Soldier charged with having stolen band items - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

Soldier charged with having stolen band items

WILLIAMSTOWN, Ky. — A Fort Campbell sergeant who was acquitted earlier this year of killing another man in a drunken driving accident is now accused of having $32,000 worth of stolen Army band equipment, court records show.

The equipment, including seven guitars, a trombone and a saxophone, was left at Sgt. Riley Ealy’s father’s Dry Ridge home in September and recovered in October, according to a Kentucky State Police report.

Army investigators told state police detectives that the instruments and electronic equipment were stolen from the U.S. Army 101st Airborne Band at Fort Campbell where Ealy is based.

Ealy, 28, who earned a Purple Heart in Iraq, has been stationed at Fort Campbell since he was acquitted in March of second-degree manslaughter, first-degree wanton endangerment and drunken driving in the death of 25-year-old James Fry.

The accident occurred in September 2009 after a night of drinking while Ealy was on leave from Iraq.

During a four-day trial Kenton Circuit Court, prosecutors tried to prove that Ealy was driving Fry’s Chevrolet Cobalt when the car crashed on Amsterdam Road. Ealy’s defense attorneys claimed that Fry, who was friends with Ealy’s older brother, was driving.

The jury deliberated less than hour before acquitting Ealy, a father of four.

Ealy’s attorney, Paul J. Dickmann, who also represented him on the manslaughter charge, said Tuesday he could not comment on the specifics of the new charges.

“He’s innocent until proven guilty,” Dickmann said. “He maintains his innocence and we are looking forward to his day in court.”

State police learned on Oct. 3 that the stolen band equipment was in Grant County when Army investigators called to say the items were likely at a home on Sherman-Mount Zion Road, according to police report.

State police visited the single-wide mobile home where they met Richard Kerns, Riley Ealy’s father.

Kerns, 52, initially told police that he did not know anything about the instruments and did not have them. But when a trooper told Kerns that Ealy had told an Army investigator that the instruments were at his father’s home, Kerns admitted that the knew his son left the instrument there Sept. 25, according to the report.

Kerns told troopers he took some of the instruments to a friend’s house in Florence and the rest to his daughter’s house in Elsmere.

Troopers recovered seven items from the friend and Kerns’ daughter brought five items back to her father’s home. The instruments and an amplifier, mixer and keytar were returned to the Army.

Army criminal investigators are still investigating the equipment theft, said Fort Campbell spokesman Rick Rzepka. He would not say when the theft occurred. When asked if Ealy is facing military charges, Rzepka said military officials typically defer to civilian courts.

While investigating the instrument theft, Army investigators and state troopers noticed a handgun tucked into the cushions of Kerns’ couch. Kerns cannot have a gun because he’s a convicted felon.

In 2002, he pleaded guilty to committing fraudulent insurance acts in Campbell County.

State police subsequently found 13 guns including pistols, shotguns and rifles inside Kerns’ home. Kerns told police he knew he was not supposed to have the guns but that he “can’t help but hunt,” the report states.

Kerns was arrested Oct. 6 and charged with receiving stolen property over $10,000 and two counts of possession of a gun by a convicted felon.

Ealy was arrested Nov. 16 in Hopkinsville and charged with receiving stolen property over $10,000.

Another solider, Evan Johur, 26, of Carlsbad, Calif., is also charged with receiving stolen property over $10,000 in the case. Details of the allegations against him were not available Tuesday.

Kerns told police that when his son came to his home in September he was with another solider whose name Kerns could not recall.

All three are scheduled to appear in Grant Circuit Court today where a trial date is likely to be set, said Commonwealth’s Attorney James Crawford.

If convicted, Ealy and Johur could each face five to 10 years in prison. Ealy’s father could face 11 to 25 years if convicted on all three charges.

Fry’s mother, Tammie Fry, said Tuesday that she was not surprised to hear the Ealy was in trouble again.

“He basically walked from killing our son,” she said Tuesday from her Texas home. “I guess we feel like we’ve been validated in saying he’s not the upstanding, courageous, respectful person that they all tried to portray him as.”

Fry said she’s most upset that she’s never received an apology from Ealy.

“He never faced us, never apologized,” she said. “And here he is in trouble again.