Corps boots 5 staff sergeants in sex case

www.utsandiego.com/news/2013/jun/01/camp-pendleton-adultery-court-martial/?st



Adultery, fraternization charges at Camp Pendleton courts martial a career ender

Corps boots 5 staff sergeants in sex case
Gretel C. Kovachnoon
June 1, 2013

As the armed forces put the spotlight on sexual misconduct in their ranks, the Marine Corps is kicking five senior non-commissioned officers from Camp Pendleton out of the military because of accusations of adultery and fraternization with a female lance corporal.

The staff sergeants dismissively called "The Fab Five" by some on base say they have been falsely accused by the woman, who is not being named because she has not been charged with a crime. They say they are unable to receive a fair trial, even in front of a jury of fellow Marines, because of undue "command influence" from their commanding general and pressure to eradicate sexual misconduct.

According to court documents, the woman was in the process of being separated from the Marine Corps for drug use and was in intensive outpatient treatment for suicidal depression before the allegations came to light. Other Marines reported last March that she was sexually involved with several men she worked with in Communications Company, Combat Logistics Regiment 17, 1st Marine Logistics Group.

The woman had reported being raped by her Marine recruiter and abused on other occasions before she joined the military in 2010. After the command began investigating her relationships in the company, she tried to commit suicide again, by cutting her arm with a kitchen knife in the Camp Pendleton barracks, according to court documents.