Augusta, GA

Former Fort Gordon soldier gets prison for scheme with N. Koreans

Published

2 months ago

March 22, 2026

Former Fort Gordon soldier gets prison for scheme with N. Koreans

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – A former Fort Gordon soldier has been sentenced for his role in a scheme that gave North Korean workers access to U.S.-based computer networks.

Alexander Paul Travis, 35, of Augusta, was sentenced to 12 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, and forfeiture of $193,265.

Also sentenced in the scheme were Jason Salazar, 30, and Audricus Phagnasay, 25, both of California. They were ordered to forfeit $409,876 and $681,926, respectively, and each got three years of probation.

Each defendant pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud conspiracy, according to federal prosecutors.

“These men practically gave the keys to the online kingdom to likely North Korean overseas technology workers seeking to raise illicit revenue for the North Korean government – all in return for what to them seemed like easy money,” said U.S. Attorney Meg Heap. “These schemes present a significant challenge to our national security.”

Since 2003, United States and United Nations sanctions cut off North Korea from the U.S. marketplace and financial systems and restricted Americans from doing business with North Korean institutions.

North Korea responded with a variety of schemes to evade those sanctions, according to authorities. The revenues from those schemes contribute to North Korea’s weapons programs in violation of U.S. and U.N. sanctions, according to American authorities.

The defendants’ guilty pleas describe how they were contacted by overseas workers, and each defendant allowed those workers to:

Create resumes in the defendants’ names with false information about their experience.
Use those false representations and identities to obtain remote employment with U.S. companies.
Pass employer vetting procedures, including video interviews, drug testing and fingerprinting.
Open bank accounts in the defendants’ names to receive payment from the U.S. companies.

In each case, the defendant would receive a laptop computer from the company that hired the fictitious worker, and then would install unauthorized software to enable the overseas IT worker to access the computers remotely while appearing to work from the defendant’s address in the United States.

Travis, who was an active-duty member of the Army stationed at Fort Gordon at the time, received at least $51,397 for his participation in the scheme.

Phagnasay and Salazar earned at least $3,450 and $4,500, respectively.

The fraudulent scheme earned approximately $1.28 million in salary payments from the victim U.S. companies, the vast majority of which were sent to the IT workers overseas.

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Augusta, GA

Historic Masters landmark purchased and renovated by local resident

Published

7 hours ago

May 9, 2026

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Historic Masters landmark purchased and renovated by local resident | News | wfxg.com

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Augusta, GA

Georgia governor candidate Olu Brown campaigns in Augusta

Published

19 hours ago

May 9, 2026

Press Room

Georgia governor candidate Olu Brown campaigns in Augusta

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – Democratic candidate for Georgia governor Olu Brown visited Augusta on Friday evening, stopping near the Sand Hills Community Center as early voting continues.

Brown is one of six candidates in the Democratic primary.

Campaign priorities

Brown said his vision as governor would focus on three main areas.

“One, it’s affordability around health care and making sure we expand Medicaid and expand Peach Care and make sure we continue to make our rural health care systems healthy and vital,” Brown said. “Number two, we’ve got to address education in all of Georgia, making sure every kid in Georgia gets an excellent education, and we’re paying our teachers more. And number 3, we’re protecting the rights of all women. Folks in the Gold Dome shouldn’t be making decisions about their bodies or the choices that they make.”

Brown is running against Amanda Duffy, Derrick Jackson, Geoff Duncan, Jason Esteves, Keisha Lance Bottoms and Mike Thurmond.

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Augusta, GA

Augusta Prep student arrested over picture of LEGO gun, threat he called a joke

Published

1 day ago

May 8, 2026

Press Room

Augusta Prep student arrested over picture of LEGO gun, threat he called a joke

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – An Augusta Prep student was arrested on a charge of terroristic threats over a picture of a LEGO gun he posted on social media.

It happened Wednesday, according to an incident report from the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office.

Eric Hedinger, the principal of Augusta Preparatory Day School, told deputies a student had uploaded a picture to Snapchat of a “pistol” with the caption “shooting up the school so I don`t have to take the stats exam tomorrow. Don`t come yall!”

The principal said he spoke to the student and his father about the photo.

The principal also provided deputies with the student’s address in Grovetown.

A deputy went there and was told by the student that the “pistol” was a LEGO set that he had built.

He also said the comment he made was supposed to be a joke because he was not looking forward to taking his Advanced Placement statistics test this week.

The student showed the deputy the box that the LEGO set came in, and how the set was already disassembled.

The deputy also looked in the boy’s room to make sure he was not in possession of any weapons.

The mother advised that there was one firearm in the residence but it was locked up.