Daniel R. Dewrell Master Sergeant U.S. Air Force Convicted Sex Offender Indecent Acts With A Child

Daniel R. Dewrell

Master Sergeant U.S. Air Force

Convicted Sex Offender

Indecent Acts With A Child

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Name: Daniel R. Dewrell

Case: United States v. Dewrell No. 00-0203 Crim. App. No. 33085

Date Of Appeal: November 8, 2000

Plea: Not Guilty

Charges: Indecent Acts With A Child

Military Branch: U.S. Air Force

Listed In National Sex Offenders Registry? NO

Chief Judge CRAWFORD delivered the opinion of the Court.

Contrary to his pleas, appellant was convicted by a general court-martial composed of officer members of committingan indecent act on A, a female less than 16 years of age, in violation of Article 134, Uniform Code of Military Justice, 10 USC § 934. Appellant was acquitted of raping J, a female less than 16 years of age. While reducing the forfeitures, the convening authority approved the sentence of a dishonorable discharge, 7 years’ confinement, and reduction to the lowest enlisted grade. The Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the findings and sentence. 52 MJ 601 (1999).

Appellant is a 38-year-old, divorced Master Sergeant with almost 19½ years of active service. At the time of the offense, he was assigned to Supreme Headquarters, Allied Powers, Europe (SHAPE) in Belgium. He became a friend of Army Specialist S, who was also assigned to Forces command at SHAPE. Eventually, they began seeing each other and developed an intimate relationship. Specialist S had a 10-year-old daughter, A. Appellant, Specialist S, and A frequently did things together. On one occasion in September or October 1995, Specialist S and A spent the night at appellant’s residence. A slept in the bedroom where appellant’s daughter from a previous marriage slept when she came to visit him. Sometime during the night, appellant went into the bedroom in which A was sleeping. He placed his hands under her shirt and fondled her breasts. He took her hands and placed them on his penis and moved them up and down. Several months later, A told her mother what appellant had done. Specialist S reported the assault to the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (OSI).

While the OSI was investigating the sexual assault upon A, it received information that appellant may have assaulted a babysitter, J, nearly 10 years earlier, during the time he lived in Midwest City, Oklahoma. J stated that she had a sexual relationship with appellant, consisting of heavy petting and oral sex. She also claimed that appellant placed her hand on his penis and masturbated him. When informed by the OSI that these indecent acts could not be prosecuted because of the statute of limitations, J stated that appellant also engaged in sexual intercourse with her sometime between February 1 and April 30, 1988. She was 15 at the time. As a result, appellant was charged with raping J.

At trial, the prosecution also called Army Specialist C. Specialist C was one of appellant’s neighbors in Midwest City. She testified that appellant sexually assaulted her on two occasions. Once while he was working in his garage, he pulled his penis out of his shorts and put her hand on it and made her masturbate him. On another occasion, she went to appellant’s home to borrow a cup of sugar. He took her into the bathroom and made her masturbate him, and rubbed her vagina with his hands. These incidents were also barred from prosecution by the statute of limitations.

The decision of the United States Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals is affirmed.