Three Guard recruiters indicted in kickback scheme

Two current and one former part-time recruiters for the Minnesota National Guard were indicted this week for pocketing thousands of dollars in kickbacks dating as far back as eight years. The soldiers allegedly took advantage of an imperfect recruitment program that was later subjected to federal audits.

The charges filed in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis name 1st Lt. Timothy Stafford, Pvt. Terry Wosmek and former Guardsman Quinton Jones.

Each allegedly worked as assistant recruiters — alongside non-commissioned, full-time recruiters, who were not named in court documents — to share thousands of dollars in bonuses to enlist several soldiers with the U.S. Army National Guard.

The three indicted Tuesday worked part-time in the Guard Recruiting Assistance Program. The National Guard created the program to help meet recruitment goals in 2005, when the U.S. needed more volunteer soldiers. Recruiting assistants were given bonuses to help full-time recruiters by networking within their communities.

Full-time recruiters were not allowed to participate in the program and were prohibited from receiving bonuses, but the court documents suggest some full-time recruiters received kickbacks from Stafford, Wosmek and Jones.

The program awarded recruiting assistants $1,000 for each nominee who signed up to enlist and a second $1,000 when the enlistee shipped out to basic training. Assistants could receive up to $3,000 for recruiting those with prior military experience. A private Alabama-based firm, Docupak, distributed the money from public funds.

The indictment says the three assistants fraudulently wired the money by acting as if they had found and recruited soldiers — but the full-time recruiters had found the enlistees and weren't entitled to the bonuses.

Stafford worked with three non-commissioned, full-time recruiters to receive potential soldiers' information and enter it into the Guard Recruiting Assistance program's computer system. He then shared a total of $25,000 with the recruiters he'd been working with, the indictment said. Together they recruited 13 soldiers between 2009 and 2010.

Wosmek worked with one other National Guard recruiter to get two soldiers to sign up. Wosmek shared his $4,000 bonus, according to the indictment.

Jones helped to enlist two soldiers, and shared $4,000 with another recruiter who was ineligible for the bonus, the indictment said.

The Guard Recruiting Assistance Program ran from 2007 to 2012, until it came under scrutiny over fraud allegations. According to the National Guard Association of the United States, the program has been the subject of five separate audits by the Department of Defense and the Army Audit Agency.

"We acknowledge that fraudulent activity took place with this program and continue to work with authorities to identify the accountable individuals and take appropriate action," Col. Kevin Olson, Minnesota National Guard spokesperson, said.

"As with all alleged criminal acts, we take this issue very seriously and are cooperating fully with the U.S. Attorney's office."