Man says he sold stolen Army goods
TACOMA – A Pierce County man faces up to five years in prison after admitting to buying stolen military equipment from Fort Lewis soldiers and selling it online and at gun shows.
Mykel D. Loftus, 46, of Graham, pleaded guilty Friday to federal charges of conspiring to possess stolen government property. In addition to prison time, Loftus faces a $250,000 fine.
He may not face such a stiff penalty, though, because authorities said he cooperated with a Defense Department investigation that snared 10 Fort Lewis soldiers accused of trafficking in stolen rations, ammunition, field gear and other items.
Seven have been court-martialed. Two were sentenced to more than three years in prison, and one was fined $150,000.
U.S. Magistrate Judge J. Kelley Arnold indicated Friday that Loftus might be ordered to make substantial restitution payments. If prosecutors and Loftus’s lawyer can’t agree on an amount, U.S. District Judge Franklin Burgess will decide at sentencing, set for Sept. 29.
Loftus declined to comment after his court appearance Friday morning. Defense attorney Colin Fieman suggested his client deserves a lighter sentence for helping the Army make its case against the soldiers.
“Mr. Loftus is the only one who is coming clean and trying to make it right,” Fieman said, “so he deserves some consideration for that.”
The judge sealed Friday’s plea deal between Loftus and federal prosecutors, so its terms remain secret.
It’s unclear how much money Lotfus made selling stolen Army gear. Army lawyers who prosecuted one of the soldiers said Loftus paid more than $83,400 over several years for stolen equipment valued at more than $279,900.
Court documents say agents with the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, the criminal investigative arm of the Inspector General of the Department of Defense, identified Loftus in 2002 as a suspected buyer of stolen Army material.
Investigators recovered eBay Inc. sales records showing Loftus posted more than 2,300 items on the auction site between January 2003 and March 2004 that sold for more than $51,000.
According to court documents, the items included Meals Ready to Eat, sunglasses and four body armor vests.
Undercover agents set up a meeting with Loftus through a classified ad he had placed in the Fort Lewis Ranger newspaper offering to buy field gear.
They arranged sales with him at least nine times between October 2004 and last September before confronting him about his purchases of vests, stolen computers and other items.
Federal agents served a search warrant on his Graham home last November and seized thousands of dollars worth of military gear, officials said.