Bribes paid for NG ASVAB scores

[Sierra]

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articl...ibes09-on.html

TUCSON- A federal employee who took bribes to boost test scores for Arizona National Guard applicants is believed to have helped dozens of soldiers enlist under fraudulent circumstances.

Christine P. Thomas, formerly of Sierra Vista, is set to be sentenced in federal court in Tucson later this month under a plea deal she struck with prosecutors.

Thomas took bribes to boost test scores for Army Guard applicants between 2000 and 2002, court records show. About 70 test scores for the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery were rigged in a conspiracy that involved local Guard recruiters and Thomas. The test scores help determine what job a recruit may be assigned.

Thomas began taking bribes about six months into her job, court records and federal employment data show. She is now believed to live in the Tucson area, but efforts to contact her through her lawyer were unsuccessful.

Thomas charged an average of $21 for each test score she falsified and pocketed about $1,500 in bribes over 18 months.

The plea bargain Thomas signed last year says she took the bribes from Guard applicants, but FBI spokeswoman Deborah McCarley said some of the payoffs were between Thomas and the recruiters and some applicants "may or may not have known" that their test scores were falsified.

Thomas was not able to provide the FBI with the names of those whose tests were fixed, McCarley said. The FBI also asked the recruiters, but they were "uncooperative," she said.

Thomas is to be sentenced on July 25 in U.S. District Court in Tucson.

Her case played a major role in a massive FBI drug running and corruption sting dubbed Operation Lively Green, according to an FBI agent's testimony in a related court case last year.

The Tucson FBI office got several tips in 2001 that military test scores were being rigged. When an undercover FBI informant met a National Guard recruiter in a Tucson parking lot to pay for a rigged test, the recruiter opened the trunk of his government vehicle and also tried to sell the informant part of a kilogram of cocaine, the agent testified.

That led to the creation of a fake cocaine ring the FBI used to see how many other military personnel and public officials would be willing to take part in drug running for money.

Dozens did, leading to cocaine-related criminal charges against more than 60 defendants.

Several were National Guard recruiters from Tucson, including one, Darius W. Perry, identified by the FBI as the recruiter who offered cocaine during the FBI's initial probe of test fixing. Perry recently was sentenced to five years in prison.

The National Guard applicants involved in cheating will not face any consequences.

Because the Guard doesn't know their names, there's no way of knowing which of the soldiers are still in the military, said Maj. Paul Aguirre, a spokesman for the Arizona Army National Guard.

I knew about the drug aspect of Lively Green, but this is the first I have heard about the test scores.

[mxwelch]

Good grief. The ASVAB isn't that freaking hard.:rolleyes:

[Starflyer525i]

That test is harder to fail than it is to pass.
I wouldn't want an idiot like that anywhere near me.

[kels]

Good grief. The ASVAB isn't that freaking hard.:rolleyes:

It must be, they posted those scores on the wall when I was in Basic at Lackland AFB. I scored in the 90s, the guy next to me was in the 20s and 30s. Nice guy, but the brains of a ROCK......................:rolleyes:

[Adamantine]

The scores you get determine the MOS you are 'supposed' to be eligible for. Mine were pretty high, had my pick of jobs.

[mxwelch]

It must be, they posted those scores on the wall when I was in Basic at Lackland AFB. I scored in the 90s, the guy next to me was in the 20s and 30s. Nice guy, but the brains of a ROCK......................:rolleyes:

He should have been a Marine. :D:p

[Ronnin]

He should have been a Marine. :D:p

...shoulda said Army :p

Army requires 31
Marines requires 32
Navy requires 35
Airforce requires 36
Coast Guard requires 40 :D I knew i liked bein around smrt people for a reason :p

[mxwelch]

...shoulda said Army :p

Army requires 31
Marines requires 32
Navy requires 35
Airforce requires 36
Coast Guard requires 40 :D I knew i liked bein around smrt people for a reason :p

LOL!! I was in the VANG back in the late 80s and we did some training at Quantico and had a blast with the jarheads there.

Any Marines here I meant no offense (should have stated that in the last post). I have family that's in the Corps in Iraq right now and some of my best friends are former leathernecks.

Heck I even tried out for the USMCR and was told "too old". I'm beginning to agree with them.:D