A Navy Senior Chief was accused of conspiring with another Sailor, to use the DTS system for defrauding the government of nearly $100,000. The two Sailors were alleged to have created travel authorizations for missions that did not exist, charging the government for personal travels. These alleged fraudulent trips involved travel to Manila, Bahrain, Los Angeles and other places around the world.
An external audit of the Command uncovered the alleged scheme wherein our client and the alleged co-conspirator were both the approving and authorizing officials for each other in the DTS system. That allowed the two to authorize and approve each other’s trips. After an extensive government investigation, the government charged both Sailors with dozens of specifications of conspiracy and larceny.
After the Senior Chief retained Tim Bilecki, a court martial defense attorney in Hawaii, a team of experienced investigators began combing through thousands of pages of financial records in order to build a defense. Bilecki investigated the Command and discovered that it woefully lacked oversight into the DTS system and was replete with officer misconduct similar to what the client was accused of.
The complex case took nearly eighteen months to get to trial, and then, just a few weeks before trial, the co-accused cut a deal to become a snitch and testify against the client. Given the overwhelming amount of documented evidence against the Senior Chief, Bilecki brokered a plea deal with the government to drop many of the charges and allow the Senior Chief to retire, which was the ultimate goal in the case.
The Senior Chief received the benefit of the plea deal: four months of confinement, honorable discharge, and retention of his military retirement.
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