Captain Billy Crosby pleaded guilty to conduct unbecoming an officer and consummate battery assault, according to a trial summary provided to Stars and Stripes. A third charge of abusive sexual contact was dropped. (LinkedIn)
A US Army officer who put his head between a soldier’s breasts during his promotion to Jordan has been sentenced by court-martial on two related counts, documents provided by the service show on Wednesday.
Captain Billy Crosby pleaded guilty to conduct unbecoming an officer and consummate battery assault, according to a trial summary provided to Stars and Stripes. A third charge of abusive sexual contact was dropped.
Crosby was sentenced to 30 days in custody, according to a plea agreement signed in November.
The plea deal did not result in any fines, rank reductions or reprimands for Crosby, who was not required to register as a sex offender.
The military released the court documents after an image of the findings surfaced on Reddit recently, along with speculation about what happened.
“(Captain) Crosby’s behavior was inconsistent with Army values,” Maj. Jessica Rovero, spokeswoman for 1st Theater Support Command, said in a statement.
“Several soldiers immediately reported the behavior and Crosby pleaded guilty at trial,” the statement added. “Throughout the court martial, all parties were treated with dignity and respect.”
Crosby served as a company commander in the Louisiana National Guard and as a senior officer at an austere base in Jordan as part of US efforts to fight Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, court documents show.
After Crosby discovered that a soldier under his command was going to be promoted to sergeant, he twice announced in front of a witness that he would “motorboat” her during his promotion ceremony, according to court documents.
The term “power boating” refers to placing your head between someone’s breasts and moving your face from side to side.
Promotion ceremonies, especially to sergeant, are a major event in many careers. Sometimes they include a light rank punch to the chest of a newly promoted service member by peers or loved ones.
However, the future sergeant declined Crosby’s offer to hold a promotion ceremony, the documents show.
After the rejection, Crosby entered the sergeant’s workplace last May and ordered the soldier to stand. He placed his new rank in front of his chest, bent down to grab the rank with his teeth and put his face in his chest without his consent, according to court documents.
A witness said the captain expressed a long-term interest in the soldier and said he “liked to look at” his chest before the assault, according to evidence given in court.
Crosby’s defense attorneys said the prosecution was trying to use gossip to paint the captain as a “creepy old man”.
A military judge denied the defense’s request for a witness, a retired first sergeant, to testify to the captain’s good sense of humor in difficult circumstances while deployed to Panama in 1989.
Crosby has served his prison sentence. He retired from the Louisiana National Guard on March 31, Crosby told the Stars and Stripes on Wednesday.
“I’ve been charged with way more than I’ve done and pleaded guilty for what I’ve done,” Crosby said.
Jordan hosts about 3,000 US troops, according to a recent Congressional Research Service report.
