AFGHANISTAN: Marine admits to adultery with widow of Marine he recruited
On June 14, Marine Pvt. Michael Robert Patton, 19, of the Twentynine Palms-based 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, was killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan.
On July 4, the recruiter who had encouraged Patton to join the Marine Corps had sex with Patton's widow, Amy.
On Tuesday, Gunnery Sgt. Stephen Kuehler, 30, who is married, was sentenced to 90 days in the brig after admitting to a jury at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego that he committed adultery by having sex with Patton's widow.
Kuehler was also ordered reduced in rank and will not be able to reenlist. He was a recruiter in the St. Louis area.
Amy Patton said Kuehler attended her husband's funeral at Fenton, Mo., and then took her to movies and a July 4th barbecue. Her husband, she said, had great respect for Kuehler.
A Marine prosecutor, Capt. Tyler Hart, told a jury of two officers and six enlisted personnel that Kuehler had "betrayed the trust of a fellow Marine." Under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, adultery is considered "conduct prejudicial to good order and discipline."
-- Tony Perry in San Diego
