‘We have a problem’: Top US Navy SEAL raises alarm amid cases of sexual assault & drug scandals
FILE PHOTO: U.S. Navy SEAL Team 18 members © Reuters / Joe Skipper
The top US Navy SEAL has warned of systemic issues within the force, amid a series of shocking scandals involving the elite outfit. The internal letter was sent out just days before an ex-SEAL pled guilty to molesting a child.
“We have a problem,” Rear Admiral Collin Green wrote to his subordinates – reportedly using boldface type. The memo, leaked to CNN, directed commanders to offer recommendations on how to ensure that the force maintains high ethical standards.
“I don’t know yet if we have a culture problem, I do know that we have a good order and discipline problem that must be addressed immediately,” Green said in the letter, without mentioning specific incidents.
His message could serve as a moment of reckoning for an elite force that has been plagued by repeated allegations of serious misconduct, ranging from sexual assault to war crimes.
Green’s letter – dated July 25 – foreshadowed more unsettling news involving the elite force. Just four days later, a former member of SEAL Team 1 was sentenced to 60 years in prison for child molestation. The defendant, Ex-Petty Officer 1st Class Gregory Kyle Seerden, is already serving a 27-year federal sentence for manufacturing child pornography.
Drugged-up SEALs
While he didn’t get into specifics, it’s likely that Green’s directive was in response to the embarrassing news that an entire platoon of SEALs stationed in Iraq had been recalled to San Diego amid allegations that they were drinking alcohol while on deployment. The platoon was also accused of sexual misconduct.
US Special Operations Command released a statement confirming the recall of Navy SEAL Team 7, citing “a perceived deterioration of good order and discipline within the team during non-operational periods.”
Incredibly, SEAL Team 7’s hijinks in Iraq were preceded by equally troubling news: An internal report released on July 22 found cocaine and alcohol abuse inside SEAL Team 10. The report found that SEAL members repeatedly bypassed military drug tests, which they termed a “joke.”
Murder allegations
The SEALs have also found themselves the subject of a high-profile case involving alleged war crimes. Chief Warfare Operator Edward Gallagher, who was part of the same platoon that was kicked out of Iraq for drinking on the job, was recently acquitted of murder and of attempted murder charges during deployment.
Gallagher was accused of stabbing an Islamic State detainee to death in Iraq after other members of his team had treated the man’s injuries. The SEAL was also accused of premeditated murder and aggravated assault for shooting civilians in Iraq.
Although he was acquitted of the most serious charges, he was convicted on charges of posing with the body of a dead captive IS fighter he was accused of killing. He was released after the judge sentenced him to time served.
Unfortunately, Gallagher isn’t the only SEAL in recent months to face murder charges.
In May, two SEALs were sentenced to one and four years in jail respectively for their role in the death – by strangulation – of Army Green Beret Staff Sgt. Logan Melgar, who was killed during a ‘hazing’ ritual while on deployment in Mali.
Illinois man convicted of livestreaming child sex abuse
gets 33 years in federal prison
Leanne Fuller, WPSDBENTON, IL — A southern Illinois man has been sentenced to a little more than 33 years in federal prison after prosecutors say he livestreamed himself sexually abusing a child.
In a news release, U.S. Attorney Seven Weinhoeft says investigators found more than one video of Varble sexually abusing a child younger than 12. He had livestreamed the abuse as it was happening, and others watched the videos and shared them online.
In the U.S. district court in Benton, Illinois, on Thursday, Judge Staci M. Yandle sentenced Varble to 398 months in federal prison, followed by a lifetime of supervised release. Varble has also been sentenced to 17 years in state prison for abusing the same victim. In the Illinois case, he was convicted of predatory criminal sexual assault of a victim under 13 and aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a victim under 13.
The federal prison sentence will run concurrently with the state sentence.
Aledo, Ill, teacher's child sex abuse trial
continued until October
WGILMark Artcher, the former teacher in Aledo, appeared in court Thursday as the judge allowed a continuance in the 60-year-old’s sexual assault and sexual abuse case.
The Judge also modified Artcher’s bond conditions to allow him to travel out of town for two days to visit family.
The sexual abuse charges allege an “act of sexual conduct” with someone under the age of 13, and the sexual assault charges alleged some form of sexual penetration with a victim under 13.
Since Artcher was charged in April (6th story on link), he’s been released on $10,000 bond.
A condition of that bond is that he check in with court services twice a week, have no contact with minors or going to any schools where minors attend, although he’s allowed supervised contact with his minor child.
Artcher’s pre-trial will now take place Oct. 15.
'Monster' sentenced to 35-50 years in prison for
child sexual assault in Michigan
Liz Shepard, Port Huron Times Herald
St. Clair County Circuit Judge Daniel Kelly told a convicted child rapist (15th story on list) he was a "monster" who doesn't deserve to see the light of day before sentencing him to 35 to 50 years in prison Friday morning.
Reilly, who stayed in a wheelchair until commanded to stand for his sentencing by Kelly, kept his face in his hands while the parents of one of his victims and the judge spoke.
Prior to Kelly's sentence, Reilly said he was sorry for his acts and blamed it on psychiatric medication.
"Why are you sorry?" Kelly asked.
"Because it should have never happened...," Reilly said, followed by Kelly asking what shouldn't have happened. "The sexual misconducts should never have happened."
"You have an explanation for why this happened?" the judge asked. "You performed these acts against an eight-year-old because of your medication, is that all you're telling me?"
"I spiraled down, I don't know where I've had been at for the last year and a half, two years, I can't explain where my mind was directly at," Reilly said.
It was the medication's fault, not his! Good grief! Good call Judge Kelly!
"No one knows where your mind was at, I can guarantee you that," Kelly said, later adding it was the most egregious case he's seen as a judge in 37 years.
Reilly pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct with a child, one count of child sexually abusive activity, second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a child and fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct with a child.
The parents of one of his victims told the judge Reilly had been a friend and even prayed with them.
Convicted child molester who abused girl, 11,
is brutally drowned in Florida prison toilet
Jimmy McCloskey
Convicted pedophile David Oseas Ramirez, left, was drowned in a toilet bowl at his jail on Tuesday.
Murderer Paul Dixon, right, has been charged with the killing
(Pictures: First Coast News/Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office)
A convicted pedophile who molested an 11 year-old girl was brutally drowned in the toilet of his cell by his killer cellmate, police say.
David Oseas Ramirez, 56, was found dead at Duval County Jail in Jacksonville, Florida, on Tuesday morning. Ramirez, who was sentenced to life for child sex abuse in 2013, reportedly exchanged insults with cellmate Paul Dixon, a convicted murderer, before the confrontation became physical.
Dixon, 43, was able to get the upper hand, and is said to have held Ramirez’s head down in the toilet bowl until he died, USA Today reported.
Jail officials have not officially identified Ramirez as the murder victim, but jail records say he was ‘released’ from prison, with the reason given listed as ‘deceased.’
The brutal murder took place at Duval County Jail on Tuesday. It is said to have begun with the men trading insults, before their confrontation turned physical…and deadly (Picture: Google Maps)
Crime analyst Ken Jefferson told Newsweek: ‘When men go to jail accused, convicted of hurting a child, there is no peace in jail. ‘They have to constantly watch over their back. They have to hope they can befriend someone to look out for them. To protect them.’
Both men are believed to have resided on the jail’s upper floor, reserved for the most violent offenders convicted of the most serious crimes.
A third cellmate who witnessed Ramirez’s murder is refusing to cooperate with police.
Dixon has been in jail since the age of 17 after being convicted of murder, and now faces another murder charge. After being arrested over the killing, Dixon refused to speak with investigators and instead demanded an attorney, Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said.
Two arrested in Oregon on separate
child sex abuse charges
By: Madeline Shannon Newport News-Times
LINCOLN COUNTY — Jason Ray Smith, 34, Siletz, was booked in the Lincoln County Jail on July 31 on 20 counts of encouraging child sexual abuse in the first degree, to which he pled not guilty after being lodged in the Lincoln County Jail on $2 million bail.
According to a secret indictment dated July 25, Smith is accused of possessing, accessing or viewing a visual recording of a child in a display of sexual conduct sometime between October 2017 and November 2018. A warrant entry lists the date of the incident of the crime he’s charged with as Nov. 16, 2018.
Smith isn’t the only Lincoln County Jail inmate to be booked this week on child sexual abuse charges. Bret Lee Snyder, 21, was arrested Wednesday by the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office on charges of possessing material displaying sexual conduct of a child, two counts of luring a minor and two counts of encouraging child sexual abuse in the first degree.
According to documents in Snyder’s court case, authorities were notified Snyder was trying to solicit photos of children on social media. Each of the charges levied against Snyder indicates the Depoe Bay resident engaged in each incident sometime in July 2019.
Snyder was booked in the Lincoln County Jail on $350,000 bail, according to the Lincoln County Jail register.
Joplin, MO, man to stand trial on child sexual abuse charge
Jeff Lehr
A 28-year-old Joplin man waived his right to a preliminary hearing Thursday on a charge that he sexually abused a 13-year-old girl.
Guy S. Wilkes waived the hearing in Jasper County Circuit Court on a count of statutory sodomy with a child under 14 years old and was ordered by Associate Judge Joe Hensley to stand trial. The judge set the defendant's initial appearance in a trial division of the court for Oct. 21.
Wilkes was charged with the offense in June after an investigation by Joplin police and the Missouri Department of Social Services.
A probable-cause affidavit states that he entered the bedroom of the girl and touched her in a manner that constitutes sodomy. He purportedly admitted to an investigator that he did so for his own sexual gratification.
Eyota, MN, man to stand trial for child sex abuse
Posted By: Mike Bunge
ROCHESTER, Minn. – An Eyota man is pleading not guilty to child sex charges.
Michael Allen Smith, 36, is accused of 1st and 2nd degree criminal sexual conduct and use of minors in a sexual performance.
He was arrested June 11 after a woman told the Olmsted County Sheriff’s Office she found images on Smith’s computer of him engaging in sex acts with a 12-year-old girl.
A trial is scheduled to begin on January 13, 2020. Smith remains in the Olmsted County Adult Detention Center on $200,000 bond.
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