Former US soldier gets life in prison for abusing children while stationed in Germany

A former U.S. soldier from Atlanta was sentenced to life in prison this week for sexually and physically abusing two young children while stationed in Germany more than 10 years ago, according to prosecutors.

Adam Schlueter was convicted in federal court in April of two counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a minor under age 12 and two counts of assault resulting in serious bodily injury.

“We are grateful for the strength and courage of the survivors in this case who came forward to end this man’s reign of terror,” Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva said in a Justice Department statement Thursday.

The crimes occurred from 2009 to 2013 while Schlueter was stationed in Grafenwoehr, Germany. Both children were younger than 10, prosecutors said.

They testified that Schlueter choked and beat them. One described being pushed through a second-story window and dangled above the ground, according to the Justice Department.

Schlueter also sexually assaulted both children and used threats to prevent them and others from reporting his actions, going so far as threatening to kill one witness, federal prosecutors said Thursday.

An earlier Justice Department statement listed Schlueter’s age as 37, but the one issued after his sentencing says he’s 40.

The agency on Thursday said the U.S. Army discharged Schlueter in 2014 under “other than honorable” conditions after discovering his physical abuse of the children. In 2021, the Army’s Criminal Investigations Division learned about the sexual assault accusations, the Justice Department said. A grand jury in 2023 indicted Schlueter under the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act, a federal statute that allows the government to prosecute former service members who committed certain crimes outside the United States while serving in the military. 

Duva said Schlueter had “betrayed the honor and duty that comes with serving in the U.S. military.”

The mandatory minimum prison term for Schlueter’s convictions was 30 years. His sentence also carries a provision for a lifetime of supervised release.