Updated at 2:50 p.m., Saturday, December 16, 2006
Air Force pilot convicted of indecent assault
Advertiser Staff
The Air Force Times is reporting that a pilot from an elite Air Force unit assigned to transport VIPs such as the president and defense secretary has been convicted of indecent assault and fraternization following a night of binge drinking.
The incident in question happened while on a mission last year to fly Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England to Honolulu and back.
Maj. Vincent A. Pacella Jr., a pilot with the 89th Airlift Wing at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., was convicted Nov. 16 of assaulting and fraternizing with a female enlisted flight attendant while on the November 2005 mission to Hawai'i.
Pacella, a member of the 99th Airlift Squadron, was sentenced to 10 months in prison and a reprimand.
"This intolerable incident is not indicative of the normal exemplary behavior demonstrated [by] members of the 89th Airlift Wing and the 99th Airlift Squadron," Capt. Herb McConnell, a spokesman for the units, said in a statement. "Maj. Pacella chose to ignore clear Air Force directives and has been punished according to the law."
Several crew members testified during the trial that the incident in Hawai'i occurred in the first few hours of scheduled 36-hour ground time. The crew was not scheduled to depart until more than 30 hours later, McConnell said.
A reporter who was present at the trial said the testimony portrayed a night in which several crew members drank heavily at more than one bar.
The crew members ordered many rounds of drinks, he said, and, at some points, ordered their next round as their current round arrived at the table.
The victim of the sexual assault, a staff sergeant on the crew, testified she drank until she blacked out.
