Ex-Marine Indicted For eBay Sales Of Restricted High Tech Munitions

An ex-Marine has been named in a 14-count federal indictment charging him with the illegal sale and export of high-tech munitions that were allegedly sold to foreign buyers on eBay.

Prosecutors charge that Douglas Rubsam, 32, auctioned off a variety of items on the U.S. Munitions List, which covers material that cannot legally be exported without a license issued by the Department of State. The merchandise sold by Rubsam, according to the indictment filed in U.S. District Court in San Diego, included components used in night vision goggles.

These items were allegedly shipped by Rubsam to buyers in Germany, Slovakia, Finland, Hong Kong, and France. As TSG reported earlier this month, Rubsam was the target of a two-year Department of Defense investigation probing his sale of dozens of “sensitive and classified” military technologies. The eBay auctions occurred while Rubsam was stationed at Camp Pendleton in California.

Rubsam, who told TSG in an interview that he was honorably discharged last year from the Marine Corps, claimed to military investigators that he found some of the night vision components discarded near a dumpster outside his unit’s area on Camp Pendleton.

Arrested last Thursday, Rubsam was released on his own recognizance following an appearance before a federal magistrate in Virginia, where he now lives and manages a family-owned marina. Rubsam is pictured above in a United States Marshals Service mug shot.