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In Latest Court-Martial, Instructor Pleads Guilty To Nine Of 12 Charges

Eileen Pace
/
TPR News

Testimony got underway Tuesday in the court-martial of a former military training instructor who is alleged to have sexually assaulted one trainee and had sexual relationships with two others.

Those are the most serious of 12 charges leveled against Staff Sgt. Craig LeBlanc, the latest military training instructor to go to trial in the growing sex scandal at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland.

In a trial before the court, LeBlanc pled guilty to nine of the 12 charges, including having sex with one trainee from Lackland and a technical trainee from Fort Sam Houston.

He is being tried on the charge of aggravated sexual assault with a basic trainee on the night of her graduation from boot camp. The airman, who has been brought back several times from her duty station in the Pacific to testify, told the court that graduates are still considered basic trainees until they ship out. She said she was in fear of losing her military career if she did not comply with LeBlanc’s instructions to show up in a supply room and have sex with him.

In earlier proceedings last fall, defense attorneys tried to get evidence excluded regarding LeBlanc’s arrest on public intoxication charges in New Braunfels.  LeBlanc admitted he lied about the incident to superiors and pleaded guilty to the AWOL charge.

LeBlanc is the eighth instructor to go to court-martial in the Air Force Investigation. Officials say three more victims were added to the list this week, bringing to 62 the number of trainees alleging misconduct by 32 instructors.

Eileen Pace is a veteran radio and print journalist with a long history of investigative and feature reporting in San Antonio and Houston, earning more than 50 awards for investigative reporting, documentaries, long-form series, features, sports stories, outstanding anchoring and best use of sound.