November 25, 2014

Did Former Deputy STRATCOM Chief Make His Own Fake Poker Chips? Stories Differ

By ExchangeMonitor
The former deputy commander of U.S. Strategic Command denied that he counterfeited poker chips he used at an Iowa casino in June 2013, according to a Nov. 24 Associated Press story. In two recently released statements—written last spring to Navy officials— Rear Adm. Timothy Giardina said he found the fake poker chips in a bathroom stall at the Horseshoe Casino in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Pottawattamie County, Iowa, Attorney Matt Wilber last weekend alleged that DNA evidence found on three counterfeit $500 poker chips indicates that Giardina actually made the phony chips, according to a Nov. 22 Omaha World Herald article, but Wilber added that he doesn’t expect to prosecute Giardina. Released last week, a Naval Criminal Investigative Service report states that the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Laboratory DNA Branch found Giardina’s DNA under the “sticker portion” of the fake poker chips, which disguised $1 chips to look like $500 chips. After military leadership caught wind of the casino incident, Giardina in October 2013 was dismissed from STRATCOM, and reassigned to Navy headquarters in Washington, a change that accompanied a one-star drop in rank from vice admiral to rear admiral.

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NEW: Via public records request, I’ve been able to confirm reporting today that a warrant has been issued for DOE deputy asst. secretary of spent fuel and waste disposition Sam Brinton for another luggage theft, this time at Las Vegas’s Harry Reid airport. (cc: @EMPublications)

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