Police: Airman faked stillborn-twins report to return home

The Virginian-Pilot online ^ | March 27, 2003 | Associated Press

[petitfour]

NEWPORT NEWS -- A Langley Air Force Base airman was charged with filing a false report that his wife had given birth to stillborn twins so he could return home from the Middle East. Madaka Newberne, 21, told his military command that he needed to go home to be with his wife, Frankie, 20. He arrived at his Newport News home Monday. The next day, the couple contacted police to report that their twins had died.

[new cruelty]

so you're saying he did it all for the nookie?

[SMEDLEYBUTLER]

Astute commanders require Red Cross confirmation that something like this has happened. This puke belongs in jail but if his CO got snookered he belongs in jail as well.

[MinuteGal]

From the last name, sounds like it may be a home-grown convert to Islam who took a new first name. Absence of any photo generally indicates the guy isn't Swedish.

Leni

[Zavien Doombringer]

no, but it could be a motive...other than he was scared, and ran in cowardice!

I am from VA, and the Virginian Pilot is my paper
I will keep looking for the story

[SMEDLEYBUTLER]

http://www.dailypress.com/news/yahoo/dp-76226sy0mar27.story

NN pair filed fake report, police say They believe airman lied to escape duty

By Keith Rushing
Daily Press

March 27 2003

NEWPORT NEWS -- Madaka Newberne wanted to come home from the Middle East.

The 21-year-old Langley airman told his military command that his wife, Frankie, 20, had just given birth to stillborn twins and he needed to be with her.

The husband arrived at his Pointer Circle home in Newport News on Monday.

The next day, the couple contacted police to report that their twins had died. A police spokesman said he didn't know why the couple notified police.

Having been notified about a possible death, police launched an investigation, which is a routine practice, said Lou Thurston, spokesman. But the police concluded that the couple's claim was not true.

The couple was unable to tell investigators where the babies were born, which doctor had delivered them, and where their bodies were, Thurston said.

Police learned later that the wife hadn't been pregnant at all.

Officers arrested Newberne and charged him with filing a false report. Police charged the couple with obstructing justice, saying they wouldn't cooperate with investigators.

Frankie Newberne was released on a $4,000 bond, according to the Newport News Sheriff's Office. Madaka Newberne was released Wednesday on a $2,000 bond.

The wife told WAVY-TV 10 Wednesday that she made up the story and that her husband didn't have anything to do with it. She wouldn't explain why.

No one answered the door at the couple's apartment Wednesday afternoon.

It wasn't clear Wednesday if police would turn over the case to military investigators. Thurston said it isn't unusual to do that when a suspect is in the military.

But, he said, police would likely pursue the charges involving Frankie Newberne, who is a civilian.

Langley Staff Sgt. Steve Teel said Newberne was deployed to the Middle East on Feb. 25 to participate in the war with Iraq. Teel wouldn't say exactly where Newberne was before he came home.

Tech Sgt. Mark Getsy, a Langley spokesman, said if the case is turned over, the Air Force legal department would make a decision about how to proceed.

Getsy said the Red Cross generally verifies information about deaths of service members' relatives - when they are deployed overseas - before they are allowed to return to the United States.

Getsy wouldn't discuss the specifics of the Newberne case or whether details were verified before he came home.

Newberne is an airman first class and firefighter at Langley. He began active duty with the Air Force in January 2001 and was stationed at Langley in August 2001.

WAVY-TV 10 contributed to this report.

Keith Rushing can be reached at 247-7870 or by e-mail at krushing@dailypress.com

Copyright © 2003, Daily Press

[Sloth]

A police spokesman said he didn't know why the couple notified police.

ROTFL

[petitfour]

There's a picture of the guy at this link:

http://www.wavy.com/Global/story.asp?S=1199762

[cardinal4]

It seems that stupidity played a large part in this....

[TADSLOS]

Astute commanders require Red Cross confirmation that something like this has happened. This puke belongs in jail but if his CO got snookered he belongs in jail as well

Not only that but to be placed in emergency leave status requires Red Cross verification. In addition, the airman was most probably using military space-A in a Category I status (emergency leave) which also requires documentation. There's more to this story that's not being reported IMO. If the commander allowed the airman to just go home in a normal duty status based soley on his account, then he should be relieved and held pecuniary liable for the USAF's transportation costs to send him home.

[MomwithHope]

Madaka - South African
Do a Google search on Madaka
The Madaka Game Ranch is just outside Johannesburg

[GovernmentShrinker]

We shouldn't rush to judgement here. It's entirely possible, as per the wife's claim, that SHE made up the story and convinced her far-off husband it was true, in order to get him home. Nothing in the report contradicts this possibility, so let's not hang the guy just yet, okay?

Frankly, I find it a little scary that the military doesn't have an easy way of verifying tales like this BEFORE the serviceperson in question is sent home. I mean, doesn't the wife have medical benefits through her husband's employment?

[Zavien Doombringer]

Being a servicemember, she had to go to the base hospital, then, if she has the benefit to a private civilian doctor, she can go to...however if there was an emergency or death in the family the hospital has a Red Cross Chapter, the Red-Cross has paperwork to get the GI back home. I live right here in Hamptonroads, I know all the hopsitals cater to military.

[RosieCotton]

The Madaka Game Ranch is just outside Johannesburg

Thanks! Ya learn something every day!

[SMEDLEYBUTLER]

Madaka Newberne

Frankie Newberne

[TADSLOS]

Frankly, I find it a little scary that the military doesn't have an easy way of verifying tales like this BEFORE the serviceperson in question is sent home. I mean, doesn't the wife have medical benefits through her husband's employment?

They do have. It's called the American Red Cross. The airman gets word from his wife who tells his NCO, who tells the CO, who contacts the Red Cross on his end and who gets a Red Cross confirmation via the wife's medical doctor that the event happened. Same thing goes with dying, deceased relatives. It's standard policy and practice. As a servicemember you just don't get on a plane and go home if there's a real or percieved emergency and commanding officers have a responsibility to account for their people.

[petitfour]

There was also an anti-apartheid activist named Topsy Madaka who was killed in 1982. Just around the time this airman would have been born. (I did the google search, too.) I learned that from an African National Congress website.

[sit-rep]

figures...

[jiggyboy]

Looks pretty clear to me. The only thing that might help to get the husband out of hot water is being at Langley within the last nine months.

If he shipped out in February, that's only a month to be away from a woman who supposedly is at least five months pregnant at the time, which is the minimum to have a baby that has a chance to survive a birth a month later.

Even so, he's gonna have to do a pretty good tap-dance to explain how he "just assumed" that the wife been to the doctor, what, three or four times these days?, in the time since the "pregnancy" was "confirmed".

[CholeraJoe]

Something isn't right here. In situations like this, the USAF normally has the Red Cross verify that there is indeed an emergency.

[pepsionice]

I have seen several cases where wives did stupid things like this...begging the guy to get out of the TDY early....hinting that she might have to find another man to make her happy...etc. The wife never gets into any trouble...its always the husband. And these guys are just plain stupid. They believe the wife and her story. We had a case in Gulf War I where a wife at Bitburg sent her hubby a video...which he and his buddies were playing...and in the midst of it was a tryst between her and a friend in the office who remained behind at the base. The hubby spent an entire day trying to contact her...only to find out that she had moved out and taken all of his money. You never read about stories like this...kind of the bad side of being in the military.