A 30-year-old Aurora man who bilked the Army out of $125,000 by persuading a dozen soldiers to file for phony military recruitment bonuses has been sentenced to six months of home detention.
U.S. District Judge William J. Martinez also sentenced Jaycee L. Collier to serve five months of probation and perform 30 hours of community service.
Collier was ordered to wear an electronic ankle bracelet. Martinez said he gave Collier a lighter sentence than federal guidelines dictate because the defendant has no criminal record and is seriously ill and needs constant medical care.
Collier was indicted by a federal grand jury in Denver on April 8 on five counts of wire fraud and 13 counts of bribery of a public official in connection with a military recruiting program. He entered a plea agreement in which he admitted guilt to one count of wire fraud.
The Army Reserve in Fort Bragg, N.C., had entered a contract with Packaging Brokers Inc. to administer a recruiting program, according to court records. Up to $2,000 was offered to reserve soldiers for every soldier they helped recruit into the reserves.
Collier was a civilian Department of Defense human resources employee at the Military Entrance Processing Station in Denver. He processed enlistment packets and was ineligible for recruitment bonuses, court records indicate.
The federal employee allegedly received $28,000 in kickbacks while running the fraud scheme between March 2009 and July 2012.
Collier used names and passwords of 65 eligible Army reserve soldiers. He had reserve soldiers fraudulently fill out forms indicating they had referred the recruits. Reserve officers received the wired bonuses and paid Collier a $500 kickback.
