WIESBADEN, Germany — As a kid, Michael Bacca dreamed of being a soldier.
And for several years, really ever since he finished high school, it was a wish fulfilled. Bacca was a proud member of the U.S. Army, first as a supply specialist, later as a trained sniper with a cavalry unit in a combat zone. His superiors thought highly of him, some even considered him to be heroic.
But in late November 2006, while deployed to Iraq, Bacca downloaded scores of images of children in sexually explicit poses and predicaments. A few days later, Bacca stood before his first sergeant, busted for possessing child pornography and scared to death that his dream might end.
“This is his calling, sir, please don’t take it away,” his defense attorney, Capt. Allison Danko, implored Lt. Col. Edward O’Brien.
O’Brien, the military judge in Bacca’s general court-martial Wednesday, saw things differently, good soldier or not. Guided by a pretrial agreement, the judge sentenced the South Dakota native to 14 months in prison.
Bacca, who pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography and disobeying a general order, was also demoted to the lowest enlisted rank, stripped of all pay and allowances, and given a bad-conduct discharge.
At the time of the incident, Bacca was a member of F Troop, 1st Brigade, 1st Armored Division, assigned to an elite reconnaissance team in Friedberg, Germany.
“I made a stupid decision,” Bacca said during the sentencing phase of his one-day trial.
As far as anyone can tell, Bacca didn’t appear overly infatuated with child pornography. Instead, it seemed his transgressions had as much to do with curiosity, boredom and stress as anything else, based on statements and testimony at Wednesday’s hearing.
Danko argued that four days of misconduct shouldn’t erase eight years of service, including 20 months in combat. She called Bacca “a war hero,” referring to a Dec. 29, 2006, firefight in which the 26-year-old soldier ran into harm’s way to retrieve a mortally injured comrade. And Danko asked why the Army waited 11 months to prefer charges if Bacca was such a threat to “the good order and discipline” of his unit and the Army.
Prosecutors spoke of far-ranging dangers, and Bacca’s complicity. Think of the kids, maybe 12 or 13 years old, said Capt. Stephanie Cooper, the lead prosecutor. The kids are victims well after the last camera shutter falls because of the Internet. Bacca’s decision to acquire more than 125 photos, she said, helps “fuel the market for child pornography.”
Besides, she added, if the Army meant so much to Bacca, why would he soil its reputation with such a disgraceful and perverted act.
“One can be a great warrior and still be a criminal,” Cooper said.
