Clearing the Fog of War

Two women testify against Air Force recruiter

A pair of women testified Wednesday that an Air Force recruiter sexually assaulted them in the back room of his Lake Jackson office after doggedly pursuing them.

Though the incidents occurred separately, both said that Tech. Sgt. Jaime Rodriguez followed the same pattern that led to the encounters, which they said they resisted.

He sent a flurry of text messages that initially were flirtatious but turned graphic, both testified. Later, they said Rodriguez locked the door of his recruiting office, put up a "closed" sign before luring each of them to a back room.

"He began to grope me and kiss me and sat me down on the desk and then he began to rub (on her) and from there he kept trying to put his finger inside me," said a woman identified as Victim 9, who is an airman first class.

A jury of eight officers, all men, including two captains and three colonels, heard the women testify most of the morning, with prosecutors and the defense resting their cases. The allegations were among the worst in years for the San Antonio-based Air Force Recruiting Service.

Jurors are expected to weigh evidence involving both women and could hand Rodriguez a life sentence if they find him guilty of rape, aggravated sexual contact, forcible sodomy, assault consummated by battery and indecent exposure. He already pleaded guilty to six charges and 23 specifications of wrongdoing that carry 54 years in prison.

The case is part of a scandal that has become the biggest in Air Force history and continues to grow. So far, 67 recruits and trainees in technical training have been identified by the Air Force as victims in the scandal. The number rose this week from 63, but it wasn't immediately clear why.

Read more here: http://www.mysanantonio.com/default/article/Two-women-testify-against-Air-Force-recruiter-4596425.php

Air Force instructor gets 90 days in sex case

An Air Force basic training instructor at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland has been found guilty of having an illicit relationship with a recruit and given 90 days in jail.

Tech. Sgt. Julio Morales also received 30 days' hard labor, was reduced to senior airman and ordered to forfeit $1,200 pay in a trial Monday before Lt. Col. Matthew van Dalen.

Morales pleaded guilty to having sex with the recruit while she was in basic training in 2008.

They had a tryst the night she was due to leave Lackland for technical training school.

Their relationship began that spring and continued through the summer after she was assigned to Brooks City-Base for technical training.

The woman testified she thought he was legally separated and that their relationship had become serious, with him buying her a ring, backpack and cell phone.

“While in basic training she would babysit Julio Jr. during chapel times on Sunday,” Joint Base San Antonio spokesman Brent Boller said. “They even talked about marriage.”

http://www.mysanantonio.com/default/article/Air-Force-instructor-gets-90-days-in-sex-case-4594676.php

Houston-area recruiter on trial in airman's rape

A non-commissioned officer charged with raping a young applicant in his Lake Jackson office went on trial Thursday in San Antonio.

Tech. Sgt. Jaime Rodriguez could get life in prison on eight charges and 32 specifications of misconduct in his trial here at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland.

The trial was to start Monday, but was delayed.

Rodriguez is accused of trying to develop intimate relationships with 14 women, most of them applicants seeking to join the Air Force. Two victims were recruiter's assistants, airmen who had recently graduated from basic training and doing the job while spending time at home.

The Air Force said the Houston-area recruiter used his position to leverage sexual favors from a woman identified as Female 15, and lied in an official statement.

When questioned about the incident, Rodriguez was asked if he sent the woman photos of himself wearing only underwear.

“No,” he replied.

The charges reflected a pattern of misconduct among basic training instructors at Lackland, 33 of them brought under investigation during the past 18 months for pursing or having intimate relationships with recruits and technical school trainees.

So far, 63 people have been classified by the Air Force as victims, all but a few of them women.

Read more here: http://www.mysanantonio.com/default/article/Houston-area-recruiter-on-trial-in-airman-s-rape-4582865.php

G.I.'s life unraveled in wake of assault

Army Spc. Rebekah Lampman had fallen asleep after drinking two beers with another soldier a couple of weeks before Christmas 2011 in a coed barracks at Fort Hood when she awoke to find him on top of her, naked.

She recalled pushing him off, throwing on her clothes and rushing to an office at the barracks to report the sexual assault, triggering an Army investigation that would lead to his conviction.

Her case was one of 200 sexual-misconduct reports filed at Fort Hood over the past 20 months, part of the growing crisis of sexual assaults in the military.

The reports don't break down how many of the cases occurred at Fort Hood or off the post. The complaints ranged from sexual assault to sexual harassment.

The Pentagon announced this month that an estimated 26,000 troops were victims of sexual assaults last year, an increase of 35 percent over 2011. Yet only 11 percent of the victims reported the assaults, much lower than the civilian reporting rate.

Troops surveyed by the Defense Department said they didn't report the crimes for a variety of reasons, including a fear of retaliation, and many didn't think the military would prosecute the offenders.

After a seven-month investigation, the San Antonio Express-News reported this week that assault victims from across the armed services often were forced out of the military after they reported the incidents to their superiors.

In thousands of cases over the past decade, many of the victims were declared mentally unfit for service and booted out.

The crisis has reached epidemic proportions, with members of Congress drafting legislation to remove prosecutions out of military control and President Barack Obama demanding the Pentagon to hold offenders accountable.

On Friday, Obama told Naval Academy graduates the surge in assaults could erode public trust in the military.

At Fort Hood, Lampman, a two-tour veteran of the Iraq war, said word of her December 2011 rape spread quickly.

She said commanders initially didn't believe her, and her attacker, Spc. Christopher Tatum, was allowed to stay in her barracks for another eight months.

Lampman reported her assault to Fort Hood's Sexual Harassment Assault Response & Prevention office. But she said the program failed miserably.

“I refused to go there anymore,” Lampman, 25, said about the program. “I felt like that trust, that bridge, was burned.”

She said a SHARP representative charged with acting on her behalf with superiors, “treated me just as badly as my first Army commander as far as just trying to shooing me away, making it not a big deal when it really was a big deal.”

Lampman was an Army broadcast journalist who traveled in her job while posted to southern Iraq from 2008-09. A second tour, this time in Baghdad, followed the next year. She came under fire and later was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder stemming from combat.

On the night of her attack, Lampman was on anti-anxiety medication, a common prescription for troops back from the combat zone. She and another soldier were with Tatum in his room drinking beer and hanging out. When the other GI left, they stayed, watching TV.

Lampman said she drank a little more than two beers before falling into a deep sleep. When she awoke early Dec. 8, 2011, she said, “He was raping me.”

Rushing out, she went to the charge of quarters desk and reported what happened. Her first sergeant came there and took her to the Darnall Army Medical Center ER at Fort Hood. A victim advocate was called, as was the post's Criminal Investigation Command.

Lampman was taken to Scott & White Memorial Hospital in Temple, which she said did a rape kit. By the time she got home, word of the incident had spread.

“My phone was blowing up with, 'Hey, uh, is this true? I heard about blah-blah-blah. Hey, is this true? Blah-blah-blah. Within 12 hours, like your whole entire personal business is put out there,” Lampman said.

Things got worse.

“It kick-started a drinking problem. I was drinking all the time, I didn't feel safe anywhere, I didn't trust anybody, I was really paranoid,” she said.

Nancy Parrish, founder of the victim advocacy group Protect Our Defenders, said Lampman's story is “all too common.”

“Rebekah stood tall, reported the crime and the perpetrator was convicted, yet she faced retaliation,” said Parrish, whose group helped coordinate testimony before a congressional hearing earlier this year on the sex-abuse scandal at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland. “For a commander to allow this to occur on their base is rotten.”

Tatum was convicted in March and sentenced to a year in jail and a bad-conduct discharge.

Disciplined for a drinking problem she admits was out of control, Lampman said she's now on an anti-anxiety drug for trauma stemming from her rape.

Friday was her 50th day of sobriety. But she is haunted by an exchange she had with one NCO a month after the rape.

Saying she wanted him to see things from her point of view, Lampman said he told her, “'I do not sympathize or empathize with you at all. You are a soldier and you need to get up and move on.'”

Read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/military/article/GI-s-life-unraveled-in-wake-of-assault-4547882.php#ixzz2V6UDjK6F

Fort Hood G.I. jailed in rape, kidnapping case

A Fort Hood sergeant remained jailed Thursday in lieu of posting $100,000 bail after being accused in the rape of an Austin woman.

Sgt. Jeremy Bolen was in Travis County Jail along with a second man in connection with the rape after he was arrested this week in Killeen.

Police said he's accused of driving a truck as another man raped the 27-year-old woman in a backseat near Huston-Tillotson University.

Austin police sex crimes division Sgt. Jason Staniszewski said the other man arrested in the incident, Michael Broughton, identified Bolen as his accomplice.

“Bolen basically stated that he was at (South by Southwest) with Michael, but he doesn't remember anything about a kidnapping or a sexual assault,” Staniszewski said.

The allegation is the second in as many weeks involving a Fort Hood soldier.

Sgt. 1st Class Gregory McQueen, who worked in a post sexual assault prevention program, is being investigated on allegations of pandering and abusive sexual contact. The Army and his attorney said Thursday that no charges had been filed.

On Wednesday, the New York Times reported that a noncommissioned officer assigned to West Point has been accused of filming female students there as they disrobed.

The Army said it has charged Sgt. 1st Class Michael McClendon with committing indecent acts, cruelty, maltreatment and dereliction of duty.

Air Force Lt. Col. Jeffrey Krusinski, 41, of Arlington, Va., was jailed May 5 after a woman told police she fought off a man after he groped her.

Days later, the Air Force revealed a 21-year-old enlistee at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland was being investigated on allegations of indecent conduct with O'Connor High School ROTC students.

No charges have been filed, but the case is yet another involving airman at Lackland, where a scandal among trainers and trainees has become the worst in Air Force history, prompting congressional hearings.

Police jailed Broughton, 28, of Killeen after matching his DNA to that taken from the victim, who was riding her bicycle in the 2700 block of College Row about 12:45 a.m. March 16.

She turned the other way when a man got out of a white truck and walked toward her after it stopped nearby.

“As she as riding off she heard a car door close and then she was grabbed off the bike and forced into the back of the truck,” Staniszewski said.

He said the woman was sexually assaulted in the back seat but was able to unlock the door and run to an EMS vehicle at Interstate 35 and East 12th Street, adding that Broughton implicated Bolen, 23, of Killeen.

Police monitored a call Broughton made from jail to a phone registered to Bolen. During that call, he told Broughton that a suspect had been arrested in the case.

“Bolen states that supposedly another suspect who was driving as a person of interest had been brought in for questioning,” Staniszewski said. “At that point Broughton states, 'Are they talking about you?' at which Bolen replies, 'Yes.'”

Read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/military/article/Fort-Hood-GI-jailed-in-rape-kidnapping-case-4544311.php#ixzz2V6SjqEXh

Lackland trainer accused of having sex with four women

An Air Force boot camp instructor faced an evidentiary hearing Wednesday on charges he had sex with four women, one in a local nightclub restroom.

Staff. Sgt. Michael Wladischkin is accused of pursuing seven women in hopes of having sex. He admitted in a statement to a liaison with an airman in the restroom, but said he couldn't recall who she was because he had been drinking.

The woman, identified as Airman 3 in a charge sheet, testified she kissed him at the club, Cowboys Dancehall, but was so drunk she blacked out.

She said they might have had sex, but she couldn't remember. They later had an intimate relationship that ended after a chance encounter she had with his wife.

“I remember being at Cowboys and drinking quite a bit,” said Airman 3, a mental health technician at a West Texas base. “I can kind of remember getting in a cab when I went home.”

Prosecutors sketched a picture of an NCO out of control, drinking heavily and pursuing female trainees from July 2010 to March 2012. He twice juggled multiple relationships while married, an Air Force document showed.

The evidentiary hearing, the latest in a series of proceedings stemming from the Air Force's worst sex scandal ever, could trigger a trial for Wladischkin, who faces four charges and 14 specifications of misconduct.

So far, 33 instructors at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland have fallen under investigation for misconduct involving 63 recruits and technical school students, all but a handful of them women.

Seven specifications lodged against Wladischkin are for alleged attempts to pursue what the Air Force calls personal, intimate and sexual relationships.

That's a violation of an Air Force rule forbidding instructors from involvement with recruits in basic training and technical school.

But he also is charged with adultery, indecent conduct for having sex in the dancehall restroom, and assault for not complying with the wishes of one woman who set conditions on how they would have sex.

The evidentiary hearing is a first step toward trial and the charges could change. Once the investigating officer, Lt. Col. Kristine Autorino, files a report, an Air Force commander will decide if a court-martial is warranted and what charges to prefer.

Like many other trainers caught up in the scandal, Wladischkin used Facebook and text messaging to strike up friendships.

One woman, Airman 6, said he alarmed her by moving quickly, telling her, “You are beautiful,” early on and later hinting at marriage.

Airman 1 said she met Wladischkin on Facebook, where he sent a photo of himself shirtless. She said they met at a local hotel during a long weekend nearly three years ago and had sex, but the relationship quickly lost steam.

Yet another airman met him at Cowboys and said they had sex once over a three-week relationship. Prosecutors and the defense sparred over when he might have known the woman, identified as Airman 6, who was in technical training.

Airman 3 said there was no question that Wladischkin knew she was a trainee, and that she was aware he was a training instructor. They discussed the issue at the Flying Saucer, a local pub, and met six times, with Wladischkin drinking “quite a bit” whenever they got together.

Like other women who testified, she was unaware Wladischkin was married. One airman said he told an entire recruit flight he was divorced.

Airman 3 said she stopped seeing him in late spring 2011, after they had sex at two hotels. They got back together, but she broke it off for good after a chance encounter with Wladischkin's wife, an NCO who worked in the same medical facility.

“You must know my husband,” his wife said.

“You mean your ex-husband?” Airman 3 replied.

“No, my husband.”

Read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/military/article/Lackland-trainer-accused-of-having-sex-with-four-4539609.php#ixzz2V6S1AiQW

Military sex scandals 'shameful'

President Obama, calling sexual assaults in the armed forces “shameful and disgraceful,” on Thursday backed reforms to limit the authority of commanders to overturn convictions, but he said far more needs to be done.

Pointing to congressional legislation and a review of how other countries handle sexual assaults, the president vowed to “explore every good idea that's out there to fix this problem.”

Obama didn't embrace one of the most contentious proposals, one resisted by the Pentagon — taking away commanders' decision-making authority for deciding when to order courts-martial in sexual misconduct cases.

“The issue of sexual assault in our armed forces undermines that trust. So not only is it a crime, not only is it shameful and disgraceful, but it also is going to make and has made the military less effective than it can be,” he said.

“And as such, it is dangerous to our national security. So this is not a sideshow. This is not sort of a second-order problem that we're experiencing. This goes to the heart and the core of who we are and how effective we're going to be.”

Obama made his comments after discussing the problem with the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The White House meeting came days after the Army said a Fort Hood NCO was under investigation for sexual assault and promoting prostitution. And just last week, the head of the Air Force sexual assault-prevention office was arrested in Arlington, Va., after a woman accused him of groping her.

The revelations, coupled with a sex scandal at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland that has become the worst in Air Force history, have been blasted in congressional hearings and sparked a firestorm indignation in Washington.

“I think he's just responding to the political pressure,” said retired Col. Morris Davis, a Howard University law professor who led the Air Force's judiciary from 2007-08. “This has boiled up and reached the critical point.”

The head of the Joint Chiefs, Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, told reporters before meeting with Obama that sex assaults had become a crisis. He said a rise in rapes, suicides, misconduct and poor discipline were related in some way to a decade of war, the American Forces Press Service reported.

“We're losing the confidence of the women who serve that we can solve this problem,” Dempsey said during a flight from Europe to Washington. “That's a crisis.”

Army Chief of Staff Gen, Ray Odierno sent a message of his own, telling soldiers the service “is failing in its efforts to combat sexual assault and sexual harassment. It is time we take on the fight against sexual assault and sexual harassment as our primary mission.”

Obama struck a similar theme, telling reporters at the White House he wasn't sure “we've incentivized some of our top people to understand this is as core to our mission as anything else. And we've got to reward them, not think of this as a sideline for anything else that they do, but incentivize ambitious folks in the ranks to make sure that they understand this is important.”

The president said Hagel, Dempsey and the chiefs were angry and ashamed. He directed them to head a process to find solutions and ensure accountability for enforcing existing law and effectively training military personnel.

The Washington Post reported that in a brief appearance after the session Obama said sex crimes in the military are dangerous to national security and pledged to work with Congress on legislation to address the issue.

The Sexual Assault Training Oversight and Prevention Act would create an independent office run by civilian and military experts who would review cases. A director would decide when to prosecute, not commanders, as military law has long required.

A chief proponent of the STOP Act, which has languished since it was introduced by Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., in November 2011, said she saw a glimmer of hope in the president's remarks.

“There seems to be momentum,” said Nancy Parrish, founder of the advocacy group Protect Our Defenders. “More members of the House and Senate are taking a stand on the issue. I have begun to let myself be hopeful that some variation of the STOP Act will become law.”

At Fort Hood, the soldier under investigation for sex crimes, Sgt. 1st Class Gregory Mc-Queen, hired veteran defense lawyer Joseph Jordan, a former Army prosecutor in Korea and Fort Hood. McQueen is being investigated for pandering, abusive sexual contact, assault and maltreatment of subordinates.

Jordan, a Killeen attorney who defended a Lackland basic training instructor sent to prison last February for sexual misconduct, said media reports have called his client a sexual assault counselor at Fort Hood when he actually took victims' initial reports.

He expressed concern that the controversy could influence the Army's investigation of McQueen. “The exposure on this issue may cloud some individuals' judgment, and I hope that doesn't happen,” he said.

Read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/military/article/Military-s-sex-scandals-shameful-4523995.php#ixzz2V6PqJ5k3

Suspect in Fort Hood sex scandal identified

A Fort Hood sexual assault prevention coordinator accused of abusive sexual contact and pandering was identified by multiple military sources Wednesday as Sgt. 1st Class Gregory McQueen.

He had little to say when asked if he wished to comment on the allegations, but an aunt said she'd known McQueen, 37, of Dallas his entire life and that he did “good stuff for people.”

“He's a nice person,” said Rose Bolden. “I don't believe those charges.”

Investigators continued their probe but hadn't filed charges against McQueen, who was removed from Fort Hood's Sexual Harassment Assault Response & Prevention program. The Army has not provided details about the allegations.

When asked by a reporter if he was cooperating with authorities, McQueen said, “I have no comment at all,” and hung up. A nephew who did not give his name said he didn't believe the claims, saying, “I can't see him messing up his career like that.”

The investigation is the latest sparked by a series of sexual-assault allegations that have rocked the armed services. The Air Force last week removed Lt. Col. Jeffrey Krusinksi as head of its sexual assault prevention office after a woman accused him of groping her in a parking lot. He'll face trial this summer.

A scandal at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland involving 33 basic training instructors and 63 recruits and technical school students, revealed at the end of 2011, has become the biggest in Air Force history. It's triggered congressional hearings and sweeping changes in the way recruits are trained here.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Wednesday issued orders to retrain, re-credential and rescreen all sexual-assault prevention and response personnel and military recruiters. Pentagon spokesman George Little said Hagel's directive addresses broader concerns that have arisen from the allegations and other recent events.

Sens. Claire McCaskill and AmyKlobuchar filed legislation late Wednesday to require the Pentagon to establish strict new criteria for who can serve in the military's sexual assault prevention offices. Klobuchar, D-Minn., said the legislation “would help make sure sexual-assault prevention personnel are qualified and effective.”

“Now is the time for our military leaders to reevaluate who is being put into these positions,” McCaskill, D-Mo., said. “Are folks filling these jobs who aren't succeeding elsewhere? Or are these jobs being given to our best leaders?”

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, co-sponsor of a measure he said “addresses gaps” in current sexual-assault law and policy, called the latest news “extremely disturbing” and unacceptable.

“To see this issue grow when we should be implementing solutions to eliminate the problem is extremely frustrating, and while some positive steps have been taken, clearly the military has a long way to go,” he said.

Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, said it was “outrageous how sexual assault has permeated our nation's military ranks. The honorable work our men and women in uniform are doing to protect our nation should not be overshadowed by these cowardly acts of assault.”

Read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/military/article/Suspect-in-Fort-Hood-sex-scandal-identified-4520332.php#ixzz2V6OxAqC1

Sexual scandal strikes Fort Hood

Fort Hood is investigating a sexual assault prevention coordinator for a range of offenses including abusive sexual contact and pandering — suggesting he was criminally involved in a prostitution scheme.

Pentagon officials and the Army had little to say about the revelation, which came only a week after the head of the Air Force sexual assault prevention office in Washington was charged with sexual battery. Advocates and a former top civilian leader of the Air Force were speechless.

“I'm flabbergasted, frankly. I'm just flabbergasted,” former Air Force Secretary F. Whitten Peters said. “I can't imagine how in the world the American military, which prides itself (on) and does a very good job of creating very responsible officers and NCOs, can have this happen.”

The Army said the soldier, whom it did not identify but described as a sergeant first class assigned to Fort Hood, was being investigated for pandering, abusive sexual contact, assault and maltreatment of subordinates.

It said the Army's Criminal Investigation Command was looking into the matter, but didn't elaborate about specific allegations.

USA Today reported Tuesday night that the sergeant was being investigated for forcing a subordinate into prostitution and sexually assaulting two others.

The soldier was an equal opportunity adviser and coordinator with the Sexual Harassment/Assault Response and Prevention office for a subordinate battalion with the post's III Corps' command. He was suspended from all duties, but no charges have been filed.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel met Tuesday morning with Army Secretary John McHugh, ordering him “to fully investigate this matter rapidly, to discover the extent of these allegations,” Pentagon spokesman George Little said.

“I cannot convey strongly enough his frustration, anger and disappointment over these troubling allegations and the breakdown in discipline and standards they imply,” Little said.

He declined further comment, and referred a question about the pandering charge to the Army. Officials at Army public affairs in Washington and Fort Hood wouldn't talk, but advocacy groups and one member of Congress said the latest charges showed the military's culture is part of the ongoing problem with sex scandals, one of them involving instructors and trainees in San Antonio.

So far, 33 basic training instructors at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland have been investigated for illicit contact with 63 recruits and technical school students. It is the biggest sex scandal in Air Force history.

“This crisis is out of control,” said Nancy Parrish, founder of Protect Our Defenders, an advocacy group that has pressed Congress to take the prosecution of sexual assaults out of the military chain of command.

“These latest allegations of criminal behavior by yet another sexual assault prevention and response coordinator are appalling, if true, and show the need for fundamental reforms,” Parrish said.

Former Marine Corps Capt. Anu Bhagwati, executive director of Service Women's Action Network, said it was “abundantly clear that the military cannot adequately handle its sexual violence crisis from within. It is a crying shame that senior enlisted leaders and senior officers who have been tasked to prevent and respond to sexual assault and sexual harassment are themselves predators.”

The Air Force removed Lt. Col. Jeffrey Krusinksi as head of its sexual assault prevention office last week after a woman accused him of groping her in a parking lot.

Krusinski's arrest triggered a wave of angry comments in Washington that included a rebuke from President Barack Obama. A Virginia prosecutor said the officer will be tried July 18.

U.S. Rep. Niki Tsongas, D-Mass., called the latest report “utterly abhorrent,” and said it was an understatement that “the military has a cultural problem” with sexual assault and misconduct.

“These alleged actions, in combination with the slew of other recent scandals across the military, serve to undermine any progress the armed forces may have seen in combating its scourge of sexual assault,” she said.

Read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/military/article/Sexual-scandal-strikes-Fort-Hood-4516529.php#ixzz2V6O6q7Vq

Trainer gets a break in Air Force plea deal

An Air Force judge Wednesday gave a disgraced basic training instructor 60 days in jail, a bad-conduct discharge and busted him to the service's lowest rank.

The sentence, however, won't stick. Col. Wesley "Wes" Moore didn't know prosecutors and the defense cut a plea bargain that gave Tech Sgt. Kyle Billiot 45 days in jail and reduced him to senior airman. The deal spared him from a bad-conduct discharge.

The case now goes to Col. William Eger III, commander of the 802nd Mission Support Group at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland.

Military law requires Eger, who's charged with reviewing the sentence, to accept the plea deal or reduce the penalty.

Billiot's “got to uphold the terms of that plea bargain, which were not made public,” said Brent Boller, a spokesman for Joint Base San Antonio. “I don't know what those terms were.”

A 13-year Air Force veteran, Billiot pleaded guilty to having sex with one woman while she was a technical training school student in Texas.

He also is guilty of trying to have sex with two other women also in technical training school.

The trial was the 20th so far in a scandal that has become the worst in Air Force history, ensnaring 33 instructors at Lackland and 63 recruits and technical training school students.

Boller said it was the first time in his memory that a judge's sentence was undercut by a plea bargain.

Prosecutors accused Billiot, a boot camp instructor from August 2009-April 2011, of having sex with a woman identified as Airman 1 while she was in technical training at Sheppard AFB in Wichita Falls. They also had sex during a trip she made to San Antonio.

He never met the other women, but pursued them on Facebook, sending messages as well as lewd photos.

Billiot gave a brief unsworn statement in which he told the judge he joined the Air Force to better himself, and that he'd made bad decisions.

Moore, who presided over a trial last summer that saw a former Lackland instructor get 20 years for raping a recruit under his command, took an hour to settle on a verdict. Under military rules, he was kept in the dark about the plea deal.

“It appeared to me (Billiot) was taken aback a bit when the judge gave the sentence, mildly taken aback, but nevertheless taken aback,” Boller said.

Read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/military/article/Trainer-gets-a-break-in-Air-Force-plea-deal-4500370.php#ixzz2V6NYK3p6