O-6 pleads guilty to AWOL, not guilty to rape

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O-6 pleads guilty to AWOL, not guilty to rape

Staff and wire reports
Posted : Friday Jun 20, 2008 21:58:00 EDT

WICHITA FALLS, Texas — A former Air Force training group commander pleaded guilty Thursday in military court to three charges and not guilty to three others.

Col. Samuel Lofton III, former 82nd Training Group commander at Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas, pleaded guilty to failing to obey an order or regulation related to misusing a government credit card and larceny related to 17 instances of filing false travel reimbursements. In addition, he pleaded guilty to being absent without leave on six occasions.

He pleaded not guilty to three other charges, including rape and indecent assault. He is accused of making sexual advances toward two civilian workers at the base and raping one of the women.

His court-martial on the remaining three charges was set to begin Monday.

If convicted of the rape charge, Lofton could face life in prison.

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Lofton was removed a year ago from his post, which he held about three years, after evidence of financial wrongdoing. Since then, he has worked at another job at the base.

Allegations against Lofton include running up about $10,000 in unauthorized expenses on his government travel card, including his children’s school lunches, a utility bill, airline tickets for relatives and restaurant meals in town.

He also is accused of being reimbursed for trips he never took that were scheduled while he flew to other cities to see his girlfriend, children or a friend.