The first step toward putting a senior noncommissioned officer on trial for cheating the Air Force promotion testing system will take place Monday at Rhein-Main Air Base, Germany.

Master Sgt. J. Abdur Rahim Saafir will stand before a judge during an Article 39a hearing, which should be the last preliminary hearing before his general court-martial begins.

“There are multiple things that could happen during the Article 39a hearing, but we’re expecting the court-martial date and time to be set,” Capt. Stacy Orlowsky, a Rhein-Main spokeswoman, said during a telephone interview Wednesday.

Saafir, a mission support flight superintendent for the 469th Air Base Group at Rhein-Main, is up against multiple charges of conspiracy and failure to obey a lawful general regulation.

If found guilty of all charges of possessing and distributing controlled Weighted Airmen Promotion System testing material, Saafir could receive a dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, reduction to airman basic, and 66 years in prison.

Military officials determined in March that there was enough evidence to bring the NCO, who was named the 2003 U.S. Air Forces in Europe personnel manager of the year, to trial during an Article 32 hearing at Rhein-Main.

The charges stem from an investigation of documents seized from Saafir’s home last year by Air Force Office of Special Investigation officials.