A Navy reservist who once served on the guided-missile destroyer USS Carney has been charged with allegedly attempting to bribe a former shipmate to help two Chinese nationals obtain unauthorized military identification cards for “immigration purposes,” according to prosecutors.
After learning that his former shipmate’s spouse was working at the Naval Air Station (NAS) in Jacksonville, which issues Department of Defense (DOD) identification cards, Zumba contacted his former shipmate. The two individuals were not named in court documents.
The defendant allegedly asked his former shipmate if the spouse was willing to issue legitimate but unauthorized identification cards for an under-the-table payment. After suspecting Zumba of criminal activity, the shipmate contacted investigators from the Naval Criminal Investigation Service, which led to a federal investigation starting in early January.
Acting under the direction of federal agents, the former shipmate proceeded to engage Zumba, which eventually led to the defendant’s arrest on Feb. 14.
Zumba, whom prosecutors said had recently married a Chinese national, allegedly told his former shipmate that he needed two identification cards for “his wife’s parents” and the two cards would be for “immigration purposes” to show that they “were married to servicemembers.”
Zumba allegedly told his former shipmate that he would not make any money on the card deal, but certain Chinese individuals had paid for his travels and dinners, according to the complaint.
The two Chinese buyers were identified only as “Individual-5” and “Individual-6” in the complaint, with the former being a Chinese-born naturalized U.S. citizen and the latter a Chinese national unlawfully present in the United States.
On Feb. 13, Zumba arrived in Jacksonville with three individuals, including the two who were buying the ID cards. The former shipmate’s spouse led them into the personnel office after business hours and started the process of making the ID cards, including getting the pair’s photographs and fingerprints, according to the complaint.
The next day, Zumba met with his former shipmate, who gave him two unauthorized uniformed services identification cards (USID) in exchange for $3,500. Federal agents then detained the defendant at the scene, and the two cards were recovered.
Also detained at the scene was “Individual-5,” the complaint said, but “Individual-6” had traveled back to New York early morning that day.
When interviewed at Homeland Security Investigations’ office in Jacksonville, Zumba called “Individual-5” his friend and added that he had recently met “Individual-6” before traveling to Hong Kong in December 2024.
Zumba also said that he believed the deal only paid for two “dead” cards, according to the complaint.
According to the complaint, in a conversation with his former shipmate prior to his arrest, Zumba allegedly suggested that he had married his Chinese wife for money, saying that “he was waiting for his next payment after she received her green card and that they lived separately and were not intimate.”
Zumba also asked his former shipmate and the spouse whether they “would be willing to marry Chinese nationals and assist them getting legal residency,” saying they could “make a total of $70,000 doing so,” the complaint alleged.
