Expert: Aaron Shifferly - 3/24/2009

Question
QUESTION: some trouble before enlisting has unexpectedly lifted it's head and a warrant issued. Burglary or accessory to. Graduation from OSUT soon.  Orders to Honor Guard training.  what likely discipline will be implemented by the army?

ANSWER: First I need more information to accurately answer this question but, as a Military Police Officer, I will advise you of the following first:
You do not have to speak with me or answer any of my questions should the answer you provide be incriminating to you.
Understand that if you are using a Government computer to send this email that it could be monitored and anything you say here used to assist in any potential prosecution of you.

That being said here are the questions I have:
How certain are you that there is a Warrant for your arrest?
What, exactly, are the charges?
Did you mention this possible trouble to your recruiter?
What is your MOS supposed to be?
Was it alleged that you used a firearm in the course of committing this infraction?

Once I get the answers to all or some of those questions I can more accurately give you an answer. Thanks.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Absolutely certain.
Burglary is all I know.
Yes, but no charges or anything had been made at that time. It was over 6 months ago.
MP
No firearms involved, but some stolen by another party involved.

ANSWER: OK. Here's the best I can do.
You will need to answer the warrant. Burglary is usually a felony and your home state will want you to come back and answer the charges. It's not surprising that your recruiter kept pushing you into the Army because of the lack of charges, but it is good that this was mentioned and you are up front about it.  You can approach this in one of two ways:
1. Go talk to your drill sergeant and tell him the issue.  He may or may not remove you from training immediately, but he will have to report this up the chain of command and I would bet that once your warrant is confirmed, you will be removed from training and possibly escorted to whatever law enforcement agency would be responsible to get you to your own state. (My guess would be the Pulaski County Sheriff's office, if they're interested in doing it.) The Army  has the option of either separating you or allowing the criminal case to proceed and, if you are found not guilty, allowing your service to continue. It would be automatic separation if you were convicted.  This choice will likely be made with more facts in hand, such as how long it would take to resolve your issues through the court system.
2. The second option would be to ask your drill sergeant to make you an appointment at Legal Assistance and sit down with an attorney to discuss this issue.  They can then give you more detailed legal guidance in a confidential setting.  I recommend this option as a starting point to get your options on the table in a confidential setting.  Bring all information you have to the meeting, and remember that attorney - client privilege applies, so you shouldn't be too concerned with giving all the information to the attorney.
Timing is of the essence in either case because your home state may already be contacting the Army to secure your return to face the charges.

As for possible punishment: The most likely course of action would be for the Army to simply separate you from service without delay to allow you to get your life in order.  There may be some waiting period before you are allowed to re-join, but that would be a moot point if you are convicted of burglary; especially since your MOS is 31B.  The problem is that you are required to have a security clearance as an MP and this will appear as derogatory information when they do the records check.  You may be denied the clearance and forced to reclass to some MOS that doesn't require a clearance.  

The bottom line is that you will have to deal with this and it will be much easier if you are proactive rather than waiting for your chain of command to find out about it.  I would not expect that you would be given any type of administrative punishment, such as Art 15 or so, but that also depends on how forthright you were on all your paperwork and with the Army.   

I am sorry I can't give you more information, but I highly recommend that you visit Legal Assistance ASAP.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: I've also been told (by the recruiting ofc) not to say anything until he graduates and then "take care of it" while at home for hrap. I'm the mother, and won't be able to talk to him until possibly tomorrow night when he calls. Do you reccomend acting on this now with through the chain of command rather than addressing it with the D.A. when he gets here?

Answer
Ma'am:
The recruiter honestly does not have your son's best interest at heart there.  Unless he graduated in under a week, he may not have time to 'just take care of it' later.  I assume you're dealing with a felony warrant here, and that means that his home state will want him back sooner rather than later to get it.  Secondly, unless you hire an attorney to work for his interest with the DA before he gets there, he will be arrested when he shows up.. that's not going to go well with the Army.  I would advise you to talk to him tomorrow and do a two pronged approach.. consult an attorney in your local area to ascertain the precise nature of the charges and level of interest that the local authorities have in your son. Secondly, tell him to get to the legal assistance office anyways and discuss this with a qualified attorney. Keep in mind that he does NOT have to reveal the topic of conversation he wants to discuss with the attorney to his drill sergeant, just that he has an urgent matter to speak to an attorney about.  

I highly recommend action on this issue sooner as this will likely NOT get better with time or by ignoring it.