This undated photo shows a gate sign for Fort Bragg, N.C. (U.S. Army photo)
A soldier based at Fort Bragg, N.C., will spend 15 years in military prison after pleading guilty to raping an 11-year-old child and other child sex crimes, Army officials said.
Spc. Skylar Griffin was sentenced May 22 to 15 years confinement in the United States Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., and a dishonorable discharge, said Michelle McCaskill, a spokeswoman for the Army’s Office of Special Trial Counsel. The sentence was the result of an agreement in which he pleaded guilty to one specification of rape of a child, three specifications of sexual abuse of a child, and one specification of receiving child pornography, she said.
“This conviction demonstrates our unwavering commitment — alongside our law enforcement partners — to relentlessly pursuing those who would harm children,” said Al Diaz, the special agent in charge of the Army Criminal Investigation Division’s Carolinas Field Office. “Griffin betrayed the trust placed in him, and his sentence reflects the gravity of his horrific crimes.”
Prosecutors said Griffin, 28, endeared himself to the family of the 11-year-old girl and “used his position of trust” to prey on her. He was arrested by the Harnett County Sheriff’s Office in November 2023. Prosecutors said the abuse of the child occurred between June and October of that year. Harnett County is just north of Fort Bragg.
The victim detailed Griffin’s crimes in a forensic interview, and CID investigators found “electronic evidence corroborating the victim’s allegations,” McCaskill said.
Griffin was a parachute rigger assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division’s sustainment brigade.
He was being held in a local North Carolina jail this week until he can be transferred to Fort Leavenworth. Griffin will be required to register as a sex offender when he is released from prison and will be subject to federal and state sex offender requirements, McCaskill said.
