Pfc. Dominique Graham was paid to transfer a package from Los Angeles to South Korea using the military postal service. He then attempted to ship the package to another soldier’s Army Post Office mailbox, the prosecution alleged. For that, he was found to be complicit in a meth ring and received a five-year jail sentence.
Graham’s alleged partner in crime, Pfc. Julian Bean, was acquitted of charges against him because of insufficient evidence, Stars and Stripes reported.
Three judges found Graham’s role in the meth ring to be limited, hence his relatively short sentence. He will serve three years in prison before starting a five-year parole period called “suspension.” The soldier also did not have a history of wrongdoing.
Graham’s attorneys said he had no way of knowing that there were drugs in the boxes of cereals contained within the package, adding that he was just doing a paid favor for a shady figure named Jason. But the judges didn’t buy it. Accepting $1,000 to $3,000 to move a package should have alerted Graham that something was amiss, they held.
The magistrates further asserted that Graham told Bean to lie about the whole affair after they had both been handcuffed. “It would run counter to Graham’s words and actions that Graham believes the post contained daily essentials,” the judges wrote in the ruling.
Graham has been sent back to his commanding officer, according to a spokesperson for the 2nd Infantry Division of the US Army. The soldier may face further discipline under the Uniform Code of the Military, Stars and Stripes noted.
