SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — A man pleaded guilty in federal court today who posed as a member of the United States military to defraud Fort Leonard Wood service members of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Court documents show that Steven Christopher Gibson pleaded guilty under a plea agreement to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft on Aug. 8.

Plea agreement documents show that the U.S. Army's Criminal Investigations Division was told in 2022 that trainees at Fort Leonard Wood were being targeted for fraud. In one instance, one victim told investigators that he had been contacted by an unknown First Sergeant, who claimed there was a payment issue that caused the victim to be owed back pay. The First Sergeant, later determined to be Gibson, told the victim he needed to send money through CashApp to fix the payment issue.

Investigators discovered that the CashApp account the victim had sent money to belonged to Gibson, who deposited the money in bank accounts outside of Missouri. Further investigation found Gibson's connection to several personal bank accounts with other individuals who were allegedly involved in the scam.

Documents say that additional records revealed that "...Gibson had defrauded or attempted to defraud over 2,000 service members of approximately $800,000, either through himself or his co-conspirators, in the same manner that was successfully carried out against [the victim]."

Gibson has been ordered to pay $300,000 in the case and could face prison time.

News Source : https://www.ozarksfirst.com/news/man-pleads-guilty-to-scamming-fort-leonard-wood-soldiers/