Man pleads guilty to stealing from Fort Leonard Wood

A Homosassa, Florida man pleaded guilty in federal court today to his role in a $223-thousand-dollar money-laundering conspiracy, which was part of an email hacking scheme that targeted a program at Fort Leonard Wood, as well as victims in Tennessee and Idaho. 54-year-old Franklin D. Huggins pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, admitting that he participated in a scheme that targeted Fort Leonard Wood, stealing $164-thousand-568-dollars from the Directorate of Family and Morale and Welfare, through an email scam, assuming the identity of businesses, individuals and entities requesting money for certain purposes. According to information from the Federal Courts, conspirators hacked the email of an Illinois business that provided charter bus services and then sent emails to Fort Leonard Wood purportedly from the business, which provides transportation for military service members during the winter holidays – including round-trip bus transportation to airports for military service members to be with their families during the holidays. Huggins and his co-conspirators also stole $9,000 from an individual in Tennessee and stole $49,859 from a business in Idaho. Huggins received the victims’ money in one of his own bank accounts. He withdrew cash, used the proceeds for his own personal benefit, and transferred the money to other individuals or entities, for purposes other than what was represented to the victims. Huggins must forfeit to the government a money judgment of $223,427 and a sentence of up to 20 years in prison.