A sergeant in the US Army who had been charged with helping to prevent sexual assaults in his battalion recently pleaded guilty to hatching a plot to run a prostitution ring from the Fort Hood military post in Killeen, Texas.
The Daily Beast has a rundown of how it happened.
Sgt. 1st Class Gregory McQueen was part of the US Army’s Sexual Harassment and Assault Response/Prevention (SHARP) unit at Fort Hood. At the same time, he was trying to get a prostitution ring off the ground.
He didn't get far. Investigators caught on to what he was doing before he could get the pimping operation up and running. But many at Fort Hood and in the Army were shocked by the allegations, the San Antonio Express-News reports.
McQueen reportedly planned "sex parties" for high-ranking officers at Fort Hood and recruited subordinate female soldiers to the fledgling prostitution ring.
He pleaded guilty to 15 of 21 charges against him and has been sentenced to two years in prison.
Here are some of the accusations against McQueen, as reported in The Daily Beast:
- McQueen reportedly tried to recruit one Army private by telling her he could make "easy money" by letting him pimp her out to higher-ups at Fort Hood. He reportedly took naked photographs of her to show to potential clients.
- This woman, referred to as "Jane," was reportedly paid to have sex with a military higher-up at a hotel after McQueen recruited her. She then reportedly helped McQueen recruit other women from Fort Hood to his sex party operation.
- McQueen reportedly organized Fort Hood sex parties with married women in the military before he decided he wanted to graduate to more blatant pimping. Investigators found text messages McQueen sent to one married woman at Fort Hood to organize a "gang bang." He insisted that no photos be taken because the men were seniors in the military.
- McQueen reportedly invited another female private, who he knew had been sexually assaulted by a sergeant a year before, to one of his wild sex parties. McQueen reportedly told her that there was an interview process to be let in to the parties, and said she'd have to "meet somebody who attends these parties and she’ll be able to tell if you’re cool to come."
- The potential recruit then met "Jane" to talk about attending the parties. When she seemed hesitant, McQueen reportedly tried to ply her with alcohol to "loosen her up." He then allegedly tried to come onto her, but she resisted his advances.
- McQueen reportedly told a recruiter who worked at Fort Hood that he had "a female that will do anything you want for $75."
In his position within Fort Hood's sexual-assault-prevention program, McQueen was reportedly described as "inadequate" and "did not seem to care about the mission of training Soldiers on SHARP issues."