By Debbie Gregory.

A high-stakes gambling addiction that resulted in the embezzlement of $2.7 million from the federal government has landed a 27-year Naval officer in prison.

Navy Lt. Randolph Prince, 45, will serve more than four years in federal prison after pleading guilty to wire fraud and making a false statement on his 2014 tax return.

As a supply staff member of Explosive Ordinance Disposal Training and Evaluation Unit 2, Prince steered government contracts to three sham companies that were run by his friends and co-conspirators Lt. J.G. Courtney Cloman, a naval flight officer, and Clayton Pressley III, a former sailor. Both have pleaded guilty to participating in the fraud.

Effective and efficient procurement for an organization as large and complex as the U.S. military is notoriously difficult. The needs of the nation’s military must be balanced with effective accounting methods, controlling cost, as well as mitigating fraud and waste.

This particular scam operated as follows: When a contract landed on the desk of one of these companies, Prince, and his co-conspirators would generate fraudulent documentation to suggest the company had honored its end of the bargain. Once “delivered” the Navy would then pay the invoice. However, the sham companies never provided the Navy with anything, least of all the “inert training aids,” or fake bombs that were supposedly delivered.

“It’s a shame that he squandered an otherwise outstanding 27-year Naval career,” defense attorney Shawn Cline said in an email. “He suffered from a terrible gambling addiction and abused a position of trust to fuel that addiction.”

In addition to the prison sentence, U.S. District Judge Robert G. Doumar ordered Prince to pay $2,719,907 in restitution.

Pressley, who netted more than $644,000 from the conspiracy, was sentenced last year to two years in prison. That is on top of four years and two months he received for stealing the identities of his subordinates in an unrelated federal case.

Cloman is set to be sentenced Feb. 7.

By Debbie Gregory.

It turns out that Clayton Pressley III, a former sailor who was serving a 50 month prison sentence for stealing the identities of his subordinates, was also ripping off the Navy through an elaborate procurement fraud scheme.

Pressley, who was kicked out of the Navy after nearly 20 years, will now serve an additional two years in federal prison in connection with the $2.3 million scam, which netted him more than $644,000.

Court documents show that Pressley conspired with two others to form a sham government contracting firm in May 2014. The company was ostensibly formed to provide “inert training aids” to Navy units.

The conspirators manipulated the government procurement process to contract with themselves and signed fraudulent documentation indicating the company had delivered product when it had not.

The Navy would pay the company through intermediaries and ultimately the conspirators would distribute the proceeds among themselves.

According to court documents, an unnamed Navy officer who had purchasing authority ordered the aids from two vendors, identified as Firm D and Firm V. It is unclear whether the sales representatives knew the scope of the fraud.

Pressley used the money for travel and home goods.

“The steps taken by Mr. Pressley and others to perpetrate their scheme demonstrated remarkable cunning and deceitfulness,” Special Assistant U.S. Attorney David Layne said in court documents, asking for a sentence of at least three years and 10 months.

Pressley’s attorney, Bruce Sams, said his client was struggling with unspecified mental health issues at the time of his crimes and asked for leniency.

“Mr. Pressley does not really know what reasons led him to engage in his criminal conduct but has expressed his remorsefulness and repentance for having done so,” Sams said in court documents.

Pressley, who was awarded a Bronze Star “for exceptionally meritorious service during Operation Iraqi Freedom” has been ordered to pay full restitution.