Army News, news from Iraq, - Army Times

Ex-colonel sentenced in paternity case

CARLISLE, Pa. — A former Army colonel who was convicted of arranging for a classmate at the Army War College to take a paternity test in his place was sentenced Dec. 30 to serve a minimum of four months in jail.

Scott M. Carlson, 53, a top Army petroleum operations officer who retired just weeks before his conviction, was sentenced in Cumberland County Court to serve four to 23 months and pay a $500 fine. The sentencing was based on two felony conspiracy convictions for tampering with public records or information and attempted theft by deception.

When Judge Edgar B. Bayley asked if he wished to say anything before the sentencing, Carlson, dressed in a dark gray suit, only said, “I respectfully decline, your honor.”

After the judge read his sentence, Carlson was handcuffed and led into a holding cell in the courthouse. He was later escorted out of the building and into a police van. He declined requests for comment from reporters gathered outside.

Carlson’s attorney, Dennis E. Boyle, said he intends to appeal the sentence. Carlson’s bail was set at $75,000. Cumberland County Prison officials said Carlson was in custody until Friday, when he was released on bail.

Boyle described the sentencing as “excessive.”

“The standard in Pennsylvania is probation for nonviolent offenders,” he said. “We’ll be filing an appeal in the matter. We think there are significant errors in the trial itself. We’ll be moving for a new trial and judgment of acquittal.”

Boyle also said he was surprised at the bail amount. Bail was previously set at $10,000.

“If you receive a sentence of two years or less, you’re entitled to the same bail amount — the defendant shall have the same right to bail as before a verdict,” Boyle said. “That’s what I was expecting.”

Judge Bayley said the crime “struck the heart” of the government’s responsibility to seek child support.

A jury in September convicted Carlson on charges related to arranging for a classmate at the college, Col. Bruce S. Adkins, to submit a DNA sample and thumbprint to the county’s domestic relations office so he could avoid paying court-ordered child support to a former enlisted woman with whom he had an affair. Adkins, 47, cooperated with investigators and is scheduled to stand trial Jan. 20.

Contacted by Army Times after Carlson’s sentencing, the woman who sued him for child support said she is “fine with everything.” The woman asked that her name be withheld to protect the identity of their daughter, who is now 10.

“I am a little disappointed he didn’t offer an apology or anything,” she said. “But that just doesn’t seem to be a concern of his at this point.”

Satisfied prosecution

Both married, the woman and Carlson had an affair in 1997 while she was still in the service. Both were assigned to the 240th Quartermaster Battalion at Fort Lee, Va., where he was a major and the battalion executive officer, and she was a specialist.

Derek R. Clepper, a senior assistant district attorney and the special counsel to the Cumberland County Domestic Relations Office who helped prosecute the case, said he was pleased by the judge’s decision.

“We’re very happy,” he said. “This is the top of the standard range and that’s what we were hoping for. He could have gotten probation. We were worried about that.”

Richard K. Betts, the director of the domestic relations office, agreed.

“We had a similar circumstance, a paternity case, a couple of years ago where two people, civilians in the area, tried the same thing and got the same sentence, so it’s good to see justice administered equally.”

Cumberland County District Attorney David J. Freed said it was a “fair sentence.”

“I’m pleased that Judge Bayley recognized the serious nature of the crime and that it did, in fact, merit some jail time,” he said.

When asked about the prospect of an appeal, Freed said, “We don’t win any case of any import that doesn’t get appealed. We’re confident that having prevailed in the pretrial motions, having prevailed in front of a jury, that there are no legitimate appeal issues.”

Boyle didn’t elaborate on what he said were errors in the trial. But he had argued that Carlson shouldn’t be incarcerated because he had no prior criminal record and led a life of honorable service to his country.

In a sentencing memorandum filed Dec. 23 with the DA’s office, Boyle describes Carlson as a “highly decorated war veteran who spent about one-third of his military career in the Middle East.”

The document chronicles Carlson’s rise through the ranks as a “strategic planner who wrote many support plans for Iraq and Afghanistan” and includes numerous excerpts of positive performance evaluations.

In the late 1990s, then-Maj. Carlson was the executive officer of a “select, 600 soldier, petroleum operating battalion,” according to the memorandum.

“Absolutely superb performance of duty by this world class officer,” the battalion commander wrote in Carlson’s rating, according to the document. “Major Carlson is a rare, gifted individual who can bring structure and function to any organization. … He sets the standard for battalion executive officers. An impact player who consistently demonstrated a level of competency far superior to his contemporaries. … This is one of the Army’s finest officers!”

In 2001, Carlson was promoted to joint petroleum officer, a role in which “he oversaw plans, policies and procedures for executing all petroleum-related operations in support of the Global War on Terrorism and Operations Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom and Noble Eagle,” according to the memorandum.

Freed, the district attorney, said, “basic human decency requires that you support a life that you bring into this world.”

“The focus of the domestic relations office is … to make sure that these children get the support that they’re entitled to by law,” he said. “That’s what this case is all about. The mother of this child wanted an increase in her support. She filed for it and that’s what led to all of this. Had Scott Carlson just agreed to that increase that he was legally bound to pay, none of this would have happened.

“I find it very interesting that in all of this, in all that’s been said in Scott Carlson’s good works, never has there been one mention of the child that he didn’t want to pay for,” Freed said.

Greg Abeln, the attorney representing Adkins, said he hopes to get his client’s charges reduced, if not dismissed.

“I’m going to put forth a passionate request for leniency based upon what Adkins did and what he’s gone through so far,” he said.

In a 2007 interview with investigators, Adkins said he suffered a stroke while studying at the war college. A reservist, Adkins’ retirement is pending the outcome of the case, Abeln said.

“He’s suffered medically,” he said. “He’s been deemed unfit for service. A medical discharge is probably what he’s going to get. But if he’s convicted of a felony, I think they can take his pension away.”

Carlson, an active-duty soldier, was allowed to retire as a lieutenant colonel on July 31, 2008, despite incurring a two-year active-duty service obligation after graduating the war college in 2007.

The Army’s media relations division in the Office of the Chief of Public Affairs could not be reached for comment about Carlson’s sentencing.