Now, Curtis Whiteford has been indicted for his alleged role in the theft of millions of dollars from the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA).
Whiteford spent 22 years flying helicopters for the Utah Guard, ascending to the position of state aviation officer before an audit of his time cards found he had taken "an extraordinary number of days with additional pay," according to Guard officials.
"He resigned rather than facing adverse action," Utah Guard spokesman Hank McIntire said Wednesday.
Although Whiteford left the Guard under fire, the then-Riverton resident didn't resign his Army commission. That allowed him to transfer into a job with the Army Reserve's 91st Division.
The Dublin, Calif.-based division's spokesman, Jason Hudson, said Whiteford was a senior officer in the division's operations, plans and training office and volunteered to deploy to Iraq as part of the staff of Paul Bremer, who led the occupation government following the 2003 invasion.
In Iraq, Whiteford was the second most senior official in the CPA's south-central region, headquartered in al-Hillah, about 50 miles south of Baghdad. In that capacity, beginning in December of 2003, he and several other Army officers helped "rig the bids on contracts being awarded by the CPA," directing $8.6 million to companies owned and operated by American businessman Philip Bloom, according to the charges.
In return, Whiteford shared in more than $1 million in cash, vehicles, jewelry, computers, airline tickets, liquor and promise of future employment in Bloom's company, Department of Justice Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty said in a statement.
"This indictment alleges that the defendants flagrantly enriched themselves at the expense of the Iraqi people - the very people they were there to help," McNulty said. "U.S. government officials working in Iraq are not for sale. We will prosecute anyone who attempts to exploit the reconstruction efforts for their personal gain."
That's likely to amount to a lot of extra work for McNulty and his associates.
Just since November, the Justice Department has filed charges against a civilian translator, a civilian employee of the Corps of Engineers, a chief warrant officer and four members of the California National Guard - all of whom worked for Army units in Iraq - with bribery and embezzlement.
And later this month, the department expects to resolve the case of Bloom, who already has pleaded guilty to charges of bribery and money laundering in connection to the case involving Whiteford.
The most recent charges came a day after Bremer was grilled by Democratic lawmakers for his inability to account for billions of dollars in cash shipped to Iraq in the early days of the occupation.
Whiteford and two other military officers were arrested and released on bond following a 2005 complaint, according to Justice Department spokeswoman Jaclyn Lesch. The charges were held under seal until Wednesday, when Seymour Morris, a partner in the alleged scheme, was arrested in Romania. The U.S. government is seeking to have Morris, an American citizen, extradited to New Jersey to face the charges.
Whiteford, who appears to have been living in Box Elder County since leaving the Army Reserves in 2005, did not return calls seeking comment.
Current State Aviation Officer Dana Yetton said Whiteford was "an experienced aviator," but declined to speak about the circumstances in which he left the Utah Guard.
mlaplante@sltrib.com
