A Marine colonel who was awarded the Bronze Star has been sentenced to five and a half years in prison for sexually abusing the six-year-old daughter of one of his men.
On Saturday Colonel Daniel Wilson, 56, was found guilty of touching the genitalia of the little girl in the summer of last year during visits to her family. He was sentenced on Sunday.
Wilson was also found guilty of six counts of conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman and being absent without leave after a string of drunken remarks made about a colleague’s wife, Military.com reported.
Colonel Daniel Wilson (pictured left, and right heading into court), 56, was found guilty Sunday of touching the genitals of the six-year-old daughter of one of the men serving under him
Wilson had abused the girl during a two-week period last summer when he was visiting her family frequently. They said he was drunk and paid special attention to their daughter
Wilson, of Mason, Washington, has served in the Marines for 30 years and made 11 deployments
He had been at the top of his battalion when graduating, and was named platoon and series honorman, The Daily Beast reported.
But he will now be dismissed from the Corps and sent to prison, his career ending in ignominy.
His downfall became inevitable after charges were made in a series of incidents – only some of which involved the child – in Australia, North Carolina’s Camp Lejeune, and Beaufort, South Carolina, in 2016.
The court heard how he and his wife Susan had grown close to the girl’s family and visited them regularly over a two-week period beginning in June last year – and ending when the girl made the shocking accusations.
During that time the 240lb, 6-foot-3-inch-tall soldier had been left alone with the child on several occasions, and had paid particular attention to her when her parents were present, the court heard.
As well as touching the girl’s genitals he was also accused of penetrating her with a finger, and licking and smacking the buttocks of one of her sisters – but found not guilty of both charges.
The girl eventually told her parents what had happened and he was arrested. He was also found guilty of conduct unbecoming of an officer while posted in Australia last year
Wilson (seen here in Thailand in 2014) had obtained photos of another officer’s ‘scantily clad’ wife, shared it with colleagues and asked him for a pair of her panties, among other things
The girl, her sisters and their parents all testified in court about the abuse. He had been drunk on several occasions around the girl, they said.
Susan Wilson told The Daily Beast that her husband had suffered PTSD after driving over an explosive device in Fallujah, Iraq, in 2003.
He had been visibly suffering from alcohol withdrawal during his appearances in court, the site claimed.
The court also heard how Wilson had behaved inappropriately in a series of other, separate, incidents.
In January 2016, Wilson was accused by a woman of assaulting her the previous month, when she was sharing a hotel room with him and his wife in Beaufort.
She claimed that he twice leaped on top of her while she was in bed and penetrated her with his fingers.
The defense then questioned her credibility and details in her story, and Wilson was found not guilty of that charge of sexual assault and assault consummated by battery.
However, he was found guilty of going AWOL during that incident, for not getting permission to leave base during his trip to Beaufort.
Wilson, who has been in the brig in Camp Lejeune since January, was credited with nearly eight months’ time served. The decorated officer is being fired from the Marine Corps
He had been dropped as operations officer for II Marine Expeditionary Force aboard Lejeune during the investigations, and was told he had to get permission to leave base – something he failed to do, the court heard.
Wilson was also found guilty on Saturday of six counts of conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman while serving in Australia last year.
He had been given a liaison posting in the Australian city of Darwin, and almost immediately began a campaign of appalling behavior, the court heard.
That included making sexual remarks to the wife of another colonel, and soliciting a ‘scantily clad’ photograph of another officer’s wife.
He then shared that photograph with an Australian commander and asked the same officer for a pair of his wife’s panties.
Wilson was also found guilty of making a female officer feel uncomfortable with unduly familiar and crude Facebook messages.
He was fired from the liaison posting just 10 days into the job.
In total, Wilson – who has denied all of the claims against him – was found not guilty of six charges.
They were the rape of a child, assault consummated by battery upon a child under 16 years, sexual assault and assault consummated by battery, and three counts of conduct unbecoming of an officer and a gentleman.
He has been granted almost eight months of time served, having spent that period in the brig at Camp Lejeune, where he was placed in January after the second round of accusations came to light.
It’s currently unclear whether he or his family will be granted his salary or retirement benefits.