An Army senior non-commissioned officer has been court-martialed after being arrested in Florida.
Sergeant First Class Brandon K. Keefer was accused of being absent without leave (AWOL) from Fort Bliss, Texas while assigned to the 5th Armored Training Brigade in October of 2022.
On March 21, 2023, he was arrested in North Port, Florida for allegedly threatening to kill an unnamed woman who he was in a relationship with.
He was also accused of strangling her, holding a knife to her throat, and trying to steal her property.
After his arrest, he was held in Sarasota County on an administrative hold for the Army.
The Army took him into custody on March 30, 2023, and he was returned to the Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 3rd Battalion, 320th Field Artillery Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.
While off post, in Oak Grove, Kentucky, SFC Keefer was accused of threatening to kill the woman again, according to Army documents obtained by The Salty Soldier.
On July 2, 2023, he was accused of holding her against her will, assaulting her, and threatening to kill her and her son if she sought help or called the police again.
At the end of October of that year, he was accused of going AWOL again but was apprehended the next day.
The next month, on November 21, he was accused of going AWOL for a third time and was caught at Fort Campbell near the end of December.
In January of 2024, his 2021 Nissan Rogue was taken by Christian County Towing of Hopkinsville, Kentucky, and was set to be sold in February.
According to Kentucky public records, the vehicle was to be sold for storage and towing fees and the vehicle’s lienholder was USAA Bank.
After being arraigned on all the charges, many of them were dismissed for reasons unknown.
During a special court-martial, which is similar to a misdemeanor conviction in civilian court and lesser than a general court-martial, SFC Keefer was found not guilty of the three charges of desertion (Article 85, UCMJ) but was found guilty of being AWOL (Article 86, UCMJ) on all three occasions.
He was also found guilty of disobeying a superior officer’s (O-2) order by having contact with the victim during his time AWOL in December of 2023.
All of the charges related to domestic violence were dismissed except for a violation of Article 128b, UCMJ, in which he was found guilty of grabbing the victim’s arms on July 2nd in Kentucky.
On August 26, 2024, he was reduced to the rank of staff sergeant, sentenced to nine months confinement, and given a bad conduct discharge.
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