Dover civilian employee charged with theft

  • Published
  • By Maj. Mike Richmond
  • Air Force Office of Special Investigations Public Affairs
ANDREWS AIR FORCE BASE, Md. (AFPN) --  Delaware State Police arrested a civilian employee from Dover Air Force Base, Del., Dec. 16 on suspicion of stealing nearly $1 million worth of base property over several years.

The arrest of Gary Kaiser, of the 436th Civil Engineer Squadron, followed a search of his off-base residence by special agents of Dover's detachment of the Air Force Office of Special Investigations and Delaware State Police.

According to OSI Special Agent Eric Jurgensen, commander of OSI Detachment 306 at Dover, an OSI investigation of Kaiser began in early December. Special agents collected sufficient evidence on base to obtain a warrant from Delaware officials to search his property.

The search revealed a trove of items apparently stolen from Dover and stored in a warehouse-like structure on Kaiser's property. Jurgensen characterized the numerous items as mostly power tools and building materials.

Beginning Dec. 17, OSI agents and state police began overseeing Dover civil engineer workers seizing and shipping truckloads of items from the suspect's property to a secure warehouse on Dover AFB. Jurgensen said the CE workers were needed to help identify and move the items, while OSI agents and police ensured the items were protected during transport.

"Everything needed to be properly identified, logged, photographed, shipped and taken into evidence, which was a huge job that we couldn't have done without the support of those CE troops," Jurgensen said. "It's not every day that you have non-law-enforcement personnel engaged in the collection of evidence, but it was necessary in this case because of the bulk of some of the items and the sheer quantity of the material to be confiscated."

Delaware State Police estimated the value of the property at $2.5 million, but Jurgensen said the estimation could vary greatly by the time all property is recovered and inventoried.

Because of value of the seized items, the FBI joined the investigation Dec. 19, and jurisdiction belongs to the assistant U.S. attorney's office in Wilmington, Del.