Ex-captain gets prison in bribery case

A former Fort Drum captain was sentenced May 21 to two years in federal prison for accepting cash in exchange for steering Army contracts to a particular company while stationed in Iraq, according to documents filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court, Manhattan.

Austin S. Key, Watertown, will also have to undergo two additional years of supervision upon his release from prison, according to the judgment entered by Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein. He also forfeited $108,000.

While Mr. Key was sentenced in May, the judgment was not publicly filed until Tuesday. A court records worker and a records supervisor in Manhattan told the Times on June 9 that the sentencing records had been sealed.

Mr. Key pleaded guilty in December 2007 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.

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.

Mr. Key must surrender himself on July 27 to the Federal Prison Camp in Montgomery, Ala. As part of the terms of his supervised release, he will have to perform 25 hours of community service during each quarter of the two-year post-release period.