Navy Sailor Charged With Stealing Grenades From San Diego Ship

SAN DIEGO, CA – A Navy sailor was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of stealing 20 hand grenades from San Diego-based guided-missile destroyer USS Pinckney.

Naval Criminal Investigative Service personnel took Gunner's Mate Second Class Aaron Booker, 31, into custody at his duty post in Great Lakes, Illinois.

Personnel assigned to the USS Pinckney discovered that 20 grenades disappeared from their storage crates in February 2017, according to a complaint from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. Booker, who previously served as a member of the ship's weapons department, reportedly conducted temperature checks of the crates five times between November 2016 and January 2017.

About a week after the grenades were found to be missing, Booker officially detached from the ship and traveled from California to Illinois to begin his new assignment, according to court documents.

On April 20, 2017, an off-duty officer discovered a backpack against a guardrail on Interstate 15 in northwest Arizona. According to the complaint, it was a standard military-issued backpack with Booker's name handwritten on a tag inside the bag, which contained 18 of the missing grenades.

Law enforcement is still searching for the two missing grenades, according to authorities.

"A backpack full of grenades on the side of the road is obviously extremely dangerous and could have had resulted in injuries or death," U.S. Attorney Adam L. Braverman said. "The theft of explosives is a very serious offense, particularly if it is carried out by an insider with access to military weapons and secrets."

At first, Booker claimed the backpack had been stolen, although his story contained glaring holes and contradictions, according to the complaint. Booker told investigators he asked several people in San Diego about the grenades and suggested the Naval Criminal Investigative Service look in Tijuana, Mexico to find the last two unrecovered grenades.

He allegedly said "his former motorcycle club was associated with two individuals in San Diego who had connections to the 'cartel,' and the grenades were stolen at the request of the cartel."

Booker continued to deny that he stole the grenades, according to the feds, but he did admit going "into the box" to make sure the grenades were there. A search of his phone revealed he conducted web searches about G911 grenades and watched web videos about the weapons.

"Navy sailors are trusted with maintaining dangerous and sensitive equipment onboard naval vessels to ensure the Navy is always prepared to protect and defend the interests of the United States," said Belinda Saunders, special agent in charge of the NCIS Southwest Field Office. "It is a violation of that trust for any service member to steal from the United States Navy for any reason. This case is particularly troubling given the explosive nature of what was stolen, which could have seriously injured others."

Booker is scheduled to appear for a detention hearing in the Northern District of Illinois before he is transferred to San Diego. He faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 if convicted, according to the Department of Justice.

Jonah Meadows/Patch contributed to this report.

Photo: USS Pinckney (US Navy)