Female soldier, 30, smuggled $1MILLION during Afghanistan deployment and spent it on plastic surgery and an 18-wheeler truck

Tonya Long of Fayetteville, North Carolina, was sentenced on Monday to five years in prison and has to pay back the money she stole



Smuggled the cash back to the U.S. in January and February 2009 by concealing it in videocassette recorders

Spent half of the loot on plastic surgery, a vacation, and a tractor-trailer

Worked with a co-conspirator who has not been identified



A female soldier smuggled $1million from Afghanistan and spent the cash on plastic surgery, a vacation and an 18-wheeler truck and trailer, a court has heard.

Tonya Long, 30, of Fayetteville, North Carolina, was sentenced on Monday to five years in prison and has been ordered to pay back the money she stole after organizing a double billing scheme.



Long, who also goes by Tonya Long-Keebaugh, was convicted of bulk cash smuggling and aiding and abetting the same crime in what authorities called a kickback scheme. Authorities said she worked with a co-conspirator who hasn't been named but was identified as a captain in the military.

The woman behind the scheme: Tonya Long-Keebaugh, seen here with unidentified children, was sentenced to five years in jail and has to pay $1million in restitution

Beyond saying that it was a double billing scheme, the district attorney's office who has prosecuted Long has not specified exactly where the money came from, but the nature of her position within the military and her post as transportation management coordinator and customs inspector makes it appear as if the U.S. government may have been the biggest victim in the fraud.



Long, who is based in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, was assigned to the 189th Combat Sustainment Battalion attached to the 7th Special Forces Group in Afghanistan when the scheme occurred.



She was overseas from January 2008 to April 2009, but the real months in question are January and February 2009 when she and her unidentified co-conspirator worked together to cull $1million.

'The conspirators engaged in a double billing scheme, provided preferential treatment to a vendor and then the co-conspirator received kickbacks from the vendor,' district attorney spokesman Michelle Solomon-Brown told MailOnline.



'Long and the co-conspirator shared the kickback monies,' she said.



They then stored the money in video cassette recorders which were then flown into Pope Air Force Base near Fort Bragg where they were reportedly watched by armed guards.

Once she landed in America, Long picked up the packages and brought them back to the apartment that she shared with her co-conspirator.



Touching down: The cash0filled VCR cassettes were flown into Pope Air Force Base in Fayetteville where they were watched by armed guards until Long picked them up when she arrived back in America

Moving it off base: Once Long landed, she took the packages from the base and brought it to the apartment that she shared nearby with her unnamed co-conspirator

Authorities found half of what they stole hidden in a safe at the residence, while Long had spent nearly $500,000 on gifts for her family, which included a tractor-trailer, a car, a vacation and plastic surgery.



The series of thefts happened in January and February 2009, US Attorney Thomas Walker's office said.

Long cleared the containers through customs herself, and they were then shipped in connex shipping containers.



Neither Long nor the other person declared the currency upon entry into the U.S. Authorities said she acted with the intent to evade the currency reporting requirements.



'Tonya Long betrayed her team and while other soldiers were fighting for our country, she was stealing money intended to support the mission,' Walker said.

Troops: Tonya Long, 30, of Fayetteville, North Carolina, was sentenced on Monday to five years in prison after she was caught smuggling cash from Afghanistan (stock photo)

Bags: Long abused her position as transportation management coordinator and customs inspector by sending the cash home in video cassette recorders (stock photo)

'Her conduct undermined her fellow soldiers and our nation’s reputation. This sentence demonstrates that conduct like this will not be tolerated.'



Federal authorities filed criminal information last Friday against the woman and prosecutors said they were hoping to seize any property Long purchased with the smuggled cash.



Long will have three years of supervised release following her prison sentence, which was handed down by U.S. District Judge Terrence Boyle in Elizabeth City.