A Virginia Beach naval officer was sentenced earlier this month to more than four years in prison for his role in a $2.7 million procurement fraud scheme, and for lying on his federal income tax return.
According to court documents, Randolph M. Prince, 45, was an officer at a Naval Explosive Ordinance Disposal Unit based in Virginia Beach in charge of procurement.
From Spring 2014 until Fall 2015, “Prince took advantage of his role within his command to steer government contracts to businesses of his choosing,” according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. “These businesses were companies formed by Prince’s associates and purporting to be legitimate sub-vendors of military equipment, despite being vendors of nothing at all. “
In order to steer the contracts, Prince and others rigged bids, substituted products on purchase orders, and used fraudulent invoices and delivery documents to make the purchases appear legitimate, according to court papers.
In the end, Prince ensured his command spent upwards of $2.7 million on purchase orders to the sham companies, knowing all along that the Navy would receive nothing in return.
The items ostensibly purchased for Prince’s unit were “inert training aids” and are destroyed in routine training for Navy EOD units. Because Prince was responsible for the ordering of goods up-front, and confirming their delivery on the back-end, he was able to perpetrate the scheme for over 18 months without his command becoming aware.
Prince and others pocketed hundreds of thousands of dollars from the scheme, money that Prince failed to report as income on his 2014 tax return, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
