District Court Judge Curtis V. Gomez on Friday sentenced Sherrymae Morales, 54, of St. Croix, to 12 months and one day in prison, and three years of supervised release, U.S. Attorney Ronald W. Sharpe announced.
Gomez also ordered Morales to serve 200 hours of community service, repay $45,426 in restitution to the V.I. National Guard, and pay a special assessment of $2,100.
On July 1, Morales was found guilty by a jury after a three-day trial in District Court on St. Thomas. She was convicted on 21 counts of wire fraud. According to evidence presented at trial, from 2010 until 2011, Morales was a full-time employee with VING on St. Croix. At the same time she also held a full-time contract position with the Military Personnel Services Corporation (MPSC), which provides employee support services to members of the VING.
Evidence presented at trial demonstrated that over a period of 14 months, Morales submitted time sheets to both the MPSC and VING for the same 40-hour work weeks. This case was investigated by the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command-Major Procurement Fraud Unit, Defense Criminal Investigative Service, and the Department of Homeland Security Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Everard E. Potter.
