U.S. Marshals arrested a soldier on a Missouri Army base who was wanted internationally for fraud and money-laundering resulting in over $30 million in losses, the service reported this month.
Polish authorities asked the U.S. to arrest and extradite the 45-year-old Marcin Pióro, who was also subject to an international Interpol notice. He was arrested on May 19th during training at Fort Leonard Wood.
The Army trains enlistees to be combat engineers, military police and chemical, biological radiological and nuclear, (CBRN) soldiers at Fort Leonard Wood, which is a relatively rural and isolated base in the middle of the state.
Pióro joined the Illinois National Guard in October 2025 but did not complete basic training, the Guard said, and he was discharged for unsatisfactory conduct. A spokesman said records indicated Pióro had a master’s degree and was able to enlist at the rank of specialist.
He enlisted to become a U.S. citizen, the Marshals said in a May 21 release.
He was arrested without incident and the Marshals worked in coordination with the Army’s Criminal Investigation Division to lessen any disturbances to training. The service credited the arrest to teamwork between various agencies, which included information sharing that allowed law enforcement to track down Pióro.
The accused appeared in federal court on May 20 and was subsequently detained.
Illinois has a substantial Polish-American population and the state’s National Guard has multiple Polish speakers and a stellar relationship with the Polish military, LTC Brad Leighton, the Illinois National Guard public affairs director said in a statement Friday.
“We have shared a State Partnership Program with Poland since 1993 and have multiple training and leadership exchanges with Poland every year,” he said, adding that “in addition, we had Illinois Army National Guard Soldiers co-deployed with every rotation of Polish forces first to Iraq and then to Afghanistan for 17 consecutive years from 2003-2020.”
Eve Sampson is a reporter and former Army officer. She has covered conflict across the world, writing for The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Associated Press.
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