Posted on 10/29/2018 6:17:07 AM PDT by Gamecock
The Marine Corps is known for rules limiting recruits from growing facial hair during boot camp.
At its Parris Island training facility in South Carolina, most aspiring Marines are cleanly shaven and get a buzz cut soon after showing up. It’s one reason why a store there carries so many razor blades.
But earlier this month, a noncommissioned Marine Corps officer and three civilians at the Beaufort County installation were accused of trying to profit off the store’s cache of grooming supplies after more than $1.5 million worth of razors and razor blades went missing.
First Sgt. Lascelles Chambers, a Marine for the past 21 years, faces possible charges in military court, said Maj. Roger Hollenback, a spokesman for the Marine Corps Forces Reserve.
The allegations emerged publicly after the civilian employees — Beaufort residents Orlando Byson, 35, Tommie Harrison Jr., 27, and Sarah Brutus, 36 — were indicted on Oct. 10 with conspiracy to defraud the United States. The felony carries up to five years in prison. Byson and Harrison also face a felony count of theft of government property, which could bring up to 10 years. They are set to be arraigned Oct. 30 in U.S. District Court in Charleston.
In a preliminary hearing that has not been scheduled, a military judge is expected to decide whether to refer Chambers to court-martial proceedings, Hollenback said. Meanwhile, Chambers is actively serving in the 4th Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company in West Palm Beach, Fla.
“This hearing will determine the Marine Corps’ next course of action,” Hollenback said in a statement.
At more than $2 each, razor blades can get pricey for the clean-shaven. Because of their value, there’s a black market for stolen blades. Police have been fighting high-dollar thefts in places such as Chicago, Florida and Canada.
Marines, most of whom stay clean-shaven, usually see price breaks on shaving supplies at commissaries.
The Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island offers a store where recruits can buy the items at below-market prices. And the facility in Port Royal sees a lot of recruits: About 17,000 a year pass through the boot camp for the eastern half of the country.
Before his assignment there, Chambers had served around the world, a Marine Corps webpage stated. He had been named recruiter of the year in California and was an administrative chief in Japan, all while earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees.
He started working as Parris Island’s service company first sergeant in August 2016.
The indictment, which referred to Chambers by his initials, laid out how the alleged theft conspiracy worked:
Starting around January 2017, Chambers asked Brutus to start stealing boxes of high-end Gillette razors, razor blades and other items from the store’s warehouse. Brutus then enlisted two other employees to help out.
Harrison and Byson took razors from the store every week. They disabled surveillance cameras or took care not to be seen on the footage.
At first, the workers delivered the stolen goods in person to Chambers. But in March, Chambers was transferred to his current post in Florida, so they started sending him packages through the mail.
Chambers then sold the items to people in other states.
The retail value of the merchandise “exceeded $1.5 million,” the indictment stated.
But the plan’s unraveling appeared to have stemmed from use of the Postal Service.
In May, boxes stuffed with 720 packs of Gillette Fusion razor blades and razors were sent to New York. The blades sell on Amazon.com for nearly $25 per pack of eight; the razor itself is about $10.
But the next day, Chambers called the Postal Service and inquired about the status of the parcels.
Federal investigators later examined his finances. They found wire transfers from his Navy Federal Credit Union account to one of the employees.
If convicted of the conspiracy, the defendants will likely be ordered to pay back the retail value of everything they took.
All my life I've used the cartridge razors. Maybe at some point I'll give the double-edge (safety) razors a try.
Typical REMF. Looking at his awards, he managed to be a REMF worldwide. Probably never heard a shot fired other than the rifle range.
If you do make sure to study up on the technique because you have to unlearn years of bad habits. But once you get it down pat it is a wonderful shave!
I used to see shaving as a mundane man thing, now I actually enjoy the process.
I restarted, after about a thirty year hiatus, using a safety razor.
You do have to be more careful, when shaving with the safety razor in comparison to the expensive multiblade razors, to prevent cuts.
Two other tips: DE is less forgiving, so don’t press as hard and try a variety of diff razors (AMZ sells a variety package).
$1.5M in razors is a lot! Bad choice sarge.
The double-edge was what the Marine Corps issued us in 1970. Used them up until 2005 when I started using a high-speed electric to shave my head every day.
Their pricing strategy is weird. The Gillette razors are indeed super expensive. I switched to the disposable ones which cost about $7 for a pack of 15 or so. The quality is pretty good, and each one lasts me for quite a few shaves
I wonder if Sgt. Chambers and Ms. Brutus were in a "relationship." Even for these people, proposing a criminal conspiracy to a random MCX employee seems ill-judged.
Can anyone else see an NCIS episode in this?
1.5 mill?? That’s a crap load of razors. When was the last time that “store” took an inventory?? If they’d been doing it timely, it shouldn’t have ballooned to this outrageous amount. Should have been discovered much earlier.
Is there any “learning curve” when switching to a safety razor so you don’t slice yourself apart, or to give yourself as effective a shave?
Very early in my Air Force career (early 80s), I was stationed at a base in South Carolina as a unit historian. Among the records that crossed my desk were copies of the blotter from the Security Police (now Security Forces) squadron. One morning, a particular item caught my attention; a MSgt had been arrested for theft of government property, which he was storing—you guessed it—at his quarters in base housing.
For some reason, I followed the case as it wound its way through the military justice system. He convicted at courts-martial, sentenced to five years in Leavenworth, bad conduct discharge and loss of all pension and benefits.
At the time of his arrest, the MSgt had 19 years and 11 months of active duty service.
What’s really appalling (in many of these cases) is that convicted military criminals are allowed to keep their pensions, based on past “honorable” service. One of the worst examples was an Air Force Colonel, Michael Murphy, who was running the USAF Legal Operations Agency when it was discovered he had been disbarred by two states around the time he joined the JAG Corps. In other words, he practiced law in the military without a license for more than 20 years. Did someone say fraud?
Yet, when the case was finally disposed, Murphy won something of a victory. He had served in the Bush White House from 2001-05, and the White House refused to release details of his service, which (reportedly) involved delivery of pallets of cash in Baghdad just after the U.S. invasion. Without that information, Murphy’s attorneys argued, they could not present the “good airmen defense,” and the trial judge agreed. Because of that, it was ultimately determined that Murphy could not be punished for his crimes, even if convicted.
At that point, the question became at what rank Murphy would be retired. So, an administrative board busted him back to 1st Lieutenant, the last grade at which he served “honorably.” Even that claim is specious; O-2 is the grade at which he entered the Air Force and at that point, he was already disbarred in Texas and just days away from being disbarred in Louisiana as well.
But Murphy still collects a retirement check of more than $2K a month, with full health benefits and the other perks. It will be interesting to see if the Marine Corps allows the First Sergeant to collect his pension.
The article said there were three store employees involved. They could have been falsifying the inventory.
Sounds like this was a mandatory foot locker display. When in the (while a member in the Korean War 50’s) members of the the 82nd 504 AB RCT all foot lockers top insert had to display an OD (Gov issued Olive Drab) face towel, a black shaving stick (soap stick), a black double edged razor a package of Gillete double blades and a bar of Palm Olive soap. Items rarely if ever used personally to pass a routine class A barrack inspection. THIS WAS A POLICY SET BY THE UNIT CO NOT BY SOME FIRST SGT
I was using a straight razor for a while, till I forgot it at a hotel during a work trip (stupid of me). Cleanest shave I ever had.
I’m tempted to give this a try. I love the newer 5 blade cartridges, but they gum up on me way too fast. Luckily I only shave my cheeks and throat as I keep a short beard.
And it’s the Distribution/Pay officers who are the most likely to end up in the brig for a very long time.
I dated a Dutch girl who told me her American father had been booted from the Corps for selling weed. She was pretty casual about it.
Probably that’s what happened...one reason you periodically and independently double check.
Yes, particularly on items that are known to have black-market resale potential.
For some people, enough is never enough. The word entitlement comes to mind.
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