Two Fayetteville men were charged with selling stolen military property to Japan on eBay Friday.
Jared Kent Nucci, 28, was charged with shipping stolen United States military property overseas and Jose Manuel Ortiz-Rivera, 32, was charged with conspiracy to steal government property, according to a press release from the United States Attorney’s Office.
Nucci and Ortiz-Rivera are accused of conspiring to steal and sell military property from Fort Bragg and using an eBay account to sell it to Japan without a Department of State license for export.
Nucci faces a maximum of 20 years in prison and a fine of $1 million. Ortiz-Rivera faces a maximum of five years and a fine of $250,000, according to the release.
Nucci and Ortiz-Rivera are expected to enter guilty pleas in federal court, the release said.
The case is related to the previous indictment of two other Fayetteville men, Scott Douglas Browning, 42, and Victor Manuel Cortijo, 39. Browning pleaded guilty to stealing military equipment and violating International Traffic Arms Regulations and agreed to pay the United States Army more than $1.8 million. Cortijo pleaded guilty of conspiracy to receive stolen military property and agreed to pay the army $67,500, the release says.
Soldier sentenced for firearm offense
The United States Attorney’s Office also said Friday a former soldier was sentenced in case unrelated to the case with Nucci and Ortiz-Rivera.
Joseph Russel Graff, 39, was sentenced to four years and four months in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release, according to a release from the office.
He had been charged with unlawful possession of machine guns. He was convicted after law enforcement recovered eight imported firearms from his home. He did not have a permit to import weapons, according to the release.
Law enforcement also found evidence that Graff was part of a “scheme to steal government property and have it sold on the black market by Afghanistan nationals,” according to the release.
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