GULFPORT, Miss. (AP) The trial for two Seabees accused of using their jobs in Gulfport to defraud the U.S. Department of Defense of more than $139,000 in a travel voucher scheme has been rescheduled for May 13.
Fred James Wheat Porterfield and Juan Saldivar, both 24, were to go on trial April 29. The Sun Herald reports that U.S. District Judge Sul Ozerden has agreed to a new date because a defense attorney has a trial elsewhere that week.
Porterfield and Saldivar are assigned to the Naval Construction Battalion Center in Gulfport.
Each is accused of making and approving hundreds of false entries for travel payments for themselves and other Seabees. If convicted, each faces more than 70 years in prison.
Both men are free on unsecured bonds of $25,000.
