VICTORVILLE, Calif. (Tribune News Service) — A former Fort Irwin soldier was convicted for a second time for possession of child pornography and was sentenced earlier this week.
A judge sentenced Steven Berg, 40, to four years in state prison after pleading no contest to the charge on Monday.
Berg was given more than a year’s worth of credit for time served and good conduct. He will also receive two days of credit for every four days in custody, meaning he will likely serve half the time.
The ex-soldier was arrested in August at the Fort Irwin National Training Center after a search warrant was served at a home there.
The warrant resulted from an investigation conducted by the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, which “determined the child pornography was distributed from a home” on the base’s grounds, officials said.
At the time of his arrest, Berg was already on 36 months of felony probation after being convicted of the same crime in February.
He was also still in the military despite being a felon and registering as a sex offender.
According to Army regulations, any soldier convicted of a sex offense “that did not result in a punitive discharge will be processed for administrative separation regardless of when the conviction for the sex offense occurred.
Two days after Berg’s second arrest, base officials said that Berg had been “administratively separated” Thursday for “unrelated misconduct” after a reporter began asking questions about his duty status.
Administrative separation is a non-judicial process military commanders can use to remove someone involuntarily from service and likened to being “fired from a job,” according to the legal website FindLaw.
Court records show Berg will begin serving his four-year sentence after finishing an eight-month sentence for violating his probation.
Berg had been with the U.S. Army since 2011 and was a combat medic assigned to Fort Irwin in November 2017.
Daily Press reporter Martin Estacio may be reached at 760-955-5358 or MEstacio@VVDailyPress.com. Follow him on Twitter @DP_mestacio.
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Fort Irwin National Training Center in Fort Irwin, Calif., is show in this undated file photo. (U.S. Army)
