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Finder 139 18 Finder Practically everyone in Nebraska who followed Dave Kofoed’s career at the Douglas county Sheriff’s crime lab was totally ignorant of Kofoed’s shady past. His dark side precipitated his employment into cSi police work, which began around 1990.· · · David Wayne Kofoed came from a well-known Omaha family, the oldest of five highly competitive and very successful boys. His father was a highranking sergeant at the Omaha Police Department. One of Dave’s younger brothers, Bart, was a prep basketball star who then went on to play for several years in the National Basketball association, a key teammate of perennial NBa all-Stars Karl Malone and John Stockton of the Utah Jazz. Growing up in Omaha, Dave Kofoed was an outstanding athlete himself, in football and in wrestling, at the prestigious creighton Prep High School. During college, he turned into a bodybuilding buff. Kofoed won the title of Mr. Nebraska and then, in 1979, the more coveted title of Mr. Midwest for his perfectly chiseled physique. He also followed his father’s footsteps by enlisting in the United States Marine Corps. As a Marine, Kofoed flew A-4 Silverhawk fighter planes. He became a success. He rose to the rank of 1st lieutenant and earned a rifle sharpshooter badge. By the summer of 1984, Kofoed’s squadron was assigned to VMaT-102 in Fallon, Nevada, which is not far from reno.1 By his late twenties, Kofoed had a reputation for being a wild guy and a party animal in the Marines. On weekends, he and his fellow Marines piled into a van and frequented reno’s gambling casinos. Gambling was a new experience, and Kofoed became fond 139 140 bloody lies of the blackjack tables. He found the adrenaline rush of blackjack comparable to flying fighter jets. Unfortunately, Lady Luck was not Kofoed’s friend. He quickly amassed losses—heavy losses. He borrowed cash from his fellow Marines to gamble some more.2 after a couple of months of military duty assigned to Fallon, Kofoed’s squadron returned to its usual base in Yuma, arizona. One day back at his familiar military barracks, Kofoed took advantage of an opportunity when nobody else was around. He opened an unlocked filing cabinet that contained the personal documents and credit card statements of his fellow Marine roommate , Jerry Osgood. later that same evening, Osgood received a totally unexpected call down at base headquarters. a Western Union representative was on the phone. The representative needed to know to which of the two Western Union locations in Fallon, Nevada, Osgood wanted to have his $1,500 wire transfer sent. Osgood was floored. He stated he had never authorized Western Union to wire $1,500 cash to any of its locations near the reno gambling casinos over in Nevada. But someone else had. Someone posing as Osgood had placed a phone call from inside Osgood’s apartment, using Osgood’s credit card number to facilitate the $1,500 wire transfer. Fortunately for Osgood, he stopped the money transfer before it went through. Western Union advised him it would investigate the matter on its end. after the disturbing phone call, he bumped into his squadron’s executive officer. Greatly troubled, he explained what had just transpired. later that evening, Osgood returned to his apartment at the base. He nonchalantly relayed the incident involving the fraudulent wire transfer to his roommate, who happened to be Dave Kofoed. Ultimately, Kofoed admitted to the shameful act of dishonesty. indeed, he had tried to gain access to Osgood’s credit card with the intentions of wiring himself enough cash to gamble at reno’s casinos. Kofoed tried to justify his actions. He explained that he had learned how to read cards from one of his uncles, who apparently was a professional gambler. Kofoed intended to use the $1,500 wire transfer to employ his uncle’s card-reading technique and then repay Osgood with his winnings, plus interest, he told him. at the time of the credit-card incident, Kofoed admitted he was about $50,000 in debt to the gambling casinos. Osgood relayed Kofoed’s admissions to his military superiors. The squadron’s executive officer investigated the situation. Kofoed was given two options. He could abruptly resign his commission or face a nasty court martial. Kofoed chose to quietly resign from the Marine corps. Officially, Kofoed left the Marines with a general discharge. Such discharges go to servicemen with satisfactory performance marked by...

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