3 Rangers, medic charged with robbery plot

ATLANTA, Jan. 26 (UPI) -- Three U.S. Army Rangers and a medic at a Georgia base have been charged with conspiring to rob cocaine dealers.

Three of the suspects were arrested Thursday at a storage facility in Sandy Springs, north of Atlanta, the Gainesville (Ga.) Times reported. The fourth was taken into custody Friday at Camp Frank D. Merrill, an Army Ranger training facility in Dahlonega.

The arrests followed an investigation in which an agent of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives posed as a criminal, David Nahmias, the U.S. attorney for northern Georgia, said in a statement.

"It is a sad day when members of one of America's most elite corps of soldiers, the Army Rangers, are alleged to have become involved in criminal activity," Nahmias said. "These men were trained to defend the people and principals of this country, not to use their skills to steal cocaine from drug dealers at gunpoint."

Randy Spivy, 32, Carlos Lopez, 30, David Ray White, 28, and Stefan Andre Champagne, 28, remained in custody pending a bail hearing Wednesday.