Twice she broke down in tears and the court had to call a recess, she says. The police were called, and Vallejo left without incident. That was a crazy ethical mistake.. She had brought with her a victims impact statement that she was prepared to read if Vallejo were found guilty. List [ edit] Eldon A. Bargewell: Retired Lieutenant General. The warehouse is three blocks from police headquarters, but a spokesman for the Fayetteville PD denies knowing anything about the place, and had no relevant incident reports pertaining to the address. 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. Retired Col. Robert Mabry, a Delta Force medic who later served as command surgeon for Joint Special Operations Command. 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. 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? John "Mace" Macejunas; and Nikolaj Waldau, who will portray Sgt. Im still spooked. She read USASOCs statement in The Fort Bragg Murders that some unspecified adverse administrative action had been pending against Lavigne at the time of his death. Only afterwards did I realize I didnt stand a chance.. comelec district 5 quezon city. Davis studied history at Vanderbilt University and UNC-Chapel Hill, writing a master's thesis about how the Cold War-era Defense Department influenced Hollywood's WWII movies. John G. Macejunas, a Delta Force NCO. The demand is there and the operators need to work when they leave the teams, too. 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. The trial began on a Monday morning. Scanlon was not excluded from the proceeding, a spokesman wrote in a statement. Scanlon agreed to go on the record again, in greater detail, if you would be willing to reiterate that my perpetrator was Delta Force. 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. Ill have to refer you to Army CID, Shelley Lynch of the FBIs Charlotte, North Carolina, office writes in an email. This little black site of a party spot is situated directly across Worth Street from the Cumberland County jail, a no-drone zone that is the biggest law-enforcement facility in the county. I was resolved to be stoic no matter what, because I knew I had stood up for myself as much as possible. But he couldnt really explain why the Army waited 16 months to intervene on the eve of the trial, rather than let civilian justice take its course. The jury panel of nine included two women and was a mix of colonels, majors, and senior sergeants, all of whom served in the Special Forces. john macejunas delta force. The defense policy bill passed by Congress and signed by President Biden in December waives a time requirement for four participants in the Mogadishu engagement to have their service awards upgraded. Since that first jumbo jet slammed into tower one at 8:46:30 AM that Tuesday morning our nation has struggled through two long wars that have tested the mettle of Americas finest young men and womenand which were arguably were focused on killing one man. MARTIN, TIMOTHY LYNN. They are off to attack Somalis, whom they call "Skinnies" or "Sammies," and most of the men are eager to do so. Ms. But he was in JAG for 20 years and has represented such high-profile military clients as Maj. Nidal Hasan, the Fort Hood shooter, and is unable to recall another time when a JSOC operator was arrested for a violent felony against a fellow soldier on U.S. soil, as was the case for both Lavigne and Vallejo. Master Sgt. According to Vallejos enlistment-record brief, obtained by Rolling Stone, he was born in California and joined the Army shortly before 9/11, when he was 19. By the time of Vallejos trial, it was clear that the Army had missed a chance to intervene in the boundary-pushing, motorcycle-borne debauchery of the Coast x Coast club as early as September 2016, when Scanlon went to CID and alleged that Vallejo had raped her behind their un-permitted clubhouse in downtown Fayetteville, which just happens to be adjacent to the county jail, a building full of cops. Instead, everything was hushed up. Then I learned the books author elected to invoke a pseudonym. The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time Once out of uniform, Scanlon began to meet advocates, lawyers, and people knowledgeable about sexual assault in the military. The manuscript was combed over by a trusted agent, a former special operations attorney who has performed similar vetting reviews for other military authors. 2023 Trib Total Media | All Rights Reserved. bishop wayne t jackson daughter; john macejunas delta force. 1386 7 [] ap-000060 Thereafter, things moved very slowly toward a trial. I think they deserve everything the military can honor them with, even though its so far after the fact.. Arriving at the site in the early morning hours of Sept. 10, 2016, Scanlon and Tina were immediately creeped out by the griminess of the location. Maybe I wasnt clear enough, she texted a girlfriend at 8:59 a.m. on Sept. 12. There might be a good reason for Vallejo to avoid the spot where, almost five years ago to the day, he met Scanlon. Poppe says he cant recall the substance of Lavignes testimony, but discloses that after the court-martial concluded, he took him on as a client, too. At one point the Green Berets widow, a red-haired woman, came around the corner and saw what was going on. She wasnt being truthful about her encounter with Cris Vallejo., They should not have allowed my lawyer to testify against me, Scanlon says. Read Next: Missing flight data contributed to accident that made AC-130J unusable. The nations highest award for valor the Medal of Honor may be given to five soldiers after President Joe Bidens signed the 2021 defense policy bill. Scanlon had to order another Uber, as the first one had given up and driven off. She yelled something unintelligible before disappearing. 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. John Macejunas, a former Ranger turned Special Forces operator, also fought to reach the downed helicopters . He didnt let me get past him. The other person killed in the apparently professional hit, a 44-year-old ex-soldier named Timothy Dumas, was an Afghanistan vet who had served in the 7th Special Forces Group before being separated from the Army for unspecified unacceptable conduct. Like Lavigne, Dumas had a long record of being arrested but not prosecuted in Cumberland County, for crimes including assault on a female, impersonating a police officer, making terroristic threats, and shooting into an occupied dwelling place. I knew him, Joe says of Lavigne. Retired Command Sgt. He served with 2D Force Reconnaissance, 3rd Reconnaissance Bn, and as a Marine Raider with 2D Raider Bn, Marine Special Operations Command. Its possible that it was expunged, a clerk tells me. Ms. Delta Force was chiefly formed by Charles Beckwith, an officer in the Green Berets and a veteran of the American war in Vietnam.He had served with the British SAS (Special Air Service) during the Indonesia-Malaysia confrontation (1963-66), when Indonesia opposed the formation of The Federation of Malaysia.. F The jury would have been able to see from her dress blues that, in stark contrast with Vallejo, she was a rookie officer in a conventional unit. Retired Col. Robert Mabry, who was an enlisted Delta Force medic during the battle. You dont talk about it, you definitely dont write about it. Either way, Scanlon was immersed in an unfamiliar process and taking her cues from military lawyers and the judge, all of whom outranked her. Scanlon realized that this was not going to stop, Matrafailo wrote, and gave up fighting back in the hopes that it would end quickly.. He loved his job in the military. During his career, he served across the globe, running counter narco-terrorism operations in South and Central America, to missions in Lebanon, Jordan, as well as the Balkans. He says Lavigne smoked crack, that was his main thing. I read an advance copy of Owens book, No Easy Day. Both Vallejo and Lavigne were exonerated. I represented him in Cumberland County.. Some were deployed, others reassigned, or otherwise bureaucratically reshuffled. Had Owen used his true name, the claims of glory hunting would be loud and wide spread. He transferred to Fort Bragg three years later to attend the JFK Special Warfare School, the completion of which entitles a soldier to wear a coveted green beret. Its like watching a scary movie. Other than the one local-news blip on Vallejos arrest, the allegations against them remained confined to Fort Bragg. Master Sgt. The three Delta operators who had been at the warehouse that night took the stand, as did the retired bomb technician, the two civil-affairs officers, and the dancing bartender, as well as the red-haired widow. We want to hear it. RecPak is a meal replacement for the outdoors that saves you weight, space and time in the most challenging environments, just add water. On Sept. 30, he arrested Vallejo on a felony warrant for second-degree rape, second-degree sex offense, and sexual battery. The trial record shows that Vallejos defense called eight additional witnesses. Anything other than you saying yes or asking for it is not consent, her friend replied. The nurse who did the rape kit noted in her report that Scanlons eyes were red and her makeup was smeared. First, I learned the same time as the rest of the world that one of Americas secret members of SEAL Team Six, which executed Operation Neptune Spear, had authored a book titled No Easy Day about the shadowed exploits of the team and how al Qaeda mastermind Usama Bin Laden really met his maker. The license type is lawyer. It is a lot for a jury to make a decision like that, she says. They include his mother, the late Shirley Fillmore, third from left, and his sisters, from left: Shirley Newell, Sharon Schmucker, Robin Baker, Rose Camilli, Brenda Perry and Mary Fillmore. Army Sgt. Barrett is the world leader in long-range, large-caliber, precision rifle design and manufacturing. It was held in the main courthouse on Fort Bragg, a red-brick, Greek-revival building typical of the Carolinas. The prosecution did not call Matrafailo, the Fayetteville detective who had investigated Scanlons claim, interviewed witnesses while their memories were fresh, collected evidence before it disappeared, and concluded by arresting Vallejo for second-degree rape. Even if she werent actually barred from the trial by order of the court, she believed that she had to stay in the witness room until called, and according to Scanlon, the SVC did nothing to correct the misapprehension. THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING VETERAN JOURNALISM - JOIN SOFREP+ , Missing flight data contributed to accident that made AC-130J unusable, PO Box 1077 MURFREESBORO, Tennessee 37133 United States, P.O. During this time, and the months to come, Scanlon was represented by an SVC, or special-victims counsel, a military-appointed attorney. 1st Class Earl Fillmore Jr., retired Col. Robert Mabry, Master Sgt. soldier who had been accused of rape, and published his photo. Some take less dangerous routes. . The person who seems to be in charge is a tall, barrel-chested man of about 40, whose long, scraggly beard is streaked with gray. She was shaking, acting odd, pacing. When Jane read that Lavigne had killed a man with impunity, only to be murdered in turn, I was trembling, she says, sitting out in the cold, chain-smoking. John G. Macejunas, a Delta Force NCO who led multiple rescue efforts searching for the missing personnel from the helicopters, according to journalist Mark Bowden. The 100 Best Albums of 2022, Vallejo, dressed in camouflage cargo shorts and a T-shirt, was tall, lean, strong, and fiercely handsome, with a black beard and shaggy brown hair much longer than most soldiers get to wear. Like most tier one operators, I thought I was still in tune with the happenings of the secret world I left behind, even in retirement. Readers of Blackhawk Down will rememeber John Macejunas, the Delta Operator of almost mythical cool and courage. Sure, I knew they would take it on the chin for a bit, but I didnt anticipate the massive amount of character bashing, name-calling, and the irresponsible leak of Owens true name and home address. Thats not Merriam-Websters exact definition of having been PNGed, but it about covers it. He had been in Delta Force. Scanlon lived off-post in an apartment in Fayetteville, a moody military town in the North Carolina pines just outside of Fort Bragg, the biggest Army base in the U.S. On the evening of Sept. 9, 2016, a friend of hers from the gym, a military wife whom Ill call Tina to protect her privacy, invited her to a charitable event at a barbecue restaurant and bar called Macs Speed Shop. Among a dozen other things related to the skills you learned and earned while in a Tier One unit, you can even consult for a video game company. Login or Sign Up; A Derry native, who was killed in action 28 years ago while serving in Somalia, is in line to posthumously receive the Armys second-highest decoration. Scanlons SVC her fifth discouraged her from attending, she says. The ones that dont are so well known in their trade that it isnt necessary, or they still have some support or business ties to the organization that they dont want to jeopardize. She only met him and Vallejo that one night in her life. This is a very secluded parcel, the fire marshal wrote in an email to the zoning department. A buddy of mine at UW law ran into a special forces guy, he was in the same courses as my friend. Billys about to be questioned, or face some sort of retribution. He loved weapons. Locklear shows me the spot where she says he once threw a knife into the trunk of a tree in the front yard, which is littered with hundreds if not thousands of cigarette butts. Throughout the whole night he kind of acted like a celebrity, Scanlon says. Starting in 2019, victims who testify get a copy of the court-martial record, including audio, whether it was an acquittal or conviction.. I think its amazing what he and the other soldiers did during the battle of Mogadishu and how they had so much internal fortitude to put their lives on the line for a peacekeeping mission. 4 Badass Operators You Should Know More About. Fillmore was awarded the Silver Star posthumously for distinguished gallantry. The film recreates re-creates the 15-hour bloody gunfight in Mogadishu, Somalia, between 160 American soldiers and a mob of the city's angry, hunger-ravaged citizenry. Whether Americans needed to know or not is truly debatable. William "Billy" Lavigne II, whose violent life and cryptic death in the woods outside of . Those guys, they would drink, and they would need to have sex, she says. Then the Army erased all record of the trial testimony. Se trata del sargento John Macejunas, alias "Mazo", un Delta Force obsesionado por el entrenamiento fsico por le cul sentan admiracin tanto Rangers como sus propios compaeros Delta, y que decan de l que no conoca el miedo. Instead, on June 26, Matrafailo was the first person called to the stand by the defense. 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. Ultimately, both CID and the sheriffs office determined there was no criminal culpability.. Around the same time, he went on a cross-country ride with the Coast x Coast motorcycle club, starting out of Los Angeles and bound for Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. This would have been in violation of regulations that prevent the military from excluding crime victims from the trials of their alleged perpetrators, and USASOC says it didnt happen. One of the four Delta Force soldiers present that night was a 33-year-old from Michigan, Master Sgt. The Army missed another chance to rein in rogue elements in Delta Forces enlisted ranks in 2018, after Lavigne killed Leshikar in a drug-fueled altercation that was proof positive of something rotten in the state of Special Forces. The bill also paved the way for the Medal of Honor the nations highest award for valor to be bestowed to five potential recipients, three from the Korean War and two who fought in the Vietnam War. Stateside they lived intense lives, too. He was a broken operator, a worn-out military part, destroyed by PTSD and substance abuse. 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. Her experience with the military-justice system illustrates the myriad difficulties faced by women in the overwhelmingly male armed forces who report being raped, and raises questions about the adequacy of the uniformed chain of command to protect the interests of victims of sex crimes allegedly committed by service members. At times, she observed their operations on a video feed. Going around chatting with people like a politician.. Everyone serving in a Tier One unit has their every need seen to while they are operational. But Scanlon didnt get caught with the staff sergeant, nor with Vallejo. A retired Army Major General and one-time commander of the elite Delta Force died in a lawnmower accident at his Alabama home, according to reports. Just three months before he was called to the stand, in March 2018, at Lavignes 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. For good reason: The person or persons who killed Lavigne and Dumas remain at large. No, Joe says. Subsequently, the Army swapped out her SVC four separate times. Scanlon went to the Fayetteville police the next day. These characteristics are shown by the Rangers and the Delta Force (D-boys). What the prosecution has to say, you already know, she remembers the SVC telling her. These same steps were taken by Owen, who isnt looking for fame either. The Army never made a transcript of the court-martial, and destroyed the audio recordings as soon as it concluded, leaving no record of the testimony the witnesses gave, the arguments the lawyers made, or the judges oral rulings. 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.. Each year, they hold a string of events in California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, North Carolina, and Virginia, where they sell merchandise, take donations, and raffle off items such as bottles of wine printed with portraits of fallen Delta Force soldiers, concealed-carry holsters, and pistols painted in the colors of the American flag. The tsunami of negative press and personal attacks on both the author Owen, and his co-writer Kevin Maurer, surprised me. Its like a saddle vibrator, she explains. He loved to serve. Overview. Shes troubled by the memory of a night in 2012, when she woke up after having passed out drunk to find a man she knew having sex with her without her consent, she says. Scanlon and Tina arrived at Macs shortly before 10 p.m. A number of motorcycles were parked out front. Lavigne and Vallejo were on an altogether different level, one rarely touched by scandal. Whoever they are, they were capable of taking out one of the worlds most skilled and experienced gunfighters, without leaving any apparent clue for the FBI or CID to follow. Scanlon previously told her story to Ella Torres of ABC News, who published a thorough report on her case in 2020, and The Fayetteville Observer covered aspects of it in 2019. But, after ten plus years at war, most Americans know there to be two Special Mission Unitsthe Armys Delta Force and the Navys SEAL Team Six. Finally, the trial was set to begin in late-February 2018. From that moment on, its yours to lose. Among these battle-weary soldiers were members of C Squadron, 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta, more popularly known as Delta Force. tamko building products ownership; 30 Junio, 2022; john macejunas delta force . In a motion dated June 12, the defense stated that one of the civil-affairs officers was expected to testify that she had observed close, friendly, and flirtatious interaction between Vallejo and Scanlon all night. More than she questions Vallejos acquittal or the jurys decision, Scanlon simply wants to know what happened at the court-martial. Now she demands answers, Illustration by Mike McQuade for Rolling Stone, Former Army Capt. No reporters attended the subsequent court-martial, and no transcript was made of the proceedings. And that was the reason why my case was handled the way it was., Well after midnight, with Paddys about to close down, Vallejo invited Scanlon and Tina to the after-afterparty at a place he called Warehouse 13. Thinking it was some kind of lounge or club, they took a cab to the location on Worth Street in downtown Fayetteville, only to find that it was literally a warehouse. I was Billys attorney, Poppe says. It was him and Maj. Stacey Cohen.. The wars that Delta Force had been on the bleeding edge of since 2001 had deteriorated into lost causes, but the special-operations forces had completed their takeover-from-within of the military, becoming the paramount force in the Pentagon, with the most political clout in Washington. The Army couldnt give Scanlon a transcript because no transcript ever existed. As soon as they said not guilty, my people just kind of quickly escorted me out.. Its the first time during many hours of interviews that she has lost her composure, and I can understand why. When Scanlon learns that the audio was destroyed, she unexpectedly breaks down in tears. 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. I said, No, find someone else. John G Macejynas, John Gregory Macejunas, John G Macejnnas, John Gregory Macejumas and John Gregory Mace Junas are some of the alias or nicknames that John has used. Im not doing this., She remembers being pinned against the grille of a vehicle, Vallejo putting his hands up her dress, into her underwear, and penetrating her with his fingers. He was host of the event at Macs that night. Hes our family hero, said Fillmores niece, Angie Burd of Unity, who recently retired as an Army master sergeant. As soon as it concluded with an acquittal, the Army deleted the audio recordings. Second, he chose to author under a pseudonym to protect his family and former teammates from enemies of the state. John Macejunas currently lives in Olympia, WA; in the past John has also lived in Tacoma WA. With Chuck Norris, Lee Marvin, Martin Balsam, Joey Bishop. But Owen isnt the first Six guy to share his experiences. 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. The next morning, she told the guy she was dating at the time that his buddy had raped her, but he didnt believe her, she says. Reached through his lawyer, Vallejo declined to comment for this story. 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. Retired. On the back patio, they are standing around a red tent with the Coast x Coast logo, drinking beer, chatting at the bar, and smoking cigarettes. Over those five years, it paid out grants totaling $187,143. Major William F. Thetford, who later served as the senior enlisted chief for United States Central Command. I was too scared to go to stores, the gym, and other crowded places. If you are even remotely interested in reading this post, you know the book stores are filled with memoirs authored by former military men and women. Werent there plenty of people you could have called out to? I dont see how anyone could have believed that consensual sex occurred there., When she finished using the toilet and opened the door, she was startled to find Vallejo standing right there. My testimony was so long and painful. Throughout, she rigidly refused to make eye contact with Vallejo or even look at his side of the courtroom. The UBL raid was such a gigantic event that this story needed to be told for the history books, Owen said. Been there, done thatwhen I wrote Kill Bin Laden, in which national security was not put at risk and no special operations unique tactics, techniques, procedures or personalities were compromised. Two others received upgrades to the Distinguished Flying Cross. But neither ABC News nor the Observer named Vallejo, and ABC only mentioned in passing that the alleged rapist was a member of Delta Force. Only $14.99/m; NEED A LAWYER? Jane never saw Vallejo doing drugs, and unlike Lavigne, he didnt run around getting arrested, but she remembers him being at the center of a social scene that she describes as toxic. This was at the tail end of the Obama years, on the cusp of Trumps election. Only then did Scanlon learn the real identity of the man she knew as Cris Valley. Services Real Estate Write a Review Rating Not Rated SUBMIT Contact Info 2300 4th St N St. Petersburg, Florida, 33704 United States CONTACT THIS BUSINESS Hours Website How It Works List Your Business Search