He was quietly court-martialed and acquitted. Poppe says there was no connection between the two cases. List of Delta Force members - Wikipedia If he didnt have a knife, he would be toting around, like Rambo, some bow-and-arrow-type shit.. Then the shooter then winds up dead on the military base, basically gets assassinated. This is why people don't have any faith in the justice system, Ciolino continued. William Billy Lavigne II, whose violent life and cryptic death in the woods outside of Fort Bragg I wrote about for Rolling Stone last year. Over the course of 18 months between 2020 and 2021, more than 80 military members stationed at the base died from "sudden" and. Some were deployed, others reassigned, or otherwise bureaucratically reshuffled. He was a great dude. Vallejo says the sex was consensual and was acquitted of all charges arising from the incident in a June 2018 court-martial on Fort Bragg. Like Gallagher, Anayat was an ordinary Tier 2 special operator, of whom there are as many as 10,000. She felt the implication was clear: Obviously youre a liar.. Once out of uniform, Scanlon began to meet advocates, lawyers, and people knowledgeable about sexual assault in the military. Soldier and veteran found dead at Fort Bragg were BOTH 'being Someone might easily have connected the rape case to the unexplained shooting of a Green Beret by a fellow Special Forces soldier three months earlier. He would also self medicate with Valium. Erin Scanlon wants to go on the record again so that her alleged attacker is identified as Delta Force. A review of his uniform and decorations shows he was likely assigned to. Finally, on June 25, 2018, the court-martial convened: United States v. Sergeant First Class Cristobal Vallejo. Court documents state that Dumas broke into an apartment in Walkertown with the intent to terrorize and injure an occupant of the building, on April 11, 2020. In February 2019, Lavigne had another brush with the law. There is no screw driver here, that is enough to go DEFCON 4 on this. Later that day, a city fire inspector went to the property and found multiple storage buildings in disrepair, surrounded by junked vehicles, barbecue grills, piles of wooden pallets, tiki torches, and other combustible materials. Subsequently, the Army swapped out her SVC four separate times. A spokesman for the Army Criminal Investigation Command said the investigation continues into the deaths of Master Sgt. Delta Force member found dead at Ft. Bragg training site had a dark past. The third was a superficial grazing wound across the left side of his neck, the bullet arching at a 45-degree downward angle, the bullet passing from back to front. A spokesman for USASOC tells me that no transcript of the audio recordings of the trial proceedings was ever typed up because Vallejo was acquitted, so there was no possibility of an appeal. It didnt necessarily mean they didnt believe me. Unfortunately, her experience with the military-justice system greatly set back her career, and would overshadow her whole time in the Army. They belonged to members of the Coast x Coast motorcycle club, made up of active-duty soldiers on Delta Force, a classified manhunting unit that is the Army component of JSOC. They avoid social media, and their traces on the internet tend to be very few: an old photo with mom, a defunct phone number, a real-estate deed. The latter was for firing shots at a guy outside a crack house on Enloe Street in Fayetteville, a very serious offense, but Lavigne was not prosecuted for any of these crimes. She said she tried to get them to stop using narcotics. Shortly after she and Tina arrived at Macs the night of the fundraiser, Scanlon recognized the Coast x Coast clubs logo from a Facebook photo of her old ROTC mentor, the ex-Delta soldier, which made her implicitly trust Vallejo and his crew, she recalls. She still didnt know that Vallejo was an active-duty soldier, much less that he was on Delta Force. They convened a weird meeting, Scanlon says, with her and the district attorney, Billy West, whose office declined to comment on this case or on Lavignes record of arrests. From the perspective of the Armys image-conscious leadership, the failure on the part of the press to catch wind of Vallejos court-martial was a lucky break. Master Sergeant. Leshikar's family allege evidence was tampered with and that Lavigne called another Delta Force Operator to come to the scene Credit: Facebook. She has photos to prove that she knew them. Lavigne and Sgt. There are recordings somewhere, Scanlon says. A nonprofit associated with the club, the Coast x Coast Foundation, raises money through annual cross-country motorcycle rides to honor fallen special operators. More than she questions Vallejos acquittal or the jurys decision, Scanlon simply wants to know what happened at the court-martial. He had a dudes brains on his boot, she says, and he just flicked it off, as if completely unfazed. I knew I would never find out what really happened that night, that her son had been killed. After speaking with a chaplain, she met with her units SARC, or sexual-assault response coordinator, who took her to meet with agents from the bases Criminal Investigation Division. Anything other than you saying yes or asking for it is not consent, her friend replied. Christine Booyer, without a court order. Scanlon agonized over what to do next. During this time, and the months to come, Scanlon was represented by an SVC, or special-victims counsel, a military-appointed attorney. The detective told me, This guys active-duty, she recalls. The Army couldnt give Scanlon a transcript because no transcript ever existed. During a stretch of Janes military career, her social and professional circle overlapped with the five men, who made up the core of the motorcycle club, all active-duty soldiers on Delta Force. Only afterwards did I realize I didnt stand a chance.. Since he was tried by the military, a branch of the federal government, the double-jeopardy clause of the U.S. Constitution would not bar the state from prosecuting him all over again. Death. It had been, in retrospect, a dark period in her life, she says, a damaging, booze-soaked run of years in her twenties. An Army memorandum states that Lavigne first alleged that Leshikar had killed himself, but then changed his account of what happened. And when it comes to courts-martial for whatever crime where the accused is a Navy SEAL or Green Beret, they can be more full of anomalies and surprises than a cheap legal thriller. According to a source who spoke to SOFREP on the condition of anonymity, Army investigators discovered that the truck belonged to 37-year-old William J. Lavigne II, an Army Master Sergeant. Green Beret gunned down by his best friend, a Delta Operator Thats a significant omission, because Scanlons case is also a signal example of another systemic issue in the military: the entitled attitudes and hard-partying lifestyles of some elite soldiers more than two decades into the war on terrorism; the apparent breakdown in good order and discipline in the Special Forces in recent years, with rising instances of alleged criminality among Green Berets and Navy SEALs; and the special treatment often accorded to special operators by civilian and military law enforcement in and around Fort Bragg. I only recently learned about Lavignes July 2020 arrest from a police report that the sheriffs office initially withheld. . When her contract was up in 2019, she resigned from the Army. The Armys destruction of records means that she will never know what was said in her absence at trial. He was originally set to be tried in civilian court, but Army prosecutors assigned to Special Forces swooped in at the last minute and caused the Cumberland County district attorney to drop the charges so that Vallejo could be tried by the military. They would have these epic parties, tailgate pool parties, where they would put a liner in the back of a truck and fill it up with water. On one occasion, they hired midget wrestlers to come out, she says. Leshikar's daughter said that William or Uncle Billy was scaring her, and unlocked the door for her father to enter, Leshikar's family said. Master Sgt. All of his questions were directed at Scanlons honesty and candor, he says. Additional abrasions were found on his left hand and both knees. Leshikar's family alleged that Lavigne was never administered a toxicology screen to test him for alcohol or narcotics in his system following the shooting. None can be found referenced in available paperwork either. Going around chatting with people like a politician.. There have not been any arrest(s) and we are not releasing any additional details at this time, Shelly Lynch, a spokeswoman for the FBI in Charlotte, said in an email this week. He was host of the event at Macs that night. Vallejo, wearing his full-dress uniform, was seated at the defense table, next to his defense attorney, Kris Poppe, a former JAG prosecutor who previously served as an infantry officer. We want to hear it. Its very controlled, she says. Do you realize what you did? she replied at 4:25 a.m. In addition, according to USASOC, the court reporter deleted the audio. I defaulted to what the USASOC prosecutor and the DA would decide, and consented to removal of the case to Fort Bragg, which resulted in an unanticipated four-month delay. RIP, bro., One year later, the authorities have identified no suspects, arrested no perpetrators, and disclosed nothing about the evidence theyve gathered to date. Nances legal reasoning may have been sound, but it still resulted in a rape counselor providing testimony against her own client at trial, a result that another judge might have bent over backward to avoid. You want to think theyre not comparing?, According to Scanlon, Poppes initial line of questioning was not subtle. Special Forces soldier, William Lavign, who was found - KonnieMoments . But the warehouse had no plumbing; there was only a portable toilet out back. Dumas was an Army veteran who previously served as the property . No, Joe says. The special operations community was rocked this week when the bodies of MSG Lavigne, a decorated Special Operator and Delta Force member, and Timothy Dumas an Army veteran were found in a . Starting in 2019, victims who testify get a copy of the court-martial record, including audio, whether it was an acquittal or conviction.. He gave me his card and invited us to go to the next bar with everyone., They exchanged phone numbers, and a group of about nine, led by Vallejo, relocated from Macs to a bar called Paddys, an over-the-top Irish pub out on Raeford Road that has a metal detector at the front entrance, bartenders in Scottish kilts, brass bathroom door handles cast with anatomical exactitude in the form of male genitalia, and urinals shaped like a womans mouth. In September 2021, almost 20 years to the day that he joined the Army, he held a retirement party in Colorado, where he now lives, not far from where he began his military career, at Fort Carson. Her first SVC was at the meeting with the DA, but did not advise her that she might be better off pressing her case in civilian court. from 67] house in Fayetteville, he had shot and killed his closest friend, a Green Beret named Mark Leshikar, with whom he had been drinking and doing drugs for days on end during a family vacation to Disney World. Green Beret death raises questions, 1st Special Forces Command Line of Duty Memorandum. Finally, at the end of the first day of trial, she was allowed to step down. She described Scanlons general demeanor as tearful.. Attempts to reach these people by phone were unsuccessful, but pretrial filings show that at least two of them were summoned to buttress Vallejos defense of consent. Because of societal prejudices toward womens sexuality, and the potential for abuse, rape shield laws, including Military Rule of Evidence 412, generally block defense attorneys from bringing up an accusers sexual history at trial. Dumass dark-colored 2015 Dodge Ram pickup was discovered abandoned somewhere else, the news release stated. Death certificates for Dumas and LaVigne state each died from gunshot wounds and were shot by an unknown assailant.. And no one seems to know quite why. The Cumberland County Sheriffs Office investigated and declared the death justifiable homicide.. She only met him and Vallejo that one night in her life. !For Educational Purposes Only! Connecting Vets is not naming the Delta Force operator as attempts to contact him were unsuccessful, and he may still work on sensitive assignments. He then allegedly forcibly penetrated her vagina with his penis against her will, Detective Matrafailo wrote in his report. Another inconsistency was noted when Lavigne told officials, Leshikar was acting in a menacing manner but he could not see SFC's Leshikar's hands, which appears to contradict his statement that he saw that Leshikar brandishing a screw driver. Leshikar was a member of 19th Special Forces Group and had previously deployed to Afghanistan and Tajikistan. They even took his license plates off., Billy, we love you and will miss you, the Coast x Coast club posted to its Instagram page two days later. How the Army Finds Out Who Has What It Takes to Join Delta Force A news release from the FBI in February stated that the bodies of the men were found near a Fort Bragg training area. A sort of Delta Force biker gang that story wouldnt have been good for the Army, not at a time when the Navy was getting hammered by allegations of rampant drug abuse, fratricidal violence, and sexual assault in the ranks of its SEAL teams. After that, she put up no more physical resistance. Hes at home, doing work shit. Thats all hell say about Coast x Coasts founder and CEO. In his statement to police later that day he said that Leshikar was acting paranoid and believed that they were being followed, and that their conversation was being listened to by a third party. If her aim was to avoid disciplinary action or professional embarrassment, she could have simply said nothing and no one would have been the wiser. . This experience led Beckwith to advocate for a similar unit in the US Army. On the way to the staff sergeants house, where shed spend the night, she looked at her phone and saw that Vallejo had sent her a text: How are you? But the instructions to the jury show that the judge, Col. Jeffrey Nance, allowed the panel to consider Scanlons relationship with the staff sergeant insofar as it was probative of her motive, if any, to fabricate her allegations against the accused. The judge cautioned the panel that they were forbidden to conclude that Scanlon, having willingly slept with one enlisted man, was likely to do it again; but to use an old legal clich, that was a bit like throwing a skunk into the jury box and instructing the jurors not to smell it. The December 2020 deaths of Lavigne and. Investigators have asked anyone with information on the case to contact the FBI or Army Criminal Investigation Command. There were several people present, and the ABC officers learned that the men were military with security clearances. Out of deference to their service of our nation, the ABC officers let them off with a verbal warning. It took her months to get a military protective order against him. He busted a few rounds in the direction of Ian Detar, an inveterate burglar who has no fewer than 29 mug shots on file with the county. There were three Delta Force soldiers, plus a retired bomb technician, in addition to Vallejo who went back to the warehouse that night, all of whom were Coast x Coast members. Poppe says he take[s] exception to this absurd characterization. In August 2016 just two weeks before he met Scanlon he threw out the first pitch at a Padres game in San Diego. She had brought with her a victims impact statement that she was prepared to read if Vallejo were found guilty. I didnt say anything when he did that. William LaVigne II, 37, and Army veteran Timothy Dumas, 44. . However, documents say that Leshikar's wife Laura spoke with him that day and he sounded lucid to her. US report shows China taking steps toward space dominance, Biden to allow Afghans to stay longer in US, sources say, Michigan expands absentee voting for military members, Some companies charge hefty fees to help vets with disability claims, Meet 12M+, the new community app for military spouses, Your next tech and incoming AI | Defense News Weekly Full Episode 4.28.2023, Home Improvement Loans What are my options? At times, she observed their operations on a video feed. He was taught how to survive behind enemy lines, resist interrogation, and escape from POW camps. Right as Scanlon and Tina walked into the crowded barbecue joint and beer hall, Vallejo stopped them, tried to flex, laughed, and walked away, Tina would later recall to a Fayetteville detective. William Lavigne II, 37, and Army veteran Timothy Dumas, 44, were both found dead in a training area at Fort Bragg on December 2 It has now been revealed that both men were facing. Editors picks As a result, she says, she had to retell her ordeal to five different SVCs, some of whom were unprepared or missed meetings. The DA treated the killing as a justifiable homicide and Lavigne was not charged with a crime. She told me, I feel like I just got raped.. This was in violation of regulations that forbid fraternization, or close personal relationships between officers and enlisted soldiers, but as the staff sergeant wasnt in her unit or her chain of command, she thought of it as little more than a peccadillo. I asked him if I could take a picture in front of their logo to send to my instructor, she says. She wasnt credible, Poppe says. Still no arrests in deaths of Special Forces soldier, veteran at Fort Bragg This is classic, let's cover it up. In Dumas' case, he had a Dec. 17 court date in. It is something that has changed now, for exactly this reason. Rolling Stone is a part of Penske Media Corporation. Werent there plenty of people you could have called out to? Now she demands answers, Illustration by Mike McQuade for Rolling Stone, Former Army Capt. As soon as it concluded with an acquittal, the Army deleted the audio recordings. Spokeswoman Christina Howell said she could not elaborate on the specifics of what happened because stories of individuals at the scene appeared to differ about why they were there and how they know each other, but that it did not appear to be a random incident. Why didnt you tell anyone about the witness that came around the corner? she remembers him asking. He just ambushed me, she says, repeating what she told Fayetteville police, according to the written report of the detective assigned to the case, Paul Matrafailo. LaVignes gray 2016 Chevrolet Colorado pickup was found at the crime scene in the woods off Manchester Road. Two ABC officers went to the location to check it out. In 2020, The New York Times, Associated Press, and CNN would cover the sexual-assault allegation against a Navy SEAL on a base in Iraq. Scanlon realized that this was not going to stop, Matrafailo wrote, and gave up fighting back in the hopes that it would end quickly.. Click hereto sign up for our weekly newsletter. He started kissing me, and I was pushing him away. Why they didn't do anything is because someone shit canned this whole thing very high up. The military had kept it quiet, though. He was brought down to the sheriff's office the day he killed Leshikar, and a Delta Force member came to pick him up, according to Leshikar's family. As of 2010, the document shows, he was a TEAM MEMBER/OPERATOR in the organization demarcated 1ST SFOD-D (DELTA FORCE)., Like SEAL Team 6, its sister unit and only military peer, Delta Force is whats known as a Special Mission Unit. He was also suffering from a traumatic brain injury due to an improvised explosive device detonating near him, which was why he was assigned to a desk job at Fort Bragg. I held really, really tightly to my [family members] hands and stared straight ahead, she says. After taking her statement and reviewing her text messages, Detective Matrafailo drove her the three blocks to the warehouse in an effort to identify the precise location. Soldier slams military for clearing operator of raping her in secret Thats being a girl at a bar., According to text messages she sent a girlfriend the next day, Scanlon was drunk and flirted with him. But she didnt consent to what later ensued, she immediately added. I think Ian, he said Will shot at him. The blond 25-year-old from suburban Phoenix had secured a lieutenants slot in the storied 82nd Airborne Division thanks to the good offices of one of her ROTC instructors at the University of Arizona. After I gave my statement, the CID agents left the room. The only entrance is hard to find and closed off by a chain-link gate. Finally, the trial was set to begin in late-February 2018. This was 37-year-old William Lavigne III, a Master Sergeant and former 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta (aka Delta Force) soldier. They didnt care with who. The body of Master Sgt. Bullet fragments were present underneath the carpet as well as in the kitchen and living room areas of the house. As a criminal profiler, Ciolino has investigated and exonerated death row inmates. Lavigne retained him while still under Army investigation into the shooting death of Leshikar, he says. For her part, Scanlon tried hard not to show any emotion in public, and accepted the jurys July 2018 decision with stoicism. It wasnt really that dark out., I dont remember the precise questions that I asked her, Poppe says today, or what exhibits were introduced in evidence, but I remember the facts of the case, and the evidence supported that she consented to the sexual acts with Cris Valley.. Its unclear if he ever returned to Delta Force or what he did for his last three years in the military. Lavigne and a retired soldier named Anthony Dumas were found dead last year on Ft. Bragg, and now the FBI is involved in the investigation which is being treated as a homicide. More Human Remains Found on Fort Bragg | SOFREP It appears that a lot goes on here.. Lavigne was a member of the Army's elite counter-terrorism unit, Delta Force, and deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq. William J. Lavigne II, 37, was one of two men found dead Dec. 2 in a training area on Fort Bragg, N.C., the Army said in a statement.