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Former Government Contractor at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center Sentenced to Prison for Theft of Government Property

U.S. Attorney’s Office August 26, 2010
  • District of Columbia (202) 252-6933

WASHINGTON—Ronnita Nicole Dunbar, 29, a former government contractor working as an administrative assistant at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, has been sentenced to one year and one day in jail for her theft of $165,477.27 from that government facility, U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. announced today. Dunbar, of Landover Hills, Md., was sentenced today in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia before the Honorable Paul L. Friedman.

In addition to the prison sentence, Judge Friedman sentenced Dunbar to three years of supervised release and ordered her to pay restitution of $165,477.27 to the Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

Dunbar had pleaded guilty on May 4, 2010 to a one-count Information charging her with theft of government property. In connection with the guilty plea, Dunbar admitted that from January 2004 through May 27, 2008, she was employed as an administrative assistant and assigned to work pursuant to a government contract at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Department of Surgery, in the District of Columbia. Dunbar also admitted that she was responsible for arranging government-authorized travel for doctors and residents within the Department of Surgery using an online travel service called the Defense Travel System.

Between July 2007 and September 2008, Dunbar admitted that she stole $165,477.27 from that government facility as a result of her creating and processing 22 fictitious travel reservations using the Defense Travel System. Dunbar admitted that she created fictitious travel authorizations purportedly for travel by doctors and residents within the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, changed the Electronic Fund Transfer account number for the payments from the authorized account to an account in her name at a local credit union, and spent the stolen funds on personal expenses. According to the charges, the theft was discovered as a result of an inquiry by the Defense Finance and Accounting Service concerning a large number of open travel reservations within the Department of Surgery after Dunbar left her assignment at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Machen praised the investigative efforts of the special agents of the FBI’s Washington Field Office and the agents of the United States Army Criminal Investigation Command, Walter Reed Army Medical Center CID Office. He also recognized the efforts of the U.S. Attorney’s Office staff, including Paralegal Specialist Tasha Harris, Legal Assistant Jared Forney and Assistant United States Attorney Michael K. Atkinson, who prosecuted the case.

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