In a two-paragraph charging document filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle, prosecutors wrote that Tomoaki Iishiba bought 60 of the sights, plus other firearms parts, from a Northbrook, Ill., company called OpticsPlanet, then mailed them to co-conspirators in Japan without obtaining an export license.

Iishiba has been reassigned from intelligence duty as a result of the investigation and is now working as an assistant operations officer, Fort Lewis spokeswoman Catherine Caruso said Friday.

He faces one count of conspiracy to smuggle goods from the United States and is scheduled to enter a guilty plea at the end of the month, assistant U.S. attorney Todd Greenberg said Friday. Greenberg said he could not comment further.

The name of Iishiba’s lawyer was not listed on the court’s docket, and Iishiba, 34, did not return a call to his home in DuPont.

OpticsPlanet Inc. did not reply to an e-mail from The Associated Press.

“The command here is aware of the charges that were filed today in this Capt. Iishiba case,” Fort Lewis spokesman Joseph Piek said Friday. “His command has been aware of the investigation as it’s been ongoing, and Fort Lewis has cooperated fully with civilian law enforcement.”

The News Tribune published a profile of Iishiba last December, describing him as the son of a Tokyo policeman who moved to the United States in 1993 to serve in the American military.

He became a citizen, graduated from Northern Michigan University, and served with the 82nd Airborne Division in Afghanistan in 2003. He wrote a book about his experience titled “A Japanese Lieutenant from the 82nd Airborne.”

At the time of The News Tribune profile, which appeared on the newspaper’s military blog, Iishiba was working as an I Corps intelligence liaison to Japan’s Northeastern Army at Yama Sakura. He earned the position after working with visiting Japanese troops who were training at Fort Lewis and Yakima, and he was quoted as saying he believed the Japanese are “too soft” and need to shed some military limitations adopted after World War II.

“It’s a different world now,” Iishiba said. “You’ve got to stand strong, but they’re not ready yet.”

He has also written a manual for the M4 rifle, has endorsed a line of knives and is credited as a technical adviser in the making of the video game Metal Gear Solid.