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Proving that sexual harassment is not confined to civilian employers, an Air Force commander was recently found guilty of two counts of indecent assault involving female employees at a base in Texas.  He was sentenced to 9 years in prison and discharge from the service on a total of 34 criminal counts on July 26, 2008. The sexual assault convictions mean that Col. Lofton must register as a sex offender.

 

According to a Wichita Falls newspaper, a military panel of 7 men and  2 women found Col. Samuel Lofton III guilty of forcing two civilian female employees to kiss him and placing their hands on his genitals. One of the women reported two incidents in 2007, while the other reported two incidents in 2006. Both women worked in the same building as Col. Lofton, although neither reported to him. Col. Lofton was also found guilty of harassing a high-ranking enlisted Air Force member on the phone and making sexually suggestive comments to her at work.

 

Col. Lofton was the former 82^nd Training Group commander at Sheppard Air Force Base. He was acquitted on an additional charge of rape, and two additional sexual assault charges, but was also found guilty of 2 charges of conduct unbecoming an office and a gentleman.

 

Ironically, this entire case began with an investigation into misuse of Col. Lofton’s government travel credit card. He has already pleaded guilty to 17 counts of larceny related to that investigation, as well as being AWOL or Absent Without Leave nearly a dozen times and two counts of dereliction of duty. According to the prosecutor, Col. Lofton has admitted charging more than $26,000 in personal items on his government travel credit card and being reimbursed more than $14,000 for business trips he never took.

 

“[Col. Lofton] had the Air Force at his fingertips, was on his way to the top and was one of the most powerful men at Sheppard Air Force Base,” Captain Jack Montgomery, a prosecutor, told the military jury. “He doesn’t let the rules stand in his way. Once about every other day he faces a simple decision between right and wrong: to swipe the card or not. … It really calls into question his integrity and sense of entitlement.”

 

Altogether, the tall, dashing 49-year-old Col. Lofton faced up to 149 years in prison. He was removed from duty a year ago when the credit card investigation began. Col. Lofton was a 27-year veteran of the Air Force.

 

The jury failed to find Col. Lofton guilty in the rape charge because there was a lack of physical evidence in the case. The panel could not reach the required 2/3 vote to find the office guilty. After hearing the “not guilty” verdict on the rape charge, the victim fled the courtroom in tears.

 

The military prosecutor, Captain Brett Landry, told jurors that all the accusers were credible witnesses. “There is no motivation for these women to have made up these incidents,” Landry stated. “There is no overarching conspiracy to ruin his life by putting him through this.”

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1. Posted by: FubRooppy

   Very nice!!