Posted on 08/22/2009 2:59:27 PM PDT by Prodigal Son
The U.S. Special Forces soldier who fled after being convicted in a court-martial of kidnapping, forcible sodomy and aggravated sexual assault has turned himself in to military authorities.
Sgt. 1st Class Kelly A. Stewart, 36, surrendered at the military police station at Patch Barracks in Stuttgart, Germany, at 10 p.m. Friday, according to Master Sgt. Gary Cryder, the provost sergeant for U.S. Army Garrison Stuttgart.
Stewart was then escorted by military police from Stuttgart to the Army confinement facility on Coleman Barracks in Mannheim. He arrived at Mannheim at 7:45 a.m. Saturday, according to Cryder.
Cryder, who was not present when Stewart surrendered, said Stewart first called investigators and told them he was turning himself in. He said he did not know when Stewart called.
A manhunt began Thursday morning after Stewart failed to show for the sentencing phase of his trial in Vilseck, Germany. A court-martial panel had found him guilty late Wednesday of the charges stemming from an August 2008 incident involving a German woman.
A soldier who was sharing an on-post hotel room with the convicted soldier told the court Thursday that he awoke around 7:30 a.m. and found Stewart was missing along with his Class A uniform, wallet, two cell phones and a rental car. Police located the vehicle Friday morning near the Panzer Kaserne family housing in Stuttgart.
Stewart was sentenced Thursday to eight years in prison, given a dishonorable discharge and reduced to the rank of E-1.
During the court-martial he was found not guilty of rape, abusive sexual contact and communicating a threat. He could have faced a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Special Forces soldier escapes from Vilseck hotel after kidnapping, assault conviction- August 20
Vehicle found, but fugitive soldier still on the run in Germany (Update on Special Forces soldier) August 21
That is good news.
My husband worked at Patch Barracks for eight years. It was where we learned how much the military loathed bill clinton and where we introduced to Rush who was on Armed Forces Radio at midnight...we lay awake at night just to hear his ideas for one very important hour.
End of the line for Special Forces soldier Kelly Stewart.
I included a lot of people on the ping- I’m sure I missed some people and probably pinged some that didn’t want it.
At any rate, it is the end of the story.
Thanks for all the comments on the other two threads- was interesting.
Yep, all the way around, it’s probably the best thing.
It’s especially good since his return will allow him to proceed with an appeal. If he had continued to remain on the run, he would have run the risk of waiving his opportunity to appeal.
so what was he convicted of? He was found not guilty of the rape
Thanks. I hope he appeals.
I wonder why he ran.
I find it difficult to believe he would have been caught if he had decided to keep going.
who was found guilty of multiple charges including kidnapping, forcible sodomy and aggravated sexual assault of a woman in an August 2008 incidentI have to admit the first article is a bit confusing. At the start of the article it states the above and later it says:
During the court-martial, he was found not guilty of rape, abusive sexual contact and communicating a threat.
From what I gather from that he was charged with an array of offenses. He was found not guilty of rape but guilty of the other things. The thing he ran out on Thursday was actually his sentencing hearing. He was supposed to go from his hotel room in Vilseck to that (from what I can gather) but he absconded. It seems like they went ahead with the sentencing anyway and that's where he got the 8 years.
At least, this is what I have made out of all this.
sounds like he got railroaded
but since he’s married and has a kid he shoulda kept it in his pants.
sounds like he got railroaded
but since he’s married and has a kid he shoulda kept it in his pants.
The first article had 2 people state that they thought he was suicidal. Maybe he had second thoughts. Maybe he spoke with his wife. We'll probably never know.
I find it difficult to believe he would have been caught if he had decided to keep going.
Since his mother is German, I agree with that. They may have family or friends in Germany.
Personally, I agree.
I think there’s a whole angle to this thing that didn’t get mentioned in the other threads and it’s the fact that he speaks perfect German. From my own experience when I was stationed in Germany I found it was a HUGE advantage to be able to speak German when trying to pick up women. Most of them spoke English fairly well but if you spoke German you could mix in circles that you would not have speaking only English. A lot of doors opened up (pun intended) so to speak.
My personal feeling is she was maybe enamoured with him initially because he speaks German and can probably immerse fairly well in German culture. He didn’t have on his wedding ring. She may have thought he was single.
The sex was probably rough. That’s as far in that direction as I’d like to speculate. But it seems that she could have escaped if she wanted and she left him her phone number afterwards. She admits her original idea had been to go to ‘her place’ and have a shag but they wound up at his hotel.
Maybe he left her feeling like he had used her and treated her with a lot of disrespect physically. Maybe she was willing to overlook that initially pending whether she could see him again or not? Maybe after she found out he was married she talked with friends and they advised her to press charges?
Lot of speculation. I don’t think it’s as cut and dry as ‘he raped her’. Unless the woman can explain why she gave him her phone number afterwards and didn’t try to escape when she had a chance and waited so long to press charges.
Ach well... It’s over now. He’ll do his time. The worst case is he’ll be out by the time he’s my age. My age isn’t the worst thing in the world. If he spends his time studying or perhaps writing he may be able to sell a book when he gets out.
At the end of they day- you’re right. He should have honored his marriage vows. He wouldn’t be in this fix if he had simply done that.
I saw more than one guy get screwed like this while in the military. Some deserved it, some didn’t. Usually it was a series of bad decisions that opened the door to the screws.
Good.
Thanks for the threads
Awwwww.
I find these two statements puzzling.
Thanx for he ping.
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