NCO pleads guilty to 19 charges at general court martial

  • Published
  • By 341st Missile Wing Staff Judge Advocate Office personnel
A general court-martial was held here Jan. 7-8, in the case of United States v. Staff Sergeant Jonathan I. Harpole. Sergeant Harpole, a member of the 341st Maintenance Operations Squadron, was charged with three specifications of conspiracy to commit larceny, one specification of making a false official statement, two specifications of larceny, 11 specifications of obtaining loans by false pretenses, one specification of dishonorably failing to maintain sufficient funds and two specifications of obstructing justice.

At trial, Sergeant Harpole elected to be tried by a judge alone rather than by members and he pled guilty to all offenses alleged except for the specification relating to the dishonorable failure to maintain sufficient funds in his checking account. The military judge, Lt. Col. Don M. Christensen, accepted Sergeant Harpole's guilty pleas regarding 19 of the 20 specifications alleged, and found him not guilty of the remaining offense of dishonorably failing to maintain sufficient funds.

The majority of the crimes of which Sergeant Harpole was found guilty relate to a loan fraud scheme he perpetrated against 11 military members and the theft of money using a government purchase card. With respect to the loan fraud scheme, Sergeant Harpole admitted lying to co-workers in order to solicit money from them. According to trial counsel on the case, Capt. Aaron P. Roberts, "Sergeant Harpole made up stories about illnesses and financial hardships in his family which were calculated to elicit sympathy from his victims. He then abused the goodwill of numerous co-workers, convincing them to take out thousands of dollars in loans on his behalf." In total, Sergeant Harpole fraudulently obtained more than $53,000 from fellow military members. Much of this money has not yet been paid back. Sergeant Harpole said he used the money to pay off gambling debts he accrued at local casinos.

The conspiracy and larceny offenses committed by Sergeant Harpole also involved fraud. Sergeant Harpole conspired with employees of a sporting goods store located on 10th Avenue South, in order to steal money from the government. They did so by making false invoices, charging thousands of dollars to Sergeant Harpole's government purchase card while providing the government with only a small amount of goods and then splitting the profit between the members of the conspiracy.

During the sentencing phase of the trial, both the defense and prosecution presented evidence and argument for Colonel Christensen to consider in determining an appropriate sentence. Following several hours of deliberation, Colonel Christensen sentenced Sergeant Harpole to 18 months in confinement, a bad-conduct discharge and a reduction in rank to airman basic. Sergeant Harpole now has the opportunity to submit requests for clemency to Maj. Gen. Roger W. Burg, the general court-martial convening authority, who will initially review the case.

"Sergeant Harpole wasn't taken to court and punished because he had a gambling problem, but because of the way he took advantage of the Air Force and his fellow Airmen in order to pay down his debt," Captain Roberts said. "While gambling addiction isn't discussed much at Malmstrom, I hope this case serves as a motivator for anyone struggling with gambling or debt to seek help from the many services available to them."