Defense Department workers plead guilty to embezzling plot

ELKINS, W.Va. (AP) - Two Defense Department employees have pleaded guilty to conspiring to embezzle government property in West Virginia.

The U.S. attorney’s office for the Northern District of West Virginia says 35-year-old Sgt. 1st Class Shane Morgan with the West Virginia Army National Guard pleaded guilty Monday. Sixty-one-year-old retired Master Sgt. Russell Morgan also pleaded guilty Monday to the charge.

A prosecutor’s office release says the men admitted taking at least 80 items owned by the U.S. government worth an estimated total of more than $80,000. The thefts happened between August 2010 and October 2017 in Upshur County.

The release says the men had access to the property through their positions at the U.S. Property and Fiscal Office warehouse in Buckhannon. They face up to five years’ incarceration and a fine.