COUNTERING MILITARY RECRUITMENT
Articles: Military Service: General
Seven California Army National Guard members sentenced for Iraq abuses
Associated Press
October 15, 2005
LOS ANGELES — Seven members of the California Army National Guard
have been sentenced to prison or hard labor for abusing detainees in Iraq.
They were among a dozen members of the 1st Battalion of the 184th
Infantry Regiment who were charged with misconduct, Lt. Col. Robert L.
Whetstone, a Task Force Baghdad spokesman, said Friday.
The alleged abuses mainly involved Iraqis mistakenly identified as
insurgents who were held near Baghdad earlier this year. An electric stun
gun was used on some handcuffed men, including on one man’s testicles,
said a battalion member who spoke to the Los Angeles Times on condition
of anonymity.
None of the men turned out to be insurgents, the soldier said.
The battalion’s commander, Lt. Col. Patrick Frey of Salinas, was
suspended from duty and has been reassigned.
Sgt. Louie David, 25, of Carson, and Sgt. Luis Gomez, 28, of La Habra,
were court-martialed and pleaded guilty to dereliction of duty and
maltreatment of detainees, Whetstone said. They were sentenced to five and
six months in jail, respectively, along with loss of pay and demotion.
Gomez also will receive a bad-conduct discharge, Whetstone said.
The sergeants belonged to Fullerton-based A Company of the battalion.
The Modesto-based battalion is due to return home in February. This year
it suffered 71 injuries and seven soldiers died in combat — the most
killed in action of any California unit in Iraq.
Last month another A Company member, Sgt. David Fimon, 26, of Poway,
was sentenced to 12 months of confinement after pleading guilty to
maltreatment of detainees, conspiracy to commit maltreatment of detainees,
dereliction of duty and obstruction of justice.
He also was sentenced to loss of pay, demotion and given a bad-conduct
discharge.
Four battalion members were court-martialed and sentenced to periods of
hard labor along with reductions in rank, while a fifth was sentenced
only to a loss of rank, Whetstone said.
He declined to identify the soldiers.
Another soldier is scheduled to plead guilty before a court-martial by
the end of the month, and a final case is pending, Whetstone said.
Two soldiers who did not have courts-martial were disciplined by their
superior officers, Whetstone said.
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