CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — A Marine military policeman was given a bad-conduct discharge and sentenced to a year in the brig here Wednesday after pleading guilty to three charges involving computer porn.
The charges against Lance Cpl. David W. Palmer, 22, came after a sting conducted by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, which had been contacted by a 14-year-old military dependent concerning the Marine’s exchanges with her over the MySpace Web site.
According to evidence produced during the one-day special court-martial, an NCIS agent took over the girl’s Web site and copied sexually explicit pictures Palmer sent over an Internet camera to her on Feb. 27 and March 12.
Palmer also asked her to take “naughty and nude” pictures of herself, he admitted. That resulted in a charge of soliciting child pornography.
All three counts were violations of Article 134 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which covers any behavior that brings discredit to the service and is prejudicial to good order and discipline.
Palmer, of Florida, admitted that being involved with Internet porn could have impacted his ability to do his job as a police officer with the Provost Marshal’s Office, 3rd Marine Logistics Group.
“I could be compromised,” he said. “My judgment would be questioned and it would affect my ability to do my duty and uphold the law. I could be blackmailed.”
Palmer’s conduct continued for months. An NCIS agent said that when Palmer was arrested at his barracks on Camp Courtney in March he was nude and the camera and computer were turned on. His computer was confiscated and computer techs were able to download information indicating that Palmer had logged onto at least a half dozen child pornography sites.
In an unsworn statement made before sentencing, Palmer offered his “deepest and most sincere apologies” and said he would seek counseling when he is released.
“I never had more than a traffic ticket until now,” he said. He asked the judge to allow him to remain a Marine.
Capt. Robert Eckert, the prosecutor, demanded Palmer be given the maximum sentence — a bad-conduct discharge and 12 months in jail.
“You have to send a message to the accused,” he said. “He just doesn’t get it. He has no idea of the effect of his conduct.”
Eckert said Palmer could just as easily have hooked up with an underage military dependent rather than an NCIS agent posing as one.
“The next time it might not have been an NCIS agent, but someone’s daughter,” he said.
According to the terms of a pretrial agreement, any confinement more than 11 months will be suspended. The judge in the case, Marine Maj. Charles Hale, also fined Palmer $10,000 and reduced him in rank to E-1. Palmer was credited for 106 days served in the brig on Camp Hansen awaiting trial.
