Marine guilty of adultery with widow of 3 weeks

[thedrifter]

Marine guilty of adultery with widow of 3 weeks

SAN DIEGO: A married gunnery sergeant yesterday pleaded guilty to adultery after having sex with the widow of a fellow Marine who had died in Afghanistan three weeks before.

A panel of two officers and six enlisted Marines sentenced Stephen Kuehler, 30, a recruiter in suburban St. Louis, to 90 days in prison during a court-martial at Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego. The trial was held at the base because it is the regional headquarters for St. Louis-based recruiters.

Kuehler had recruited Pfc. Michael Patton when Patton was in high school. Patton joined the Marine Corps shortly after graduating in spring 2007. He finished boot camp in San Diego that summer and married his high school sweetheart, Amy.

Patton deployed with his unit to Afghanistan last April. He and three other Marines were killed June 14 when a roadside bomb blew up their Humvee.

Amy Patton testified yesterday about a sexual encounter with Kuehler on July 4 after she drank half a beer, a few sips of wine and some tequila.

Patton said the alcohol made her drunk because of a prescription antidepressant she was taking.

In August, Amy Patton said, she told her mother about the encounter and reported it to the Marine Corps. About the same time, Kuehler confessed his indiscretion to his wife and chain of command. He has continued to work for the recruiting district, though not with potential recruits, said his supervisor, Sgt. Maj. Anthony Banks. –S.L.


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Marine sentenced in San Diego for adultery
9:28 AM, January 14, 2009

A married Marine gunnery sergeant was sentenced Tuesday to 90 days in the brig after pleading guilty to committing adultery by having sex with the widow of a Marine killed three weeks earlier in Afghanistan.

Gunnery Sgt. Stephen Kuehler, a recruiter in St. Louis, admitted having sex with the widow of Pvt. Michael Patton. Kuehler had recruited Patton into the Marine Corps. After Patton, 19, was killed in June by a roadside bomb, Kuehler attended his funeral in Fenton, Mo., and befriended his widow, Amy.

A Marine prosecutor, Capt. Tyler Hart, told a jury of two officers and six enlisted personnel at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego that Kuehler had “betrayed the trust of a fellow Marine.” Under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, adultery is considered “conduct prejudicial to good order and discipline.”

Along with confinement, Kuehler was ordered reduced in rank to staff sergeant and will not be allowed to reenlist.

“The professional character of our recruiters, exhibiting our core values of honor, courage and commitment, must continue to earn the trust and respect of the public,” said Marine spokesman Maj. Christopher Logan. “... We are committed to holding our Marines accountable.”

--Tony Perry

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Marine jailed for sex with recruit's widow
Published: Jan. 14, 2009 at 3:55 PM

SAN DIEGO, Jan. 14 (UPI) -- A U.S. Marine sergeant has pleaded guilty to adultery and received a 90-day sentence for having sex with the widow of a young man he had recruited.


Stephen Kuehler, 30, a recruiter in St. Louis, was court-martialed Tuesday in San Diego, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported. The base there regional headquarters for recruiters in St. Louis.

Amy Patton testified that Kuehler got in touch with her after her husband, Michael Patton, was killed in Afghanistan last year, less than a year after their marriage. Patton joined the Marines in 2007 immediately after his high school graduation.

"He was very helpful," she testified. "I considered him kind of a big-brother type."

The sex occurred at Patton's house after she had drunk tequila on top of a prescription anti-depressant.

David Ahn, Kuehler's lawyer, said that his client made a "mistake" while he, like Amy Patton, was grieving over Patton's death. But Capt. Tyler Hart, the prosecutor, said that he was guilty of an act of betrayal.

"Most of all he betrayed the trust of a fellow Marine," Hart said.

Ellie