Sergeant sentenced for larceny

  • Published
KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. (AFPN) --  A staff sergeant with the 377th Security Forces Squadron was found guilty of larceny, making false official statements and destroying and altering public records. He was sentenced to a bad-conduct discharge, reduction in rank to airman basic, 10 months confinement and total forfeiture of pay and benefits.

Staff Sgt. Kevin Marcum elected trial by a military judge alone. He pleaded guilty to making numerous false official statements, stealing $2,000 and wrongfully and unlawfully altering and destroying various public records to try and conceal the crime, said Maj. Tiffany Dawson of the 377th Air Base Wing's staff judge advocate office.

Sergeant Marcum became a suspect in the theft of $2,000 that came up missing from an evidence locker where he was the evidence custodian, Major Dawson said. Air Force Office of Special Investigations agents opened an investigation into the theft after the money's proper owner requested its return.

When the proper owner presented his claim to finance office officials here, they noticed the amount of confiscated money on the owner's receipt differed from the amount annotated on 377th SFS records, Major Dawson said. Further investigation revealed that Sergeant Marcum stole the $2,000 and then attempted to conceal his crime by altering and destroying documents related to the case. Documents included an evidence disposition letter, an evidence tag, an inventory of the currency seized and several pages of the report of investigation.

Sergeant Marcum also lied to both an Air Force OSI investigator and a finance official concerning his involvement and knowledge of the crime, Major Dawson said.

During Sergeant Marcum's unsworn statement, he said he accepted responsibility for his actions but the financial and emotional stress of dealing with family separation and the hardship of his child's medical condition led him to commit the crimes, Major Dawson said.

During their sentencing argument, government lawyers argued that Sergeant Marcum's crimes were the result of his own personal, conscious choices. Trial counsel, Capt. Mark Trujillo, emphasized how Sergeant Marcum's actions demonstrated a lack of integrity and violated the special level of trust placed in him as a law enforcement investigator and evidence custodian.

Major Dawson said these factors, coupled with the level of planning and deceit involved in Sergeant Marcum trying to conceal his crime, led government lawyers to recommend a bad-conduct discharge, between 20 and 24 months confinement, reduction in rank to airman basic and total forfeitures.

Defense lawyers argued that the fact that Sergeant Marcum stood before the court was a tragedy created by the Air Force's failure to adequately assist him with his personal problems. Circuit defense counsel, Capt. Julie Pitvorec, stressed that Sergeant Marcum had accepted responsibility for his crimes and that his actions were those that would be taken by any parent, Major Dawson said.

Arguing that losing his career and the emotional toll that separation from his family had already taken on him, defense lawyers asked the military judge to forego confinement and impose a bad-conduct discharge instead, if necessary.

"While the defense painted Sergeant Marcum's crimes as a personal tragedy, the accused's actions were riddled with deceit and demonstrated a personal choice to put himself above the law,” Captain Trujillo said.

"His sentence shows the value and emphasis placed on honesty, integrity and accountability by the Air Force,” he said. “Those who willingly choose to break the law will be held accountable." (Courtesy of Air Force Materiel Command News Service)