WITH $1.1M FROM AIR FORCE CREDIT CARD, MAN BOUGHT PIANO, HARLEY-DAVIDSON

CoffeeOrDie.com ^ | Nov 30, 2021 | Dustin Jones

[FryingPan101]

While arranging travel for senior Air Force officials, a Maryland man bought a baby grand piano, a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, and pricey family vacations — all paid for with cash advances from a government credit card.

Eddie Ray Johnson Jr., 60, of Brandywine, Maryland, was sentenced to 16 months in federal prison Monday, Nov. 29, after pleading guilty to charges of theft of government property that totaled at least $1,157,540.69 — the amount he was also ordered to repay.

Johnson spent 15 years working for the Air Force as a civilian, most recently as a travel coordinator in the secretary of the Air Force’s Office of Legislative Liaison where he planned congressional travel and approved accounting packages, according to the Department of Justice. That position allowed him to pocket more than $1.1 million in cash advances from a government-issued credit card between 2014 and 2017.

[Mr.Unique]

He shouldn’t be the only one going to jail. Multiple layers of supervision had to be asleep at the wheel for this to happen.

I’ve had a travel card for over 25 years (in and out of uniform) and a small purchase card and can’t even imagine how this happened.

He had to have cooperation from someone in leadership and the finance office.

[Mr.Unique]

Many many years ago, procurement was so complicated and cumbersome and time-consuming, the idea was just to provide credit cards for small dollar purchases to speed things up.

The article says that it was a travel card, not a small purchase card.

[thescourged1]

20 years ago, we had a soldier buy some electronics at the PX with his GovCC. When caught, he got the treatment then kicked out of the Army. But not before the First Sergeant made him stand in the common area all day long with a large cardboard sign hanging from neck that said "I am a thief, I used my GCC to buy a stereo." The sign had been hand-drawn to look like an AMEX card too.

Justice in the infantry battalions was always up a notch and creative.

[Vaduz]

Wonder how many people do get away with it bookie say a lot of them.

[bigdaddy45]

Whether it was a “travel card” or a “small purchase card”, it was still a ‘credit card’

[Mr.Unique]

The travel card has nothing to do with procurement.

[algore]

I worked for Amex, it was amazing how F’d up the Govt reimbursement process was.

A huge majority of the military people wanted to pay, but they just refused to pay before they got reimbursed.

On the other hand Microsoft Corp cards especially when the holder was .Indian and went back to India never ever paid.

I remember a Saudi Prince who had cranked a few hundred thousand on his card and got a charge denied at A strip club. He told me flat out that he had been insulted by this and would not pay until he felt Amex had suffered enough for his loss of face. (I randomly checked 5 years later, and no never paid )

[AppyPappy]

We had to cosign for Amex car for a new employee because he had a repo on his credit. He charged up a bunch of money and turned in the receipts then he turned in the bill to be paid. Double payment. His boss signed off on it. When he left the company, he ran up a huge bill that the company had to pay because they cosigned.

Yep.

[vpintheak]

For simplicity in accounting, that would work well. But wouldn’t want to be fought short

[FryingPan101]

That’s amazing.

My husband had a no limit AmEx card from the government years ago. We just never considered it to be for personal use. Meals, gas, airline tickets, hotels, etc YES. A yacht? Nope.

[left that other site]

Those are the two things I would buy too.

A Grand Piano and a Harley.

(I have a 93FXR and an 88Key Electric Piano, but I can make room for more.)

[FryingPan101]

LOL

[FryingPan101]

You should write a book or something. I know there were a couple written specifically about AmEx. I always like to know those things.

[Rebelbase]

Is he the one driving or the one sitting side saddle?

[left that other site]

I LOVE it :-)

(((I wonder how it Handels, though))))

[nascarnation]

On top of paying back the stolen funds, Johnson must now pay another $26,506.02 for banking and service fees and a $15,000 fine.

[Svartalfiar]

The Navy requires you to have a goverment CC for travel, and to use it for everything if you want to be reimbursed.

Used to be you pay for things, keep receipts, and submit them when you’re done with TDY. Not now.

Really? TXARNG, we got ours paid off whether you charged it or not. You submit your trip through DTS (Defense travel Service), and then they calculate your mileage, per diem, hotels (already reserved by them, so they know the price, but you still submit receipts), and any other travel expenses. Then that amount is just credited to your travel card eventually.

They usually suggest using a personal card, because if the gov takes forever to pay, the card companies start coming after you to pay the late balance.
Also, it's just better to use your own card, its FREE points/cashback, since the gov will reimburse the amount anyway.

[seowulf]

Yep. That’s how the Navy does it.

It actually is pretty painless and worked well. No receipts to keep if it’s on your gov CC.

DTS has had a LOT of experience with the number of people always on travel between Seattle, San Diego, Hawaii, Guam, Japan, etc. That’s just for the people at NB Kitsap where I was.

Just don’t rack up a $10k bill on the card at a strip club and all’s good (that has happened BTW, and it’s not taken kindly).

[Svartalfiar]

Yep. That’s how the Navy does it.

It actually is pretty painless and worked well. No receipts to keep if it’s on your gov CC.

No, I mean we get reimbursed whether you use the GTC or don't touch it at all. Likewise, hotel receipts are always collected, GTC or not. Though I don't know if they actually go any higher than the local unit

[seowulf]

They reimbursed us if we didn’t use the travel card too, but it was pretty painful, took a long time and they would want justification for why you didn’t use it.

That might have been command policy too...don’t know.