Petty Officer Convicted of Sex with Recruit, Lying to Coast Guard Investigators

CAPE MAY — Coast Guard Petty Officer Second Class Francesco Thompson, a company commander of recruits in boot camp here, pled guilty Sept. 23 to charges of having a consensual sexual relationship with a recruit, lying to investigators, encouraging a former recruit to lie to investigators and maltreatment of another recruit.
Thompson had been charged with violating 14 punitive Articles of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. He entered the Coast Guard in 1998 and served as a company commander for three years.
After charges were brought forward, Thompson was removed as a company commander and transferred to the LORAN Unit in Diamond Beach.
The judge in Thompson’s special court martial, Commander Catherine Weathers, sentenced him to 110 days confinement during which time his pay will be reduced by two-thirds. His rank will be reduced to E1, the Coast Guard’s lowest rank, and he will receive a bad conduct discharge. If he had not participated in a pre-trial agreement, he faced five months confinement.
The Navy provided a team of two defense lawyers and two prosecution lawyers since the Coast Guard does not have a standing court. While Thompson pled guilty to a number of charges, he pled innocent to a charge of cruelty and maltreatment of another female recruit.
He admitted having sex with a female recruit beginning in December 2008 including two instances on the base, once in a classroom in Healey Hall and once in his office. In addition, he said the female recruit left the training center on Christmas Day as part of Operation Fireside and convinced her hosts to take her to Thompson’s house where they again had sex. She was still in basic training at the time.
Thompson was charged with having sexual relations with the recruit in a Coast Guard controlled workplace.
Judge Weathers reminded Thompson the behavior is prohibited by Coast Guard regulations. She said personal romantic relationships with recruits and graduates of the training center are prohibited.
Thompson told the judge he planned to pursue a relationship with the recruit after she graduated and he “justified” the activity in his mind. He said other company commanders on base had married former recruits.
Thompson said he was aware officers could not date recruits until 12 months after their graduation. He said he continued to date the recruit following her January graduation.
Thompson was also accused by another female recruit of making inappropriate sexual remarks.
Weathers said he lied to Coast Guard investigators telling them he did not speak with the recruit two days before Christmas.
“I panicked, I didn’t know what else to say,” said Thompson.
He was also charged with obstructing justice by inducing another female recruit, with whom he had sexual relations, to lie to investigators about their relationship. He broke off an engagement with the recruit one month before starting a sexual relationship with another female recruit.
Thompson signed a pre-trial agreement, which limited the amount of punishment. He contested a charge of cruelty-maltreatment brought by another female recruit.
She took the stand during the court martial. It involved basic training practices known as Incentive Training (IT) in which a recruit is ordered to do a number of push ups, crunches, squats or sit ups or other activities as punishment. The recruit said Thompson ordered her to “make love to the wall.”
She said the IT was also called “Spiderman” which involved a recruit standing with legs spread with knees touching a wall with one foot off the floor with both arms raised in the air until it caused pain.
Drill Master Nicholas Hernandez testified he told her to stop doing it when he saw her standing on the quarterdeck in that position. He said he did not use the term “make love to the wall,” when he ordered recruits to do that particular IT.
Hernandez said he learned it from Thompson and never saw it ordered in any other company.
The recruit said Thompson took a particular interest in her asking her personal questions and calling her “Sugar Spice,” after saying she looked like one of the members of the British pop group, the Spice Girls. She said she found a photo of the Spice Girls above her bed and Thompson told her to write on it “Goodnight Sugar Spice.”
Weathers said giving nicknames to recruits was outside standard operating procedures.
The recruit said Thompson asked her if British Soccer Star David Beckham “was her type.” Thompson bears a resemblance to Beckham.
The recruit said Thompson’s behavior made her uncomfortable. She said he pulled her aside and told her since she was good looking, she should be careful when she received her first assignment because men “would be calling dibs on her,” and she should be careful “not to become morale gear.”
Lead Defense Attorney Lt. Brandie Orton noted the recruit had a close friendship with the second female recruit with whom Thompson had a sexual relationship and did not mention the “Spiderman incident to investigators until February.
The second recruit was removed from officer training school when her relationship with Thompson was brought to light. In testimony, she said she was excited when she realized Thompson “liked her.” She said the relationship moved onto a “boyfriend-girlfriend,” sexual relationship.
The recruit said she learned of the investigation when she was pulled out of class at officer’s training school and questioned by Coast Guard investigators. She said she was very upset when Thompson hung up on her in February and said he should not talk to her.
The recruit said she still had feelings for Thompson.
Orton said the recruit has since time been ordered to end an inappropriate relationship with an ensign at her new location.
Two officers testified to Thompson’s good character when they served with him in California during the early part of this decade.
Thompson offered a statement before the judge deliberated. He said he was not in a “right state of mind,” after breaking up with the first recruit in November 2008.
“Never in a million years would I think I would do this,” he said.
Thompson said he wrongly justified the sexual relationship in his mind.
Prosecution lawyer Kismet Wunder said Thompson used his position as company commander to “degrade, humiliate and embarrass those under his charge.”
Wunder noted Thompson instructed recruits about avoiding inappropriate relationships. He said Thompson put “own needs above the Coast Guard” and lied to investigators. The investigators sat silently in the courtroom during the court martial.
Wunder said the incidents affected the image of the training center. He said parents who send their kids to the training center do not want them subject to maltreatment and “inappropriate relationships in dark classrooms in the middle of the night.”
Defense Attorney, Lt. Mark DeVry, of JAG Corps, U.S. Navy, complained the proceedings were open to the press and questioned why commanders were “hanging around outside with witnesses.”
“I think it is a love story,” said DeVry.
He said the incidents were consensual and the recruit was 23 years old with a college degree. DeVry said the two had a “genuine relationship.”
“She showed a proclivity to pursue relationships in the Coast Guard,” he said.
He said Thompson placed no pressure on the recruit or made any promises of a better Coast Guard career.
DeVry said the charges were not of the variety that deserved jail time or a bad discharge. He said in civilian life, having a sexual relationship with a coworker did not put a person in jail.
Wunder countered it was not a love story for the recruit who never received an apology from Thompson.
Thompson has the right to appeal the decision.
Following sentencing, Thompson was driven away in an SUV to a military brig in Norfolk, Va.
Capt. Cari Thomas, Commanding Officer, Coast Guard Training Center Cape May, said Thompson’s behavior was inconsistent with the Coast Guard’s core values of honor, respect and devotion to duty and Training Center Cape May’s watchwords of character, courage and commitment.
“It violates our service’s Guardian Ethos which calls for all Coast Guard members to protect, defend and save the public and each other,” she said.
Thomas said the training center takes all allegations of misconduct seriously.
“We have a strict set of guidelines for the conduct of recruit training and we will thoroughly investigate any alleged infraction of these protocols. Recruit training is our primary mission and we take that very seriously. This incident, although the isolated acts of one individual, resulted in a review of our protocols, selection, training and supervision.”