OKLAHOMA CITY – A federal grand jury here has indicted a Lawton woman and a Fort Sill official from Duncan on public corruption charges, announced Robert J. Troester, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma.
The grand jury charged Candy Hanza, 50, of Lawton, and Alfred Palma, 64, of Duncan, with bribery, and Hanza also is accused of wire fraud and money laundering.
The indictment issued May 3 alleges that Palma, a U.S. Army employee and public official, formerly managed the Institutional Training Directed Lodging and Meals program at Fort Sill, through which he booked hotel rooms for soldiers who attended on-post trainings.
Hanza, then the general manager of a local hotel in Lawton, paid Palma to direct soldiers to that hotel. The Indictment alleges that Hanza then personally profited through her own scheme to defraud the hotel owners and laundered the resulting proceeds.
The two defendants had not been arraigned in federal court by the end of the day May 4.
If found guilty of bribery, Hanza and Palma each faces up to 15 years in federal prison, a fine of $250,000 or three times the monetary value of the bribes, and up to three years of supervised release.
Hanza additionally faces up to 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and up to three years of supervised release if convicted of wire fraud, as well as up to 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and up to three years of supervised release upon conviction for money laundering.
The case was investigated by the Army’s Criminal Investigation Division and the Department of Defense Contract Audit Agency. Assistant U.S. Attorney Julia E. Barry is the prosecutor.