3 Afghanistan vets, 1 rocket launcher, a bunch of trouble Washington-based Stryker soldiers who brought home anti-tank rocket likely to dodge jail

U.S. Army soldiers are pictured in Marjah, Afghanistan in Feb. 24, 2010. Three Joint Base Lewis McChord soldiers accused of hiding an anti-tank rocket brought home from the battle are currently facing federal prosecution. less U.S. Army soldiers are pictured in Marjah, Afghanistan in Feb. 24, 2010. Three Joint Base Lewis McChord soldiers accused of hiding an anti-tank rocket brought home from the battle are currently facing federal ... more Photo: PATRICK BAZ, Getty Images Photo: PATRICK BAZ, Getty Images Image 1 of / 5 Caption Close 3 Afghanistan vets, 1 rocket launcher, a bunch of trouble 1 / 5 Back to Gallery

UPDATE: Kyle Nespory was sentenced Monday to six months probation for improper storage of explosives. U.S. District Judge Benjamin Settle ordered Nespory to not access firearms during his probationary term.

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Sgt. Kyle Nespory was already home when the rocket arrived.

An infantryman with Fort Lewis-based Stryker brigade, Nespory was shot during a February 2010 push in southern Afghanistan. He’d been fighting for seven days when a Taliban sniper’s bullet tore into his hands, right arm and shoulder.

His unit returned to Joint Base Lewis-McChord later that year. One soldier brought home something of a trophy – a Canadian anti-tank rocket.

In the months that followed, the M72 Light Anti-Tank Weapon passed between several men. It proved a dangerous inconvenience.

Pierce County Sheriff’s Office detective was handed the rocket during a 2011 meeting with a woman who knew Nespory. A federal prosecution followed that has since seen guilty pleas from three of the four men accused of holding onto the ready-to-launch rocket.

Nespory and the other two men – Victor Naranjo and Anthony Laitta – pleaded guilty to related charges. Naranjo and Nespory pleaded guilty to misdemeanors, while Laitta pleaded guilty to a felony count.

The charges to which Laitta, Naranjo and Nespory pled guilty are minor compared with the counts they initially faced. Still, federal prosecutors note that LAW rocket – which Nespory stored in the closet of his Steilacoom apartment – could’ve leveled a building had it discharged.

“It is safe to say that the apartment building would likely have been destroyed, and anyone in it could very well have been killed, or at least severely injured,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregory Gruber said in a memo to the court.

Laitta, Naranjo and Nespory were indicted in September 2014, nearly three years after they were caught passing the weapon around.

Built in Norway and sold to Canada, the rocket had been passed to the 2nd Stryker Brigade of the 2nd Infantry Division, where Naranjo and Nespory served. The rocket, delivered to the Americans during a 2010 “battlefield exchange,” was identified as Canadian because its firing instructions were in English and French.

According to court records, Laitta had been storing the rocket at his Tacoma home before passing it to Naranjo after a party. Naranjo, also a Tacoma resident, kept it in his bedroom closet for about a month before handing it off to Nespory.

On Sept. 23, 2011, a Puyallup woman delivered the rocket to the sheriff’s office detective. The woman told police Nespory had left the rocket with her when he moved out of Washington the month before; he kept the rocket in a closet at his Steilacoom apartment.

Bomb technicians disassembled and examined the rocket. What investigators found was a live weapon, and a potentially potent one.

A recent vintage LAW rocket like the one handed to police can punch through two feet of reinforced concrete. The single-use weapons are supposed to be stored in fortified bunkers 140 feet from the nearest building.

Writing the court, defense attorney James Feldman said Nespory was still struggling as a result of his service when he accepted the rocket in 2011.

Nespory, his attorney said, does not require the year of court monitoring requested by prosecutors. Five years have passed since the rocket was discovered; in that time, Nespory has moved forward with his education, Feldman said, and proved himself a model citizen.

Feldman also asked that Nespory not be prohibited from possessing firearms if he is placed on probation. Though his misdemeanor convictions don’t carry a weapons restriction, probationers are usually ordered not to possess guns while under court supervision.

“His service to his country in a time of war supports his request that he retain the Second Amendment rights that other Americans possess even despite their common lack of training,” Feldman told the court.

In a memo to the court, Gruber argued that Nespory should be prohibited from possessing firearms while he’s under court supervision. The prosecutor noted that probation officers working with Nespory shouldn’t have to worry about him being armed, and a prohibition would be in the best interests of Nespory and the wider community.

Arguing that Nespory should be sentenced to one year of probation, Gruber said that the sentence sought by Nespory wouldn’t even amount to a slap on the wrist.

Nespory, the prosecutor said in court papers, already received a break by being allowed to avoid felony charges that could’ve landed him in prison for years.

“The government understands that (he) was suffering at the time from physical and emotional results of having been injured while nobly serving his country overseas,” Gruber told the court. “While we sympathize with those aftereffects of combat and thank him for his service, they frankly do not excuse his criminal and extremely dangerous conduct in this case.”

All the defendants appear to have left the Seattle area since the 2011 incident. Nespory, now 29, was charged while studying physical therapy in California, where Naranjo also has ties. Laitta was living in Florida when charges were filed.

Charges are outstanding against a fourth defendant, Keller Bellu. Bellu was initially charged in Hawaii, and his alleged involvement in the matter has not been detailed in court papers.

Nespory is expected to be sentenced Monday afternoon by U.S. District Judge Benjamin Settle at the federal court in Tacoma. Naranjo’s sentencing is scheduled for March 7, while Laitta is slated for sentencing in April. None of the men are jailed.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story failed to indicate that one defendant has pleaded guilty to a felony count.

Seattlepi.com reporter Levi Pulkkinen can be reached at 206-448-8348 or levipulkkinen@seattlepi.com. Follow Levi on Twitter at twitter.com/levipulk.