NORFOLK, Va., Aug. 25 (UPI) -- A U.S. Marine staff sergeant has pleaded guilty to mistreating 17 male subordinates through sexual actions and comments, authorities say.
A judge sentenced Staff Sgt. James McCoy to a year in confinement, reduction in rank and a bad conduct discharge, The (Norfolk) Virginian-Pilot.
McCoy admitted touching subordinates in the groin area, making repeated offensive sexual comments and gestures, and accusing them of being gay, the newspaper said.
If convicted in a trial, McCoy could have faced a prison sentence of 17 years for the charges.
As the non-commissioned officer in charge of a training company at the Navy's Northwest Annex, a base in rural Chesapeake, Va., McCoy was in charge of Marines, many of them teenagers just out of boot camp, awaiting security training at the base. UPI
