At least six members of the Air Force are believed to have been involved in the theft of more than 14,000 rounds of government-issued ammunition.
The missing rounds were noted after federal agents launched an investigation into comments allegedly made by one of the accused airmen who advocated a violent overthrow of the government.
Most of the rounds are believed to have come from Fairchild Air Force Base near Spokane, Washington.
The six airmen were named in an indictment handed down this week by a federal grand jury. They are charged with crimes ranging from theft of government property to possession of stolen ammunition, according to media reports.
The investigation began when federal authorities were notified about social media comments allegedly made by Staff Sgt. John Sanger, 30, between the 2020 presidential election and the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.
“They defrauded our election system and are still getting away with it,” Sgt. Sanger wrote in December 2020 under the social media name “problematicpatriot, according to the FBI affidavit. “That means this system has run [its] course. People have to die.”
At least three of the accused airmen met with an undercover Air Force investigator assigned to the case.
Sgt. Sanger, who has pleaded not guilty, had bragged about stealing thousands of rounds of ammunition from his unit’s armory, according to the FBI affidavit.
• Mike Glenn can be reached at mglenn@washingtontimes.com.
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