Ex-Marine sentenced for stealing goggles

A federal judge sentenced a former Kaneohe Marine to three years in prison yesterday for selling stolen military night-vision goggles to customers in Poland and Hong Kong and attempting to sell more of the devices to another customer in Hong Kong.

The judge also ordered Charles Carper to repay the Marine Corps $7,214.

Carper, 24, pleaded guilty in June to conspiracy to defraud the government and selling ITT Nightquest PVS-14 Gen 3 Night Vision Monoculars for export. The device is a controlled item under the International Trafficking in Arms Regulations and can be exported only by someone who is licensed and registered with the U.S. State Department.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Chris Thomas said Carper bought the stolen goggles from another Kaneohe Marine for $1,000 each and sold them for $2,500. He said Carper knew what he was doing was illegal because when he offered the items for sale on the Internet, officials at eBay told him it was illegal.

Two other former Kaneohe Marines have also pleaded guilty and are scheduled for sentencing next month.

The government agreed to dismiss the charges against four other Marines to allow the Marine Corps to prosecute them.

Federal law enforcement officials arrested five of the defendants at Ala Moana Center Oct. 28, 2008, when they had arranged to sell eight night-vision devices for $20,000. They later arrested Carper and another Marine in connection with the case.