Ala. Army officer, wife accused in $2.8M bribery

[David]

AP


BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – An Alabama Army major and his wife are accused of taking $2.8 million in bribes from a Georgia contractor who received about $21 million for delivering bottled water and building fences in Kuwait and Iraq.

An indictment accused Maj. Eddie Pressley, 39, of Harvest and his 37-year-old wife, Eurica Pressley, of accepting cash and other bribes in exchange for the major funneling business to companies owned by Terry Hall, 43, of Snellville, Ga.

An arraignment hearing is expected later this month. The three are free on $500,000 bond apiece.

All three were named on multiple bribery and fraud charges in an indictment unsealed Wednesday in Birmingham.

Attorneys representing the Pressleys and Hall didn't immediately return calls seeking comment Friday.

A former Army major, James Momon, already has pleaded guilty to taking some $200,000 in bribes in the scheme, according to the Justice Department.

"We will continue to investigate allegations of this nature and do everything in our power to see that persons responsible are held accountable and brought to justice," Brig. Gen. Rodney Johnson, commander of the Army Criminal Investigation Command, said in a statement.

Prosecutors said Pressley and Momon were Army contracting officials at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait from 2004 to 2006.

The Justice Department said Hall's companies, Freedom Consulting and Catering Co. and Total Government Allegiance, received about $21 million from contracts for bottled water and security fences in Kuwait and Iraq.

The indictment accused Pressley of taking bribes and having his wife set up a bogus company and accounts in Dubai, United Arab Emirates and the Cayman Islands to hide the payments.

They allegedly used the money to buy luxury vehicles, home decor and 55 acres in north Alabama.

Hall had been charged in the District of Columbia in 2007 and last year on charges of bribing an Army contracting official at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait. Prosecutors said that case would be dismissed so Hall can be tried in Alabama.

The cases are being handled by a Justice Department task force set up to prosecute alleged fraud in military procurement.