Attorney General Eric Schneiderman says New York State has won a major settlement with a company he says helped scam thousands of Fort Drum soldiers. As our Brian Dwyer reports, the money will go to erasing the millions of dollars of debt soldiers were left with.

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WATERTOWN, N.Y. -- When Specialist Joseph LeTarte found out he'd be deploying to Iraq back in 2006, he wanted to make sure he had a way to keep in touch with those back home.

"It's really all we've got down range," LeTarte said. "I mean I can't speak for everybody. I can only speak for myself, but it's pretty important to me that I get to communicate with my family."

And at a visit to the Salmon Run Mall in Watertown, he got an offer he couldn't refuse. A kiosk run by a company called SmartBuy sold him a laptop with a webcam on a payment plan.

"They're in the mall," LeTarte said about his trust in the company. "There's soldiers around and in the mall all the time. I figured they were there to help us out."

But according to Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, SmartBuy was there to rip them off. Not only were the computers and other electronics marked up 200 to 300 percent, but the interest rates on those payment plans averaged 244 percent. Soldiers ended up thousands of dollars in debt.

"The fact that we now have a lot more men and women in active service has given rise to this new group of scam artists and this is about as despicable as it gets," Schneiderman said.

"Anytime that they used the line, 'we want to help you keep in touch with your family while you're deployed, so buy the laptop that's fully capable,' and all the things these companies were doing, despicable is the appropriate term," Fort Drum Garrison Commander Col. Noel Nicolle added.

Under the settlement, Schneiderman says the company financing SmartBuy, known as Rome Financials, will pay $3.5 million to erase debt from nearly a thousand soldiers and fix credit their now damaged scores.

For LeTarte, who's already paid $5,300 on a $4,000 computer, he won't have to pay the $1,200 he still owes.

"I'm very happy that these people were brought to justice," he said. "They were shut down and they can't do this to any other soldiers in the area."

Rome Financial has agreed to never do business in New York State again.

Litigation with SmartBuy and other finance companies is ongoing.

Fort Drum's Garrison Commander is telling all soldiers to talk with their platoon sergeants and check out companies before making any major purchases.