DENVER—A U.S. Army officer who served in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait has been accused of taking bribes from foreign nationals in exchange for giving their companies contracts.
Maj. Roderick D. Sanchez was charged this week in Denver federal court with one count of bribery. His lawyer, Greg Daniels, didn’t immediately return a call to The Associated Press on Thursday.
Sanchez lives in Fountain, Colo., and is stationed at nearby Fort Carson. The case was reported in The Gazette of Colorado Springs on Thursday.
Sanchez faces up to 15 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 if convicted.
Court documents don’t reveal the nature or value of the contracts. The foreign nationals are identified as Person A and Person B. Their companies aren’t named.
Prosecutors said Sanchez received property in Cotopaxi, a town at the base of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains of south-central Colorado; a motorcycle; a pickup; and two Rolex watches.
Prosecutors are asking the judge to order Sanchez to forfeit those items.
The government alleges that Sanchez accept bribes sometime between March 2002 and August 2007 in Afghanistan, Iraq, Kuwait, Colorado and elsewhere. Sanchez’s job included reviewing bids for Army contracts, recommending specific companies to receive contracts and awarding the contracts.
The case against Sanchez is the latest in a series of investigations into allegations of bribery against Army personnel.
In February, retired Army Master Sgt. Ronald Joseph Radcliffe was sentenced to three years and four months in prison after pleading guilty to charges of accepting at least $37,600 in bribes to influence contracts in Iraq.
In December 2009, former Army Maj. John Cockerham was sentenced to 17 1/2 years in prison after pleading guilty in Texas to taking more than $9 million in bribes for supply contracts in Kuwait.
Also, William T. Armstrong, a former construction director at Fort Carson, pleaded guilty earlier this month to failing to disclose nearly $3,400 in gifts from a contractor doing business with the Army. He hasn’t been sentenced.
There was no immediate indication that the investigation of Sanchez was linked to any other probe.
