Raymond Andres Zumba, 27, a Navy Reservist, was indicted Feb. 26, 2025, on a charge of bribing a public official. Federal authorities say Zumba tried to purchase Defense Department identification cards for unauthorized individuals. (Joshua Magbanua/U.S. Air Force)
A Navy reservist has been accused of trying to buy Defense Department identification cards for two unauthorized people, including a Chinese national, who authorities say were looking to access U.S. military installations.
Raymond Andres Zumba, 27, faces a bribery charge after a federal grand jury in Jacksonville, Fla., indicted him on Feb. 26, a Justice Department statement issued Monday said.
He is being held without bail and faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted on the single count, according to the statement. No trial date has been announced.
Zumba’s rank, job in the Navy and duty station are unclear. He is from New York City, according to the DOJ.
His Feb. 14 arrest in a sting came after an active-duty sailor who had served with Zumba aboard the USS Carney told investigators at Naval Station Mayport about a November meeting with him at a Jacksonville bar.
Zumba appeared to have a “significant amount of money” and told the sailor he had married a Chinese national. He asked whether the sailor would be willing to house Chinese nationals for money, according to court records.
Following a trip to Hong Kong in December, Zumba asked whether the sailor’s spouse, who works in the personnel office at Naval Air Station Jacksonville, could issue real common access cards for his in-laws in exchange for money, the Feb. 18 complaint states.
Zumba later changed the request, saying he needed uniformed service IDs, which are issued to military family members and retirees and give them access to installations, benefits and privileges. He offered to pay $3,500 for two ID cards that provided base access, authorities said.
Zumba traveled to Florida with the buyers, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in China and a Chinese national living in the U.S. illegally under an assumed name. They arrived at the personnel office after hours on Feb. 13.
Investigators had bugged the office and installed cameras to record the meeting, in which the buyers were photographed and fingerprinted as part of the ID card process, the complaint said.
Zumba and the naturalized citizen were arrested the following day after exchanging money for the cards. The Chinese national had already gone back to New York, and the statement did not say whether that person is still at large.
