Former Department of Defense Employee Pleads Guilty to Submitting False Travel Claims Totaling Nearly $500,000

WASHINGTON – A former civilian employee of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP), a component of the Department of Defense, pleaded guilty today in Washington, D.C., to making more than $485,000 in false travel claims using the Defense Travel System, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.

John R. Brock, 52, of Crofton, Md., pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Court Judge Robert L. Wilkins in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to a criminal information charging him with one count of making a false claim against the United States. According to court documents, Brock worked as a budget analyst within the Resources Management Department of the AFIP from 2007 through 2011. As part of his guilty plea Brock admitted that, from September 2008 through April 2011, he submitted 99 false travel vouchers totaling $485,535 for expenses that were never incurred. He admitted that he submitted the claims through the Defense Travel System using the profile of a former AFIP employee. 

At sentencing, scheduled for Jan. 3, 2012, Brock faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, as well as supervised release following any prison term. Brock is also subject to criminal forfeiture totaling $485,535.

This case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Richard B. Evans of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section, and is being investigated by the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service and the FBI’s Washington Field Office.