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Navy supply ship’s purser charged with stealing $350K from ship’s safe

Posted at 4:59 PM, Oct 17, 2013
and last updated 2013-10-17 16:59:25-04

$350,000 went missing from a Navy supply ship earlier this year and now the ship’s former purser has been charged with felony theft of government money.

Federal court documents reveal the money went missing from a safe onboard the USNS Arctic.

The Arctic is a combat support ship operated by Military Sealift Command. The ship delivers fuel, food and supplies to Navy ships.

Ismael Estrada, 65, the former purser on the Arctic, is charged with felony theft of government money.

Court documents show the theft was noticed in April after Estrada was transferred to another ship.

He had filed paperwork in March indicating that there was more than $692,000 in the safe, but the new purser and captain on the Arctic found more than $350,000 missing when they counted it in late April.

Estrada was released on a $5,000 bond to the custody of his son in Norfolk on Wednesday.

He had to surrender his passport and agree to electronic home monitoring as conditions of his release.