Soldier accused of selling stolen anti-tank weapon

[Threeofclubs]

This was on the local news this morning. Read the full article, with video, at WMCTV.com (http://www.wmctv.com/Global/story.asp?S=11242215)

JACKSON, Tenn. (AP) - A U.S. Army soldier was arrested and charged with selling four stolen hand grenades and a stolen anti-tank rocket to an undercover officer in Tennessee, federal prosecutors said Thursday.

U.S. Attorney Lawrence Laurenzi said at a news conference in Jackson that the Fort Campbell soldier, Pfc. Joshua Bartlett Etherton, 29, was charged in a previously sealed indictment and was arrested Wednesday night.

The prosecutor said the transaction was arranged after police in the small town of Paris received a tip...

<snip!>

...Etherton is assigned to the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, and has been assigned to Fort Campbell since March 2008. He has had one deployment to Iraq. Proceedings to discharge Etherton from the Army have begun
Everyone I've mentioned it to asks the same question I had, "To whom did he think he was selling them?"

[JAGO]

Everyone I've mentioned it to asks the same question I had, "To whom did he think he was selling them?"

It's just crazy what GIs will do and what they will stoop to. I remember a couple of 11bs circa 1982 in the 197th Inf Bde who stole a case (yes a case) of hand grenades. Both pled guilty at Courts-martial. I still remember the Military Judge asking one, "What did you intend to do with them?" The soldier replied, "Try to sell them." The M.J. asked, "Who would buy them?" He said, "Well we thought maybe the KKK."

In 1990 two lads in 3d Ranger Bn were charged with selling an M-60 MG to an undercover ATF agent in Gafney, SC. The "cover story" used by ATF was that he was a survivalist worried about the government and wanted it for protection. They entered pleas in the US Dist Ct and got Chapter 14s from the Army.

One more, back in the early 80s there was a retired SF soldier who returned to Okinawa. He had stashed a number of handguns on the island and was arrested by the JNPs after he sold them to the Yakuza (Japanese mafia). I can PM you his last name. You can probably do a search at estripes.com (PS&S) and find the details?

v/r
phil

[mojaveman]

It's a good thing that those munitions were sold to an undercover officer and not an over zealous Muslim or some other lunatic.

[dac]

I thought the article was going to be a reference to this:

http://www.professionalsoldiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=25277

:D