Kenyan Handed 10-Year Prison Term By a Texas Court For Stealing $77,000 From US Gov't

A Kenyan man in the United States has been sentenced to 10 years in jail and $250,000 fine by a Texas court for stealing from the American government.

32-year-old Jeffrey Sila Ndungi, who owns two light aircraft in Kenya, was convicted in September last year, but sentenced in January for theft. 

Ndungi was handed the sentence by Justice Jane Boyle following a three-day trial. He was found guilty of two counts of stealing public funds and one count of aggravated identity theft. Ndungi is registered owner of two Cessna aircraft, a two-passenger and a four-passenger, that are parked at the Wilson Airport in Nairobi.

He will serve the jail term at a Dallas prison. He was apprehended at Los Angeles Airport, California in September 2016 as he attempted to escape after stealing $77,000 from the US treasury.

During his trial, the court heard that Ndungi fraudulently obtained the money by presenting to the US Treasury, a check payable to a person identified as CS, that had been given on a federal income tax return filed electronically from Kenya. At the time of the trial, Ndungi was in the US on a tourist visa and was denied bail for being a flight risk.