Hunter Army Airfield contractor charged with lying to investigators about violent assault

 Defendant claimed to have been stabbed while at work

SAVANNAH, GA:  A contractor at Hunter Army Airfield has been indicted on three felony charges after Army investigators allege he falsely claimed to have been assaulted on post.

Eric T. Nakamura, 49, of Beaufort, S.C., is charged with three counts of False Statement Made to a Department or Agency of the United States, said David H. Estes, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia. Each charge carries a statutory penalty upon conviction of up to five years in federal prison, along with substantial financial penalties and up to five years of supervised release following any prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.

“Army investigators spent substantial time and taxpayer resources investigating this alleged assault,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Estes. “We commend their diligence in seeking a resolution to this case.”

Nakamura has appeared before Magistrate Judge Christopher L. Ray for arraignment and entered a plea of not guilty to the charges.

The indictment alleges that on July 20, 2020, Nakamura falsely claimed to a U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command (CID) special agent that Nakamura was “stabbed with a knife and robbed by an unknown person in an Army uniform with the name tape ‘Brown’ while in the lab in which he worked at Hunter Army Airfield. The indictment alleges that Nakamura repeated the claim in subsequent interviews with CID special agents on Oct. 14, 2020, and again Feb. 1, 2021, despite knowing “he had stabbed himself with a knife, and had not been robbed.” 

Criminal indictments contain only charges; defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command is investigating the case, which is being prosecuted for the United States by Southern District of Georgia Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Darron J. Hubbard.