Former Fort Sill Army official pleads guilty to federal bribery charges

OKLAHOMA CITY — A former Fort Sill Army training manager has pleaded guilty to bribery charges.

Earlier this week, Alfred Palma, 64, of Duncan, pleaded guilty to public corruption charge, according to a statement from U.S. Attorney Robert J. Troester.

The plea follows a May 3 federal grand jury indictment for 12 counts against Palma and co-defendant Candy Hanza. Palma was charged with accepting a bribe as a public official.

Palma, a former Army employee and public official, was the manager of the Institutional Training Directed Lodging and Meals (“ITDLM”) program at Fort Sill, through which he booked hotel rooms for soldiers who attended on-post trainings, Troester stated. According to the indictment, Hanza, then the general manager of a local hotel in Lawton, paid Palma to direct soldiers to the hotel.

At a hearing before United States District Judge Patrick R. Wyrick on Monday, Palma admitted to receiving cash and checks totaling $103,200 from Hanza in return for favoring the hotel at which Hanza was a general manager when he booked soldiers for off-post trainings. Palma further admitted that he used the cash to purchase money orders from Walmart in $1,000 increments, which he then deposited, along with the checks Hanza gave him, into his personal checking account.

Palma faces up to 15 years in federal prison, a fine of $250,000 or three times the monetary value of the bribes, and up to three years of supervised release.

Hanza has pleaded not guilty to the bribery charge as well as counts of wire fraud and money laundering and is awaiting trial. She faces the same punishment as Palma for the bribery charge as well as an additional 20 years in prison, $250,000 fine for the wire fraud charge and an additional 10 years for money laundering.

The public is reminded that charges against Hanza are merely allegations, and she is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, Troester stated.