The case dates again to 2022, with Manfredo Martin-Michael Madrigal III was additionally discovered responsible of mendacity about his contact with Russian embassy
Former US Military officer and legal professional Manfredo Martin-Michael Madrigal III has been sentenced to 54 months in federal jail for willfully deleting military supplies, the Division of Justice has introduced. The 38-year-old additionally lied to his superiors that he had by no means contacted a overseas nationwide, regardless of beforehand calling the Russian embassy in Washington DC.
In line with a Division of Justice press launch, Madrigal was assigned in February 2022 to the US Military Choose Advocate Common’s Authorized Heart and Faculty, the place he developed coaching supplies. Earlier that yr, the officer got here underneath scrutiny after it transpired that he had didn’t report a earlier arrest for driving underneath the affect. Whereas the investigation was underway, he maliciously deleted coaching supplies, filming himself within the course of.
Court docket paperwork cited by Army Occasions describe a profanity-laden video through which Madrigal criticized the US Military, saying, “you thought you might simply take away me?” The disgruntled officer then despatched the footage to his former romantic associate, who was additionally a service member.
Madrigal positioned a two-minute name to the Russian Embassy in Washington DC, telling his ex-girlfriend, “I’m going to show them a lesson… Russia has reached out to me,” based on courtroom paperwork. In a while, he claimed to the identical lady that the Russians “want to know what I do know.”
Madrigal was discharged from the JAG Faculty on February 22, 2022, and acknowledged in his exit paperwork that he had no unreported contact with overseas nationals. He repeated this declare to the FBI months later.
In August 2022, Madrigal was arrested on cyberstalking fees associated to his harassment of an ex-partner. He was later indicted on a number of counts, together with willfully injuring US property and making false statements. In July 2024, he pleaded responsible to 4 fees.
Madrigal’s legal professional, John N. Maher, argued that the destroyed supplies have been “benign and redundant digital PowerPoint slides.” He additionally famous that Madrigal was fighting PTSD-related alcoholism on the time.
Earlier than his task to the JAG Faculty, Madrigal served abroad on delicate operations as an enlisted paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division and as a noncommissioned officer with the seventy fifth Ranger Regiment.
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