CHARLOTTE AMALIE — A member of the Virgin Islands Army National Guard band was given one year in prison for altering military leave documents to falsely claim time off from his job as a Transportation Security Administration agent at the Cyril E. King Airport,
Cleon Otto 35, of St. Thomas, was sentenced by Chief U.S. District Court Judge Robert A. Molloy to 12 months of probation on his conviction of creating a false authentication document, U.S. Attorney Delia L. Smith said.
Molloy also ordered that Otto pay a $1,000.00 fine, a $25 special assessment and restitution in the amount of $1,162.20.
According to court documents, on July 9, 2021, Otto was an employee of the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) and a member of the Virgin Islands National Guard (VING).
In his capacity as a TSA officer, Otto produced a false document by placing the electronically generated signature of another employee to authorize his paid military leave request.
Otto later submitted the fraudulently approved document and received compensation in the amount of $1,162.20.
The TSA began investigating Otto’s military-related leave history in August 2021, and learned that he had claimed military leave from his employment “using fraudulently generated orders,” according to an affidavit filed by a TSA investigator.
Otto, who was a member of the Virgin Islands National Guard’s 73rd Army Band, claimed 448 hours of military leave between May 1 and July 31, 2021, for a pay benefit of approximately $8,834.56. The leave was converted to “Absent With Out Leave,” or AWOL status after the TSA’s human resources discovered irregularities with Otto’s supporting documentation, according to the affidavit.
Otto had previously claimed military leave from his employment on several previous occasions dating back to 2012, and “fraudulently claimed a total of 516 Horus for a benefit of approximately $10,060.40 worth of time,” according to the affidavit. “Otto received pay for a total of 64 of those hours for a pay of approximately $1,162.20.”
Otto waived his right to remain silent during an interview with investigators on April 14, and provided a sworn statement “in which he confessed to altering military documents by changing the dates,” according to the affidavit.
This case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Everard Potter.