Former soldier sentenced to 30 years in prison for sexual abuse of young children on military bases including Joint Base Lewis-McChord

Raped two children under the age of 12

Tacoma – A 40-year-old former soldier was sentenced Thursday, June 8, 2023, to thirty years in prison for raping two young children, announced U.S. Attorney Nick Brown. Lewis Patrick Thompson was arrested in July 2020 and pleaded guilty in October 2022. U.S. District Judge Robert J. Bryan ordered Thompson to be on lifetime supervised release following the prison term.

According to records filed in the case, the sexual assaults on the young children occurred on military bases overseas and in the U.S. The assaults occurred when Thompson was serving as a caregiver for the children.

The children disclosed the abuse to trusted adults when they were 11 years old. Both the Army Criminal Investigation Division (CID) and the FBI moved quickly to investigate the matter. Thompson has been incarcerated at the Federal Detention Center at SeaTac, Washington since the arrest.

At a future hearing, Judge Bryan will determine the amount of restitution Thompson must pay to the victims for the counseling and care they require due to the abuse.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Matt Hampton.

 

DOD Implements New Changes to Sexual Assault Response

By Army Sgt. 1st Class Tyrone C. Marshall Jr.

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, April 2, 2012 – The Defense Department has refined new methods to aid sexual assault victims whether reporting a crime or seeking assistance as they transition from service, the director of the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office said here March 30.

“We have several new options for victims of sexual assault,” said Air Force Maj. Gen. Mary Kay Hertog. “First, if you’ve been a victim of sexual assault in the military you now have the option of requesting an expedited transfer. We signed that into effect in December.”

“If you find it untenable or unbearable in the organization that you’re at … you can request to be transferred,” she added.

Hertog said a service member’s local commander has 72 hours to respond to the request for transfer, and if denied there is an option to take it to the first flag or general officer in the chain of command who also has 72 hours to respond.

“We also have a new document retention initiative,” she said. “We heard loud and clear from our veterans that present themselves at the [Department of Veterans Affairs] years later that there was no documentation that they had ever been sexually assaulted [during] their military service.”

The issue arose, Hertog said, because varying standards of retention had existed among all of the services but has since been resolved.

“We now have one standard of retention so those individuals that file unrestricted reports will have their documents retained for 50 years,” she said.

“And those that file restricted reports will have their documents retained for five years,” Hertog said. “And of course our victims of sexual assault who file restricted reports have that option to convert over to unrestricted reports at any time and then we will retain their documents for that 50-year period.”

The director also discussed other innovations such as expanding legal assistance to encourage victims to participate in the military justice system “in order to hold that perpetrator accountable.”

And as of January, DOD civilians and contractors deployed abroad, and military dependents over 18 years old are now eligible to access sexual assault response services, Hertog said.

Hertog noted other changes implemented include new training for investigators of sexual assault crimes within the services.

“Some of our new training initiatives concern our investigators such as our [Naval Criminal Investigative Service] agents, Air Force [Office of Special Investigations], and Army [Criminal Investigation Division],” she said. “We think we have found the gold standard course … to send many of the agents to, to build a sexual assault subject expertise cadre of our agents to get them very familiar with these cases.”

Hertog said training frequency will increase, more seats will be offered and the training has expanded to include Judge Advocate Generals “because these are some of the toughest cases to investigate as well as prosecute.”

Perhaps the most useful option has been established for about a year, Hertog noted.

“You have the option of contacting our DOD Safe helpline,” she said. “We stood up a 24/7 crisis hotline -- it’s operated by RAINN, the Rape Abuse and Incest National Network -- who have been trained by us so they’re very familiar with military terminology.”

“If you don’t want to go through your chain of command you can contact them and they will tell you where your nearest rape crisis center is in your community outside your installation gates,” Hertog said.

Hertog said the hotline has been “extremely successful” with about 30,000 unique visits to the site and about 2,500 referrals for counseling services.

She emphasized the Defense Department’s commitment to “eradicating” sexual assault in the military “from the Secretary [of Defense] on down.

“We have to eliminate this problem from our ranks,” Hertog added. “The American public gives us what’s most dear to them and that’s their sons and daughters. And they trust us that we’re going to take care of them [which] is a commander’s job.”

Interviewing Sexually Motivated Offenders

Editor's Note: Given the DOD's recent announcements regarding sexual assaults committed against servicemembers, this information is likely useful to military CID personnel.

On April 17, 2009, Conversations with Heroes at the Watering Hole will explore interviewing sexually motivated offenders with author, expert and retired police detective Don Howell.

Program Date: April 17, 2009
Program Time: 2100 hours, Pacific
Topic: Interviewing Sexually Motivated Offenders
Listen Live:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/LawEnforcement/2009/04/18/Interviewing-Sexually-Motivated-Offenders

About the Guests
Detective Don Howell, Huntington Beach Police Department (ret.) “graduated with honors with a degree in Police Science and Administration. He spent 25 years as a police officer for two different agencies in Southern California cities. As a detective for more than 15 years, he specialized in the investigation of sexual assaults and child abuse. Don Howell is a court certified expert in these areas and is a highly sought after consultant to agencies on complex cases. As a consultant to the California Commission on Peace Officers’ Standards and training (P.O.S.T.), Don was considered to be one of the best in his field and was selected to assist in making a teleconference course on rape investigations.” Detective Don Howell is the author of Interviewing Sexually Motivated Offenders and Interviewing Sex Crime Victims.

According to the book description of Interviewing Sexually Motivated Offenders, “Sex offenders are the most fascinating criminals law enforcement deals with. Taking the mystery out of interviewing them isn't difficult. Replacing the complex psychological definitions with a working understanding of how sex offenders think and act is the key to improving your interviewing skills. Combine this with the five trademarks of the actual interview and you have a new interviewing strategy that will increase your confession rate. This is not magic. Instead it approaches interviewing the sex offender from a different direction or perspective, to allow you to identify the offender's behavior and use it to your advantage.”

About the Watering Hole
The Watering Hole is police slang for a location cops go off-duty to blow off steam and talk about work and life. Sometimes funny; sometimes serious; but, always interesting.

About the Host
Lieutenant Raymond E. Foster was a sworn member of the Los Angeles Police Department for 24 years. He retired in 2003 at the rank of Lieutenant. He holds a bachelor’s from the Union Institute and University in Criminal Justice Management and a Master’s Degree in Public Financial Management from California State University, Fullerton; and, has completed his doctoral course work. Raymond E. Foster has been a part-time lecturer at California State University, Fullerton and Fresno; and is currently a Criminal Justice Department chair, faculty advisor and lecturer with the Union Institute and University. He has experience teaching upper division courses in Law Enforcement, public policy, Law Enforcement Technology and leadership. Raymond is an experienced author who has published numerous articles in a wide range of venues including magazines such as Government Technology, Mobile Government, Airborne Law Enforcement Magazine, and Police One. He has appeared on the History Channel and radio programs in the United States and Europe as subject matter expert in technological applications in Law Enforcement.

Listen, call, join us at the Watering Hole:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/LawEnforcement/2009/04/18/Interviewing-Sexually-Motivated-Offenders

Program Contact Information
Lieutenant Raymond E. Foster, LAPD (ret.), MPA
editor@police-writers.com
909.599.7530

Fiscal 2007 Sexual Assault In The Military And 2006 Gender Relations Survey Results Released

The Defense Department today released two reports: the Department of Defense Fiscal Year 2007 Report on Sexual Assault in the Military and the 2006 Workplace and Gender Relations Survey of Active Duty Members.

The Report on Sexual Assault, prepared by the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office (SAPRO), provides an overview of the SAPR program and data on alleged sexual assaults reported during fiscal 2007. In fiscal 2007, 2,688 reports of sexual assault involving service members as subject and/or victim were filed.

Restricted reporting, which provides a victim with support services without initiating the criminal investigation process and preserves the victim's anonymity, continues to be a crucial option for service members. Some research had found that victims may choose to forego services rather than participate in the investigative process. Of the 2,688 reports made, 705 were under the restricted program. In 102 of these cases, victims later decided to pursue legal charges and switched their report to unrestricted.

The report indicates that the services placed a high priority on training. Comprehensive programs were developed and delivered in methods ranging from traditional, in-person training to more innovative, automated methods delivered on compact disc or the Internet. All of the military services continued to build education and training programs designed to foster a climate of confidence.

The Gender Relations survey, conducted by the Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC), was based on a sample of 23,595 respondents and found that 34 percent of active duty women and 6 percent of active duty men indicated experiencing sexual harassment, while 6.8 percent of women and 1.8 percent of men indicated experiencing unwanted sexual contact.

Active duty members gave positive marks for improvement in Department of Defense sexual misconduct training and climate. About 90 percent indicated they received training in the previous year on topics related to sexual harassment and sexual assault and that their training was effective. More than 80 percent reported the Department's sexual harassment and sexual assault policies and procedures were well publicized. Overall, they were more positive in their assessment of the climate in the military than they were of the climate in the nation in regards to sexual harassment and sexual assault.

As a result of the survey and annual report, SAPRO and DMDC will partner along with other organizations within and outside of the Department of Defense to evaluate the effectiveness of past and present reporting efforts, identify enhanced prevention opportunities and strategies, and continue to monitor victim services.