A colonel assigned to the U.S. Army Military District of Washington has been sentenced to eight years of confinement after pleading guilty to aggravated sexual abuse of a child and creating and possessing child pornography.
Col. James Laughrey, 51, appeared in military court at Fort McNair, Washington, D.C., Thursday and Friday. He faced four charges, with 19 specifications in all, most of them stemming from actions involving a minor child.
Army Times does not name victims of sexual assault or abuse.
Laughrey pleaded guilty to 10 specifications and asked to be tried by military judge alone, according to information from the Military District of Washington.
The judge accepted Laughrey's plea, and the prosecuting attorneys dismissed the remaining charges and specifications.
In all, Laughrey faced up to 91 years confinement, total forfeiture of pay and allowances and dismissal.
The judge sentenced him to eight years confinement and dismissal from the Army. Laughrey will automatically forfeit all pay and allowances because he was sentenced to more than six months confinement, officials said.
According to the charge sheets against him, Laughrey pleaded guilty to:
• Touching his hands to the genitalia of a child under the age of 16 while in Columbus, Ohio, sometime around June 25-28, 2009.
• Knowingly and wrongfully creating "some amount" of child pornography on a digital camera and then possessing "some amount" of child pornography on a laptop computer.
• Wrongfully taking pictures and video of an unnamed victim whose breast was exposed. This happened near Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, over a two-day period in late January 2010.
• Having sex with a married woman who is not his wife. This happened Feb. 12, 2010, near Carlisle Barracks.
Laughrey is being temporarily housed at the Navy Consolidated Brig Chesapeake in Virginia, which is a regional correctional facility for pre-trial and post-trial prisoners. He is pending a likely move to the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, according to the information provided by MDW.
Michelle Tan is the editor of Army Times and Air Force Times. She has covered the military for Military Times since 2005, and has embedded with U.S. troops in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, Haiti, Gabon and the Horn of Africa.
