AGENTS TESTIFY IN THEFT TRIAL

0 Comments | Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Feb 21, 2008 | by R. SCOTT RAPPOLD

Adil Jaber Mansour al-Nashy was making a tidy profit off the U.S. occupation of Iraq.

An Iraqi citizen, former military interpreter and shop owner at Camp Victory in Baghdad, he did a lucrative business selling videos and electronics to the troops. Suspected of selling drugs to Americans and secrets to insurgents, he had $600,000 in dollars, euros and Iraqi dinars when U.S. soldiers raided his shop and home May 5, 2005.

The suspicions turned out to be unfounded, but when $50,000 of the seized cash disappeared, the Army's Criminal Investigation Command (CID) began to look at one of their own as the possible thief.

Chief Warrant Officer Jonathan T. Renaud of the 48th Military Police Detachment at Fort Carson is on trial on charges of dereliction of duty, theft and fraternizing with two female enlisted personnel. His court-martial resumed Wednesday at the post, after a delay of several weeks.

Army prosecutors allege that Renaud, who headed the investigation of al-Nashy, took the missing $50,000. He is also accused of stealing $500 in Army property on two occasions.

"You hope you have a relationship with somebody that they're not going to take advantage of the trust put in them by the U.S. military," testified Heidi Hoter, a former CID special agent who worked on the case with Renaud.

According to testimony, a military police unit raided al- Nashy's "haji shop," as locally owned businesses are known to U.S. soldiers, and Renaud was among the CID agents involved in the investigation.

"They had reports he was selling drugs to soldiers and they had found a small amount of pills there," testified CID special agent David Renfro.

Prosecutors showed pictures of Renfro and Renaud with stacks of money, smiles on their faces.

"We thought, at the time, that Adil was a bad guy and he was selling drugs to troops and providing information to the enemy," Renfro said.

After interviewing al-Nashy, who denied doing anything wrong and begged officials to believe him, CID released him.

"The conclusion we came to is he was wrongly accused by the infantry," Renfro said.

The decision to let al-Nashy back on base and return the money didn't go over well with soldiers, one of whom demanded of Renfro, "Whose side are you on?"

The Iraqi immediately noticed the missing cash, and prosecutors allege Renaud took advantage of lax mail security out of the camp to send the cash to America.

"It made me look bad, as a special agent, when that money came up missing, especially when I had access to take the money," testified Hoter.

Al-Nashy was reimbursed by the Army and, according to prosecutors, given a visa to move to the U.S. He testified in the trial last month.

The court-martial is expected to resume today, break for three weeks and wrap up in mid-March.

CONTACT THE WRITER: 476-1605 or scott.rappold@gazette.com