Beaufort man pleads guilty to falsely claiming he was stabbed at Savannah Army airfield
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An Army contractor has pleaded guilty to falsely claiming he was stabbed and robbed last year at Savannah’s Hunter Army Airfield, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice.
Eric Nakamura, a 49-year-old Beaufort resident, could face up to five years in federal prison on one count of making a false statement to a department or agency of the United States, along with “substantial financial penalties and up to five years of supervised release,” according to the release.
Nakamura told a special agent from the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command that he was attacked on July 20, 2020 by an unknown person in an Army uniform with the name tape “Brown” while he was in the lab where he worked at the airfield.
After he was shown video evidence from a building across the street from the lab, Nakamura admitted that he stabbed himself with a kitchen knife.
“At a time when there is heightened awareness in the United States regarding attacks on Asian-Americans, it is repulsive that Eric Nakamura would fake his own assault,” said David H. Estes, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia, in the release.
“Army investigators did outstanding work in exposing his false claims and exonerating potential suspects,” Estes said.
Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Darron J. Hubbard is prosecuting the case, and U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command is investigating.
