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U.S. Army via Reuters
Brigadier General Jeffrey Sinclair, a U.S. Army general facing charges of forcible sodomy and engaging in inappropriate relationships stemming from allegations that got him sent home from Afghanistan this year, is seen in this handout photo received September 26, 2012.
Updated at 12:39 p.m. ET: FORT BRAGG, N.C. -- A former subordinate to an Army general facing sex crimes charges testified Tuesday that the general started an affair with her in Iraq and later threatened to kill her and her family if she told anyone.
The woman said she was honored at first by the attention from Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Sinclair, who she said was highly regarded. They first had sex in 2008 at a forward operating base in Iraq, she said.
"I was extremely intimidated by him. Everybody in the brigade spoke about him like he was a god," she said. NBC News and The Associated Press do not identify victims of alleged sexual assaults.
Now a captain, she testified on the second day of a military hearing at Fort Bragg on whether there was enough evidence to court-martial Sinclair on charges including forcible sodomy, wrongful sexual conduct and engaging in inappropriate relationships.
It is a rare criminal case against a general and the details from the hearing are the first public narrative of the alleged offenses that prosecutors say involved a total of five women: four of them military subordinates and one a civilian.
The Fort Bragg-based general is accused of 26 violations of military law including forcible sodomy, wrongful sexual conduct, possessing pornography while deployed and conduct unbecoming of an officer.
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Prosecutors said the alleged sexual contacts took place in Afghanistan, Iraq and Germany, as well as at military bases in the United States. Sinclair was sent home in May from Afghanistan, where he had served as a deputy commander for support, officials said.
During testimony on Tuesday, Sinclair repeatedly rolled his eyes, sighed audibly and stared at his former aide from the defense table. She did not look at him.
The captain testified that she believed Sinclair's threats because he had gone through special forces training, knew how to kill with his hands and had a reputation as a killer in battle.
Sinclair was deputy commander in charge of logistics and support for the 82nd Airborne Division in Afghanistan before being abruptly relieved in May amid a criminal probe. He has been on special assignment since then at Fort Bragg, the sprawling post that is home to the 82nd Airborne.
Sinclair's former commanding officer, Maj. Gen. James Huggins, testified Monday that he launched the criminal investigation that led to the charges after the female captain told him Sinclair forced her to have sex.
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Huggins said that on March 19, the captain came to his office late at night in tears. She reported that she had been involved in a three-year sexual affair with Sinclair, then her direct commander and a married man. Adultery is a crime under the military code of justice.
According to Huggins, the captain said Sinclair had once forced her to perform oral sex on him, but that she also had sex willingly with her boss at Army bases in the United States and on deployments to Germany, Iraq and at the airborne division's headquarters in Afghanistan.
When she had tried to end the affair, Sinclair had threatened her and persisted in pushing for sex, according to Huggins' testimony. But she also told Huggins she finally decided to report Sinclair after finding emails exchanged with other women in his account.
The captain testified that Sinclair could be cold and demeaning to her and other women in the brigade, calling some of the other women degrading names.
She testified she told him he shouldn't talk about female officers that way.
"He said, 'He was a general and he could say whatever the (expletive) he wanted," she testified.
She said Sinclair was extremely controlling, even telling her when and where she could use the bathroom.
She described two instances where he forced her to perform oral sex. Prosecutors asked if he would have been able to determine that she did not want to participate and she responded: "Yes, I was crying."
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
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Leave a Comment:
As a former Marine I say they should court martial this sh1tbird for those nasty cammies he is wearing in the photograph. He looks like an old fart version of private pile!
Hey marine, ar you kidding me. You are concerned with his cammos. I guess the marines did give you back your brain yet.
Don't be a jackwagon simman.
Iknowthisisfunandallbutreally:
Thanks for the Rap!! Rap IS poetry of the 21st Century!! SING IT LOUD AND PROUD...nuff said from the NOT so old fart!!!
Lol, You should be thanking Sir-Mix-A-Lot for that particular rap. It came out in the early 90's.
They are gong to "Determine" if he should face a Court Martial????? It's a NO Brainer. Damned right he should face a Court Martial and then be thrown out of the service and imprisoned for Twenty years with no Parole, and Forfeit of ALL pay and pension. Dirty @#$%$%#!#$%@##@#$. EVERYONE should watch this and make sure this Pervert doesn't get off lightly. Damned PIG. No wonder we can't win that war after eleven years with Pigs like this leading the troops.
Man...he even looks like a creeper
Unfortunately this isn't just a problem in the military. I have fought off advances the last 24 years of my life in the workforce. With age comes wisdom and the ability to handle the situation. I lost my first job at 16 because the manager of the department said I was a distraction to the men in our department and other departments. I was the only female in my department and did my job well. The guys in the department would come to my work station and talk to me instead of working. If I was wiser I would have sued but I apologised and found another after school job.
Sorry lady that you have been harassed, but military life is TOTALLY different than the civilian world and so is the justice, or lack there of.
Air Force Veteran
You know, if you are constantly facing sexual harassment on your jobs - and note the plural of job - you need to look at the common denominator. You. I'm not trying to 'blame the victim'. I work in a predominately male field and am attractive and intelligent. It isn't that difficult to make it clear to even boneheaded narcissists that work is work.
Suze, I said when I was 16 years old. I am 40 and yes work is work and I too work in a predominately male field. I learned a lot from my early experiences in the work place especially how to not be harassed. Geesh I would say you have some serious issues insinuating that me as the common denominator cause men to flirt and be inappropriate.
Here is the problem if you do not understand the military. The general above him will try and protect him and his retirement. That is the way the Army is. Officers take care of their own. Likek a situation I know of were the officer was found guilty of illegally firing a civilian worker but yet his command is fighting it. The Army wants to say that Officers have so much integrity. That is bull. He should go to jail but he won't.
If this GENERAL has done whats being claimed, what a sick filthy pervert, THROW THE BOOK AT HIM! Goodness he sure is one UGLY thing, force is the ONLY way this guy would get the average woman .............yeeeeeeeeeeeeek
He's an officer and a genital.
The reality of this is he will probably not receive the punishment he deserves. In our legal system today it appears the accused can pick and choose the evidence against them, often finding/using loop holes/glitches in the system/laws to suppress the most damaging evidence.
Hasta la vista general. And hopefully hasta la vista to any pension.
You got em... Smoke em Boys!
Well at least he wasn't gay....
(You know somebodies thinking that )
I would bet my life savings, all I have now too to a penny, that this general is a republican and a right winger. In addition, he will vote for Romney. This is Romney type people..
It is obvious he is a good fighter, that is why he has reached or earned the rank of general. However, what he thinks of other people is what is important. Note.. Romeny and the 47%. They don't let their feelings out in public, that is not on purpose. That is why Romnet talked the 47% behind closed doors, and the snake who is a general took advantage of his position to force his ugly a z z right wing self on others.
Court martial and jail time, and hope Bubba pays him back on the sodomy bit..
Lock him up...and get these women some help...that dude is a FUGLY MO FO!
Absolute power corrupts absolutely. The man has brought shame on his country, his fellow soldiers and his fellow citizens. I do hope that the DOJ brings it down hard and I hope that if there are any others in the ranks who are exhibiting the same kind of behavior that it sends a hard, clear message. My heart breaks for the soldiers who had to endure his violence.
Until the Military makes a Harsh example of one these predators with rank and I mean Dishonorable Discharge and loss of all benefits and heavy prison time instead of forcing them to retire with lucrative benefits this will never change. Sometimes it takes a hanging to get powerful peoples attention.
well i hope this never happens anywhere else in our society,because there would be all kinds of sexual rape going on secretly. the truth reveals itself in God's time and in mysterious ways.
Well it appears by this discussion he is guilty...no need to further the investigation.
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned...is he guilty? Who knows! The main woman discussed in the article stated she had a 3 year relationship with him...3 years? I think he was a philanderer and his wife probably knew, how could you not? Sure there are men out there that abuse their power, but there are also women out there that are drawn to men in power.
Based on the article it seems there is a lot of she said stuff...I'm curious to see any actual evidence.
@Bobby:
Great minds think alike! :-)
[NOTE: See my post below . . . ]
The thinking here in the sound isolation studio is that there is more--or perhaps less, depending on one's perspective--to this than meets the eye, really . . .
Really! :-o
That's what happens when you allow openly gay men in the Military.
Send him to jail ASAP
The Army Times a a *little* bit more of the story, it's still basically the same, but it says...
When the woman came to Huggins, she told him she hoped for a long-term relationship with Sinclair, but found emails of Sinclair’s indicating he was involved with other women and that he was not ending his marriage.
I go back to my other post...is he guilty...of being a cheating dbag, yes, but apparently he wasn't the only one.
We hope the outcome of the trial is truth.
I want to he have a trial fair.
That their judges are their victims, it is the right thing.
And if he is acquitted, in the future could be a candidate.
[SOURCE: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/11/06/14961775-general-accused-of-forcing-his-soldiers-into-sex-with-him ]
[SOURCE: "The Mourning Bride" (1697) by William Congreve ]
The way it works at the dawn of the early-21st century is that it begins by allowing single heterosexuals into the military, and if this practice is not stopped, then the so-called "domino effect" soon will result in our great nation having a heterosexual military, and we know what that entails, really . . .
Really! :-o
our scumbag senators , represenatives and president can do things similar to this and get by with it, but the military does seem to take a very dim view of this kind of crime, maybe he will be found guilty and get the full term.
His defense is simple: think Bill Clinton