The wife of Sergeant Joseph B. Vitela, the Fort Gregg-Adams-based military police officer convicted in March of domestic violence and lying to Army investigators, has broken her silence in a public statement challenging the Army’s handling of the case.
In a message shared on The Salty Soldier Uncensored, Cynthia Vitela described her struggle with alcoholism and mental health during the time of the incident. She accused Army law enforcement and CID agents of ignoring her statements and pressuring her into a version of events that she says didn’t reflect reality.
“Hey all, wife of Joseph, my husband who was listed in the article,” she began, referring to an earlier report by The Salty Soldier. “This is a very vulnerable moment for me… I want to say that I’m okay firstly. I was struggling so much during that period with substance abuse issues and with poor mental health… I drowned my problems with alcohol and was handling my issues poorly.”
According to Cynthia’s statement, the September 13, 2024, incident that led to Vitela’s court-martial began during a night when she was heavily intoxicated. She claims she was “approaching blackout drunk” and “belligerent” when Vitela spanked her on the buttocks in an attempt to calm her down. She left the room and messaged a friend—who, unbeknownst to her, contacted military police.
“I never wanted to press charges and was actively being told I was lying when giving my statement to CID,” she said. “That night I was literally drinking in front of the investigators… and they still kept insisting I was not drunk.”
Vitela was charged under Article 128b of the UCMJ for striking his wife and under Article 107 for making false official statements to Army investigators. While the court acquitted him of the more serious allegation—striking her in the face—he was found guilty of minimizing his wife’s level of intoxication and denying any physical contact, both of which the judge determined to be intentional misrepresentations.
However, Cynthia now asserts that Vitela’s denial was not a lie—at least not as CID framed it. She contends that the contact was minimal and not abusive.
“He didn’t hit my face, he didn’t hit me at all, he spanked me lightly once,” she wrote. “He was asked if he hit me and he said no, which is why CID is saying he lied to them.”
Her claims raise serious questions about the Army’s investigative procedures in this case—particularly regarding the credibility and condition of witnesses during interviews. The fact that she was allegedly drinking in front of MPs while giving her initial statement, yet was described in reports as “not intoxicated,” could reflect a troubling lapse in protocol or a deliberate effort to shape the case against Vitela.
Cynthia, whose public social media history includes documentation of her struggles with sobriety—such as a 24-hour Alcoholics Anonymous coin—says she has since turned her life around with the help of therapy and sobriety support groups. That publicly available information further supports her argument that Army investigators failed to do their due diligence during the case. If her visible history of alcohol abuse was readily apparent online, it raises additional concerns about how thoroughly law enforcement vetted her condition and credibility at the time of the interview—especially if they reported her as sober while she claims to have been visibly intoxicated during questioning.
“I’ve gotten the help I desperately needed, and my husband has been nothing but supportive during this,” she wrote. “Now that all of our privacy is out of the window all I can do is protect my family and my mental health… What I have said here is all that needs to be said by the only credible source, me—the origin of the story.”
Sergeant Vitela, who had been promoted just months before the incident while serving in Italy with the U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa, was reassigned to Fort Gregg-Adams and joined the new CASCOM Law Enforcement Activity. His conviction resulted in a reduction in rank from E-5 to E-4 but no confinement or separation, reportedly due to a pretrial agreement.
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