Ex-Drum captain's sentence not disclosed

Details of the sentencing of a former Fort Drum captain convicted of accepting cash in exchange for steering Army contracts to a particular company while stationed in Iraq have been sealed in federal court.

Austin S. Key, Watertown, pleaded guilty in December 2007 in U.S. District Court, Manhattan, to charges that he accepted a $50,000 bribe while he was in charge of procurement at Camp Liberty in Baghdad. He also pleaded guilty to charges that he stole money, ammunition and oil while in Iraq.

Sentencing was rescheduled numerous times, most recently for May 21. According to documents filed with the court, sentencing occurred that day and Mr. Key paid a $600 fine, but no other details were available.

Court records show two documents in the case have been ordered sealed and placed in a vault, and court officials said information about the sentencing likely was included in the sealed documents.

According to court documents, Mr. Key asked Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein to reconsider the sentence imposed. The judge denied the request June 1.

"In my opinion, the punishment I ordered was just and fair, in relation to the defendant's crimes, the substantial help he gave to the government" and other mitigating factors offered by Mr. Key's attorney, the judge wrote in his decision denying reconsideration of the sentence.

According to the New York Daily News, Mr. Key testified in January in Brooklyn against codefendant Joseph Crenshaw, a former Fort Drum chief warrant officer who also lived in Watertown. Mr. Crenshaw was acquitted following trial, the paper reported.