Ex-col. sentenced for smuggling cash from Iraq

[unhappycamper]

Ex-col. sentenced for smuggling cash from Iraq
By Maryclaire Dale - The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Sep 18, 2007 7:56:08 EDT

PHILADELPHIA — A retired Army colonel was sentenced to five months in prison Monday for smuggling nearly $50,000 in cash that he said he made from Iraqi subcontractors working on rebuilding contracts.

Robert Grove, 63, of Clifton Heights, hid stacks of $100 bills on his body and in his luggage, and lied to customs officials who questioned him as he arrived at Philadelphia International Airport in March, prosecutors said.

Grove, who says he won a Bronze Star in the first Gulf War, was working as a military contractor in Iraq. He initially told customs officials that he had won the hidden cash in a high-stakes poker game, but later admitted that it came from Iraqi subcontractors.

Grove made the money moonlighting, helping subcontractors prepare marketing brochures, according to his attorney, Mark Cedrone. He had buried the cash in a Baghdad yard for months.

Prosecutors suggested that such cash payments make it impossible for U.S. officials to maintain “the integrity of the contracting process and protect U.S. taxpayer funds.”

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“No one can remember the last time we charged this offense,” Assistant U.S. Attorney John Pease said Monday.

Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/09/ap_colonelsentenced_070917/