An Air National Guardsman from Wyoming has been arrested and charged with stealing border fencing materials while he was deployed to the Arizona-Mexico border for Operation Jump Start. 48-year old Master Sergeant Robert Kelley of Carpenter, Wyoming was arrested in Phoenix on Wednesday, May 7.

According to the criminal complaint that was filed in U.S. District Court in Tucson, Kelley allegedly sold scrap metal from the border fence project and used the money he made, which totaled more than $8 thousand, to buy personal items for himself. The alleged theft and sale of the material took place between December of 2007, and March of 2008.

The charge that Kelley faces, theft of government property, carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, a $250 thousand dollar fine, or both.