By The USFK Sergeant First Class charged with fraud has been found innocent of the charges:
An administrative worker in U.S. Forces Korea’s commanding general’s office was found not guilty Tuesday of faking four temporary-duty trips to the United States and then charging the military more than $6,000 in travel expenses.
Sgt. 1st Class Crystal Lloyd stood silently as the head of the eight-member jury read the verdict after three hours of deliberation. She then cried and hugged friends after the court-martial was dismissed. [Ashley Rowland - Stars & Stripes]
Since she was found not guilty the next obvious question which I hope the Stars & Stripes is pursuing is why was the sergeant traveling on four temporary duty (TDY) trips to New York and Washington, DC? What purpose would this personnel clerk have for going on these trips? If the personnel clerk is tagging along to rack up a free TDY trip to New York and Washington, DC then who else was tagging along sucking up tax payer dollars as well?
Then if the personnel sergeant is tagging along on all these supposedly authorized TDY trips than why didn’t the executive officer of USFK who is overall in charge of the USFK staff to include the senior personnel sergeant not know about it?:
Witnesses gave contradictory testimony Monday, with some high-ranking former USFK officers saying they had never authorized Lloyd to go TDY or seen her on TDY trips with USFK commander Gen. B.B. Bell, or the previous commander, retired Gen. Leon LaPorte. The witnesses, including Col. Ross Ridge, a former executive officer to LaPorte, said it would have been unusual for Lloyd to have travel orders because administration section workers didn’t travel.
Other witnesses, including two former supervisors, said they authorized Lloyd to go TDY to the United States for official business.
Why doesn’t someone ask these two former supervisors why they approved Lloyd’s TDY? I keep hearing "official business"; what official business would the personnel sergeant have in New York and Washington, DC? Someone should investigate them for who and why they authorizing people to go on TDY. I also have to wonder if they were flying business class or coach? There is a lot of unanswered questions and I’m sure there is more to this story, but will we ever hear about it? Probably not, but hopefully someone is looking more closely at TDYs now.
By the way check out this excellent comment from my prior posting on this story.
9:57 pm on October 25th, 2007 1
Hummmmm so the word of a Col does not matter…..Its quite obvious to me that her supervisors ,,,,buddies,,,,stepped up to protect her
11:36 pm on October 25th, 2007 2
It appears that what she did was legal because her supervisors authorized her which makes the real story why did they authorize her all this expensive TDY travel? Plus who else have they been letting go on TDY that doesn't need to be?
1:40 am on October 26th, 2007 3
KingKitty,
As a previous employee on the staff of Gen LaPorte I would like to ask you a question or two. Have you ever had a change in bosses? Well in the military it happens ALL the time. People rotate in and out. Never in my 20 years on active duty did I have two bosses that had the same policies and work practices. I think it is not the word of the Colonel that is in doubt here. I believe his testimony to be true; that he never saw her on the travel party and it would be uncommon for her to travel. That doesn't mean she couldn't have traveled under someone else's watch.
Did you fail to read about the Brigadier General who testified? What about the Chief Warrant Officer 5 that testified she did, in fact, go on at least two TDY trips (authorized).
You comment about how it is obvious to you "that her supervisors,,,,buddies,,,,stepped up to protect her." Well her supervisors,,,,(enemies?),,,, are the ones that were testifying against her. Did it ever occur to you that there could be the same personal bias against her that you claim her buddies used to protect her?
I think the TDY practices within that office need great scrutiny. During my time working for the Commander (some 4 years or so) I was never fortunate, or unfortunate, enough to go TDY. I do believe that there are far greater issues that need to be addressed than the possibility of one person going TDY fraudulently at a $6,000 cost to taxpayers such as myself.
And please tell me again why "Angry Soldier" was angry and not "Concerned"? Were they angry because they didn't some hush money, angry because they didn't think of it first, angry because some of the dirt they were doiong might come to the surface? And why did they remain anonymous? If they were so certain that a crime had been committed then why not testify against her at the courts martial? Well, I mean testify as Angry Soldier and not as the late coming witness.
Even a late phone call from "Angry Soldier" to the presiding authority was not enough to get panel members dismissed. It was a valiant effort that, in my mind, reeks of a personal attack.
I wish someone would get out a can opener and grab that great big can of slimy worms sitting up there in the White House begging to be opened.
1:47 am on October 26th, 2007 4
I believe that almost all trips made by the Commander and his travel team are done via military aircraft. As such the manifests are handled by the Air Force. When SFC Lloyd's lawyer stated that there were lots of documents missing that could have submitted as evidence this is one of the things he was referring to.
Speaking of travelling on a military aircraft. Have you ever flown space-A. I wonder if anyone other than family members of the staff and staff members on leave are always first on the list to get a seat on the Commander's flight(s)?
Does anyone know if the Commander's aircraft ever go through custom's when it flies from Osan to, say, Andrews AFB? I wonder if custom's ever went through all(any) of the luggage that is on those aircraft? I remember a time when a counterfeit "throw back jersey" was said to be fetching a pretty penny on the streets of the US.
5:54 am on October 26th, 2007 5
CrayZ1 once again good questions that someone should be looking into. If the Stars & Stripes really wants to open a can of worms they should be looking into this.
9:11 am on October 26th, 2007 6
I wish they had granted me immunity instead of SGT Washington. I would love to share some of my personal "opinions" about how things used to operate (and probably still do).
If anyone has any questions feel free to ask now as I am never sure how long I will be permitted to voice my opinions. When SFC Lloyd was first charged a dear friend and ex-coworker told me he was ordered not to initiate contact with me as it could "end your career" and that if I intiated contact with him he was to report it as he may be "monitored". Who would give such an order? As he told me, it was General B.B. Bell himself.
3:29 pm on October 26th, 2007 7
I don’t know what level TDY orders are approved at, but obviously not the COL mentioned. It’s sort of difficult to get tickets and other payments from travel if orders are not approved. This would indicate that Lloyd’s trips were in fact authorized by her supervisors (as they testified), and that they in fact had the authority to authorize the trips.
It seems incredibly bizarre – and maybe to the level negligence by CID – that the charges got to court marshal at all if she indeed had the proper authorization. It may be (and this is pure speculation) that she went to the States on orders but didn’t carry out the tasks required, which would be a different crime than the one tried for.
Also, $6,000 for “trips” from Korea to the U.S. seems exceedingly small, to me.
Management can do screwy things to TDT schedules. Two years ago I was supposed to go to several countries in Africa for audits. A bean counter decided our department would add several countries to each trip. This resulted in a hosed schedule and me flying all over Africa on short notice, including across the continent, which almost always requires flying through Europe.
Four weeks later the travel bill for air travel alone was $30,000. But I got some great stories out of it, like a ton of vaccinations, anti-malaria meds, food poisoning, and lost luggage for half the trip in third world countries with no shopping to speak of.
10:08 pm on October 26th, 2007 8
It does seem strange if they bring her up on charges even though she has orders signed by her supervisors and they admit to authorizing her. That brings us back to the real question of why aren't the supervisors being investigated and brought up on charges for authorizing people to go on TDYs they don't need to be going on?
I think the $6,000 could be her daily per diem she was getting for TDY and the air fare like crayz1 was saying was by government aircraft thus no need to purchase a ticket.
The whole thing seems very shady.
12:27 am on October 27th, 2007 9
Actually Crazone I have had a change of bosses and yes in the military it does happen often….however I do know for a fact that SFC and above are a bit a a click created by things like Leaders Calls and such..and they time spent together in meetings and such. AND I do know that they will protect each other in these times and have seen it happen over and over again
So why are you sticking up for this person who obviously is traveling around taking on duty vacations on the US dime….This must be something you do and your feeling a bit defensive today….you did say you were on someones staff….you seemed to take care of that staff and well you wouldn't want that staff to do you for taking a realistic and subjective stand against someone in your similar situation who has been caught? Right got it
7:23 am on October 27th, 2007 10
I think that with any large group, such as the military, there are sub-groups that are present. It is natural that certain groups of individuals form alliances and stick up for one another. If you knew the makeup of the office where SFC Lloyd worked you would see that the people she worked with were with a couple of NCOs (all of whom I believe testified for the prosecution) a couple of civilians, a Colonel, a Major, a senior Warrant Officer, and the General himself.
When asked why I am sticking up for this person who is obviously taking on duty vacations on the US dime I would say that I am sticking up for a friend whom I did not condemn as guilty without her having the opportunity to have her say(a trial by her peers). I would also ask why you are so certain that she was taking on duty vacations on the US dime? If I had that degree of certainty I think I would have felt compelled to testify on behalf of hte prosecution. What "Obvious" indicators doi you have knowledge of that she has commited a crime?
As for accusing me of doing some illegal activity I am sorry you have felt the need to attack me personally. I have already stated that I NEVER went TDY nor was I ever one of the numerous individuals that had blanket TDY orders. So, as for your implication that I must be something I do they are totally unfounded and false but if you have any evidence you would like to present in a court of law pleaase feel free. Just for the record I have been retired from the military for quite some time now so it is unlikely I am doing "somehting like that now.
Realistic and subjective stand? I have not once said I thought that SFC Lloyd was completely 100% innocent of the crimes she was accused of. I simply did not make a quiick and seemingly biased jump on the bandwagon that proclaimed her guilty. Unfortunately for us, in the United States, we have a legal system in pol;ace and it has tried her for the offenses and found her innocent of ALL charges (not me but a panel of her peers).
The one thing I did that may have caused those so intent on finding her at fault was to provide her some sound advice when she was in a time of need. If that is a crime then please find me guilty as charged.
My whole point in responding initially was to indicate my opinion that there are far greater wrongs that go on within that semi-secretive office that should be audited and investigated.
10:17 pm on October 27th, 2007 11
Well Crazyone its does seem you have suddenly become overly defensive and protective of this person…This makes us all wonder
5:57 am on October 28th, 2007 12
I'm still waiting for Leon's day in court. This is small time stuff.
4:46 pm on September 2nd, 2008 13
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