Chaplain accused of sex crimes resigns

[unhappycamper]

Chaplain accused of sex crimes resigns
By Nancy Montgomery, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Monday, April 7, 2008

HEIDELBERG, Germany — A V Corps chaplain accused of sex crimes and assault has been allowed to resign his commission rather than face a court-martial.

Capt. Anthony C. Mastromarino was allowed to “resign for the good of the service in lieu of court-martial,” officials said. “He is leaving the service,” said V Corps spokeswoman Hilde Patton.

Such resignations, which normally conclude with a less than honorable discharge, are a way for authorities to deal with cases that are deemed troublesome to prosecute, experts said, for a variety of reasons.

Mastromarino was charged in January with several crimes that prosecutors said he committed against a male soldier in Vilseck last June: forcible sodomy, indecent assault, indecent exposure and fraternization. He was also charged with twice threatening and assaulting a woman — in 2005 at Fort Campbell, Ky., and in January in Heidelberg. He also was charged with assaulting a military policeman called to the January incident.

Mastromarino had been assigned as a chaplain with the 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment, Patton said. By August, a criminal investigation was under way, and he was assigned to V Corps’ Headquarters and Headquarters Company, she said.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=53889



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