A former US Navy lieutenant commander convicted in connection with a sex trafficking ring in Bahrain has had his sentence partly overturned by a US military appeals court.
Lt Cdr Jospeh Nelson was among more than a dozen sailors stationed in Bahrain between 2017 and 2018 who were investigated and some later charged for housing Thai prostitutes in an apartment in Juffair, offering them to customers and making a profit.
As part of the ongoing investigation, Mr Nelson in May 2019 was convicted by a general court-martial at Naval Support Activity Naples, Italy and his sentence was approved, including forfeiture of $7,596 pay per month for four months, and a dismissal.
Appeal documents by the US Navy-Marine Corps Trial Judiciary dated February 8 were seen by the GDN which states the former Bahrain resident was convicted of unauthorised absence terminated by apprehension, conduct unbecoming an officer, and patronising prostitutes.
However, all the above charges were dropped in the latest case development and he was only charged with conduct unbecoming, according to new appeals court documents.
Chief Judge Monahan delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Senior Judge Stephens and Judge Deerwester joined.
“During his time there (in Bahrain), he patronised and eventually befriended several Thai prostitutes,” the judges stated in the latest documents.
“When these women sought to escape their negative living situations, they moved in with the appellant and lived in his government-funded housing at various times over the course of several months.
“In exchange for not paying rent, the women cooked and cleaned for him.”
The judges explained the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) special agents interviewed Mr Nelson in 2018 for two hours as part of a prostitution and sex trafficking investigation in Bahrain.
“They did not warn him that he was also suspected of failing to report the prostitution and sex trafficking-related misconduct of other service members,” stated the court documents.
“Throughout the interview, the agents downplayed the gravity of the appellant’s personal misconduct and indicated they were more interested in using his information against other service members involved in sex trafficking.”
Following the interview, NCIS searched the appellant’s Juffair resident and found evidence that Thai prostitutes were living with him.
“Months later, in May 2018, NCIS again searched his residence and found evidence, to include a Thai woman hiding behind a bedroom door, that the appellant was still cohabiting with prostitutes.”
The document added that the Navy officer was sent back to New York later, and regularly communicated with his chain of command, but later was absent from work prompting his seniors to declare him a deserter.
The dossier reveals he was arrested in July 2018 by the US Marshals Service at his New York City apartment and detained at the US Army Garrison Fort Hamilton, New York.
Mr Nelson told officers that he had already fulfilled his obligation and was no longer in an active duty status.
The investigator (identified as ‘India’ in court documents) told him he needed to take up that matter with his unit.
He pleaded not guilty to all charges but was convicted and sentenced on May 10, 2019, at a general court-martial convened at Naval Support Activity Naples, Italy, and Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia.
Favourable
“Even viewed in the light most favourable to the prosecution, we conclude that the evidence fails to establish that appellant’s conduct was unbecoming, independent of whether it amounted to false official statement,” added the court documents.
“It would not be hard to imagine how his conduct would have been unbecoming if the appellant’s statement to Inv. India (lead investigator) was both official and made with the intent to deceive.
“But if we remove consideration of whether the appellant’s conduct amounted to the offence of false official statement, in our view, no readily identifiable service custom or standard of conduct remains to sustain his conviction.”
The GDN previously reported that US Navy prosecutors identified a key NCIS informant since 2014, who also worked as a prostitute, Lin Raiwest from Thailand, who is designated under the code name MEBJ-1580 in court records.
She allegedly ran the racket with the help of US sailors in Bahrain and flew in girls from Thailand as part of the operation.
The series of sex crime investigations since 2017 prompted three US Senators in August to urge the US Navy to work with Bahraini authorities to combat human trafficking.
NCIS officials also warned last year that sensitive information about US Navy operations including ship movements in Bahrain was allegedly being collected by prostitutes.
There are more than 8,500 military members and their dependents in Bahrain.
sandy@gdn.com.bh
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