{"id":86070,"date":"2024-07-19T09:02:00","date_gmt":"2024-07-19T09:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2024\/07\/19\/navy-officer-convicted-in-afghan-visa-bribery-scheme\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T20:00:54","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T20:00:54","slug":"navy-officer-convicted-in-afghan-visa-bribery-scheme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/your-army\/2024\/07\/19\/navy-officer-convicted-in-afghan-visa-bribery-scheme\/","title":{"rendered":"Navy officer convicted in Afghan visa bribery scheme"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A federal jury convicted an officer in the Navy Reserves<\/a> last week for his involvement in a bribery scheme to provide unknown Afghan nationals visas to the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cmdr. Jeromy Pittmann, 53, a civil engineer corps officer who deployed to Afghanistan in 2014 and 2015 with NATO Special Operations Command, received thousands of dollars for drafting, submitting, and falsely verifying bogus letters of recommendation for Afghan nationals seeking a Special Immigrant Visa that would allow them to live in the U.S., according to the Department of Justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The State Department issues a limited number of Special Immigrant Visas<\/a> to Afghans who assisted U.S. troops and diplomats during the War in Afghanistan and served as translators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In more than 20 letters, Pittmann claimed that he personally knew and oversaw the Afghan national visa applicants, and asserted they had served as interpreters for the U.S. military and NATO troops. These letters also claimed that these applicant\u2019s lives were endangered by the Taliban, and affirmed his belief that they were not a national security threat to the U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\t