TAMPA, Fla., July 19 (UPI) -- A civilian contractor lied his way into MacDill Air Force Base near Tampa, Fla., and got close to top commanders, prosecutors charge.
Scott Bennett, who went on trial in federal court in Tampa Monday, claimed to be an aide to Adm. Eric Olson, chief of U.S. Special Operations Command, while saying he could not produce his orders because they were top-secret, prosecutors said.
He got himself assigned base housing in January 2010 and stashed 10 guns and 9,000 rounds of ammunition there, the government says. Even when he was arrested for drunken driving at a gate in April 2010 and found with two guns, a base spokesman dismissed the incident as a "failure to follow policy and procedures" and "not a security breach."
Bennett, an Army Reservist, is accused of lying to get his MacDill apartment, wearing an unauthorized uniform and keeping weapons without registering them, the St. Petersburg Times reports.
Defense attorney David Chalela said in his opening statements that MacDill was seeking a scapegoat for its security failures.
Amanda Weeks, a civilian who headed a MacDill housing office, testified that Bennett showed up in uniform and said Olson had told him to get base housing as soon as possible.
