Govt. Official Charged With Bribery

A high-ranking government official at a research facility that develops crucial military technology has been charged with multiple felonies for operating a multi million-dollar bribery scheme over eight years.

The veteran federal employee (Gary Alexander) teamed up with his wife (Kelly Alexander), also on the government’s payroll, to run an enterprise in which they squeezed nearly $5 million in cash bribes and other items of value from individuals seeking defense contracts. 

The couple worked at the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR) in San Diego California. Gary Alexander was a software engineer who subsequently got promoted to manager of the Joint Interagency Task Force-South Team, which provides intelligence support to military forces deployed in the U.S. Southern Command region.

Besides the corrupt couple, four others were also charged in the 25-count grand jury indictment unsealed this week. Two of them are owners of a company that bribed the Alexanders with cash, fancy jewelry and other expensive items in exchange for their influence in obtaining lucrative defense contracts. 

The Alexanders are also charged with fraudulently billing the U.S. government over the years for personal goods and services such as cell phones, big-screen televisions, home entertainment systems, a digital camera and a global satellite positioning system. 

The FBI launched an investigation into their lucrative operation after an anonymous tip to a federal fraud hotline about a year and a half ago. Gary and Kelly Alexander have been indefinitely suspended from their government jobs without pay.