker, Sr., age 62, of Havre de Grace, Maryland, is charged in the second indictment with theft of government property, specifically, over 2,700 pounds of aluminum worth over $110,000 on one occasion, and a total of more than 27,000 pounds.
The indictments were announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Robert Craig of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service – Mid-Atlantic Field Office; the Directorate of Emergency Services, U.S. Army Garrison, Aberdeen Proving Ground; and Special Agent in Charge Richard A. McFeely of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
“The indictments should send a strong message that this type of egregious behavior – allegations of theft while supposedly working on the Government clock, to include even stripping active copper wire from an APG building – will not be tolerated,” said Robert Craig, Special Agent in Charge for the DCIS, Mid-Atlantic Field Office.
According to their indictment, Bittner, Reynolds and Coale were employed as electricians at APG’s Directorate of Public Works. From March through November 2011, the defendants allegedly used their access to the buildings in the Edgewood area of APG and their expertise as electricians to steal copper fixtures and copper wire from government buildings. During work, the defendants allegedly pulled the wire, including wire in current use, and took the copper and copper wire in their government vehicles to the APG parking lot where they transferred the stolen items to their personal cars. The defendants rented space at a storage facility to store the copper and copper wire and bought a stripping machine, which they used to remove the insulation from the copper wire to increase the price. The defendants are alleged to have sold the copper to metal recyclers in Maryland, Pennsylvania and Delaware as scrap, and divided the proceeds which totaled approximately $87,000.
According to Baker’s two count indictment, Baker operated a patrol boat on the Chesapeake Bay to keep boats away from waters near APG which were affected by weapons testing. Baker had a security clearance to access the APG boat docks. On April 23, 2012, Baker used his security clearance to access a secure area where he allegedly stole fabricated aluminum outriggers which weighed more than 2,740 pounds and were worth more than $110,000. The indictment further alleges that from September 2010 through April 2012, Baker stole over 27,000 pounds of aluminum.
All four defendants face a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison for theft of government property. Bittner, Reynolds and Coale also face a maximum of five years in prison for conspiracy to steal government property. An initial appearance has been scheduled today for Bittner at 2:00 p.m. in U.S. District Court in Baltimore. Initial appearances for the remaining defendants are expected to be scheduled next week.
An indictment is not a finding of guilt. An individual charged by indictment is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty at some later criminal proceedings.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein praised the DCIS, APG’s Directorate of Emergency Services and FBI for their work in the investigation. Mr. Rosenstein thanked AssistantU.S. Attorney Joyce K. McDonald, Special Assistant United States Attorney David I. Sharfstein, of the U.S. Department of Justice Tax Division, and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean Marlaire, who are prosecuting the cases.
So nobody cares, NOBODY, that we have our neighbors, contractors – educated and supposedly responsible taxpayers stealing tens of thousands of dollars of material that we paid for. You can’t possibly post multiple comments suggesting a lack of support for knee jerk step increases for teachers and then not care one iota that these morons stole what appears to be in combination $150,000 worth of materials that belong to the taxpayer. Not sure what it took to catch them but good…hope they’re embarrassed by thier first stint in jail and further embarrassed because atofore thier friends and neighbors thought them stand up. They are not. I assume because they had clearance to the base they had work – stealing stuff was just an amoral decision on their parts.
They just want to bash teachers which is just plain wrong. This kind of stuff goes on all the time in the federal government like that GSA scandal. The worst of all is Congress.
Rip offs in government are onerous. The problem teachers have right now is that taxpayers (at least the saavy ones) understand the cost realities that are about to engulf all of us. Taxpayers can’t separate federal, state, local, sales, fuel, property, death, septic, cigarette, etc., from what they owe teachers – the pension bill will be huge. The tenor of the protest is “get it while you can” because when it hits the fan…none of this makes a budget. Nothing will be left and the conseqence of that will be apparent in short order.
How in the world can you make such a fascinating and totally irrelevant comparison of these two issues?
Criminal investigations require time to put together and are best left to the professionals to identify evidence gather data and come up with a water tight beyond a reasonable doubt case to obtain convictions.
Are you suggesting that people do not care about fraud, waste, abuse and outright theft because they are more concerned with teacher’s salaries?
Why not throw abortion into the mix since you are going to be that obtuse?
We knew something was amiss for a very long time when whole raw stock copper suddenly ended up missing. That began a long time ago. I’m just glad they may have a break in the case where they can convict somebody. Law enforcement needs time to work and does not require the scrutiny of people that derive entertainment from watching the likes of Nancy Grace.
Does “innocent until proven guilty in a court of law” ring a bell?
Another “private market job creator” caught with their hands in the “cookie jar”. Good job by the govt workers that found these “small business” job creators doing what they do best, steal and rob from the American people. Meanwhile, keep bitching about teachers not earning or deserving a raise? Good old GOP politics at work, blame the workers and not the system.
What in the world does this have to do with a political party? Please explain.
And really – what in name of anything does this have to do with teachers? Are you suggesting that these guys would not have committed these thefts if teachers were paid more? Maybe their spouses are teachers and they have to steal to make ends meet.
Apples and oranges…the teacher situation can not and should not be compared to this.
this is a clear cut example of good ole fashioned greed. Unfortunatey, this is not the worst of it. So many private sector contractors rip off the government through white collar schemes that go undetected due to their sophistication. There are also some dirty gov’t employees as well who get caught with their hands in the till.
Kudos to the Feds that caught and prosecuted these jerks!
How many houses in harford County would stand up if someone shouted ATTENTION? I would venture a suggestion that many of those who are blasting the teachers would fall into this catagory. I see them taking 1 hour lunches and leaving early from their jobs. 50% percent of themm could be eliminated with noimpact on productivity. Yet no one complains to the point that they do with the teachers. A friend would say that he was 12 until that tere were other makers of ball point pens other tham the USGOVERNMENT.
US Govt-marked pens suck, they’re made by the blind so you have to keep a doodle pad in the supply closet to test them, and a trashcan nearby to dump the failures. If you want decent pens, you have to have the secretary buy them from the blind store for $18/12 when Walmart sells the same pack for $4, and those have commercial markings.