http://www.ksee24.com/news/local/15685157.html
By Preston Phillips
Watch the story
According to Pinnacle Armor's CEO, Murray Neal, an unknown number of people could be facing some very serious charges in the weeks to come.
He still insists: "Dragon Skin" is the best protection on the market...
Pinnacle Armor CEO and President, Murray Neal: "If I get a fair day at the range, next to any body armor in the world, Dragon skin will beat it hands down."
Murray Neal claims that to this day, his body armor, better known as "Dragon Skin," has never received the fair shot, he says it deserves.
Neal: "We tested with the Army, the Army last time said we’re not gonna give you any written data, so it’s going to be my word against your word… and then they say… we failed.”
But according to Neal, a piece of armor from the same purchase order, tested by U.S. Army that allegedly failed back in May of 2006, recently surfaced on the internet, from someone attempting to sell it on Ebay.
Neal: "If that armor failed catastrophically, you wanna make sure you’ve got good control of that. Not only would you have good control of it, because they knew I was gonna come back and re-test"
Neal says his company sent 30, SOV-3000, level IV protection vests, to H.P. White Laboratory in Maryland for the U.S. Army's testing, back in May of 06'.
He says the U.S. Army told him the vest for sale on Ebay wasn't one of the vests used… and said it had a manufacture date of June 12th, 2006...
But Neal says the pictures posted on Ebay, and the purchase order signed back in May of 06’ tell a different story.
Neal: "We used a dark chocolate brown, which we don’t sell, so “A”… its kind of a give away.”
Not to mention the fact that the serial numbers from the pictures on the website also match up to the ones listed on the invoice.
According to Neal, Karl Masters, the individual who signed for the purchase order, was also to maintain full control of the vests listed on the invoice.
When we spoke with Masters today, he told us that he could not speak on the issue because it was under investigation.
But by whom?
The U.S. Army spoke with us by phone from The Pentagon today.
Lieutenant Colonel Martin Downie said he knew nothing about an investigation.
Downie: "I’m saying that right now, the U.S. Army right now is not aware of any investigation regarding these claims.”
But according to retired Lieutenant Colonel, Roger Charles, who has been studying "Dragon Skin” for years: The Department of Homeland Security is the one heading up this multi-pronged federal investigation, and currently questioning the individual who put it up for sale.
Charles says: The U.S. Army has a lot of explaining to do.
Charles: "There's gonna have to be some external federal law enforcement agency investigate and see what happened to the custody, and how did this government owned item end up being for sale on Ebay.”
Downie: "As far as the information we have, our internal investigative body, criminal investigation division, we don’t have any information that validates these claims.”
Downie later called us back to say he came across several pages on the internet that made allegations toward federal entities... And said The U.S. Army would begin looking into this matter immediately.
The U.S. Army even attempted to contact masters today, to find out why he was being investigated, but were not able to get an answer.
Phillips: did you call Karl Masters today?
Downie: “I did.”
Phillips: And what happened when you called him?
Downie: “I answered his voice mail and I left him a message for him to call me immediately."
One week prior to this attempted sale on e-bay, another piece of "Dragon Skin" body armor, purchased by the U.S. Army's Criminal Investigations Division (CID) in March of 2005, also surfaced on Ebay.
Both pages have since removed by the online marketplace, and according to Neal, all items have been confiscated.
If someone is found to be at fault, they could be looking at years in federal prison and could face felony charges for both, grand larceny, and the loss of sensitive restricted technology items during a time of war.
Click on link to view Preston Phillips’ report.
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