FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. — A U.S. Army military policeman with more than a decade of service has been sentenced to two years in prison and a dishonorable discharge following a military investigation into illegal online material involving minors.
Staff Sgt. Chandler D. Hummel, 30, assigned to the 795th Military Police Battalion, 14th Military Police Brigade, pleaded guilty October 5, 2026, during a general court-martial at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.
Hummel was convicted by a military judge of one specification of possession of child pornography under Article 134 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), according to the Army’s official court-martial record. He received a sentence of 24 months of confinement and a dishonorable discharge from military service.
Hummel’s assignment is notable because the 795th Military Police Battalion is an initial-entry training organization responsible for preparing new Soldiers for military service and careers in the Army’s Military Police Corps.
According to the battalion’s official mission statement, the unit trains Soldiers in basic military and law enforcement skills, including policing, detention operations, and security support. The battalion operates under the 14th Military Police Brigade at Fort Leonard Wood, one of the Army’s primary military police training installations.
The Army has not publicly specified Hummel’s exact duties within the training battalion or whether he directly supervised trainees.
The investigation began in June and July 2025 when the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children received two CyberTips from the social media platforms TikTok and Kik concerning activity associated with Hummel’s accounts.
According to an October 9, 2026, announcement by the Army Office of Special Trial Counsel, the reports prompted an investigation by the Department of the Army Criminal Investigation Division (CID).
Army CID investigators subsequently executed a search warrant and conducted a forensic examination of Hummel’s iPhone. The examination uncovered nearly 100 files containing illegal material involving minors, according to the Army.
The findings ultimately resulted in the military prosecution that concluded with Hummel’s guilty plea and sentencing.
Army CID officials emphasized the responsibilities of military law enforcement personnel in their announcement of the conviction.
“Wearing the badge of a law enforcement officer carries exceptional responsibility,” said John McCabe, special agent in charge of Army CID’s Midcentral Field Office.
McCabe said the agency remains committed to investigating offenses involving the exploitation of minors, including cases involving military personnel.
Capt. Derek Sanchez, a prosecutor with the Army Office of Special Trial Counsel’s Fourth Circuit, also emphasized the Army’s commitment to investigating and prosecuting offenses involving illegal online material.
The investigation was conducted by Army CID’s Fort Leonard Wood Resident Agency. Sanchez prosecuted the case alongside Capt. Raymond Pusateri of the Office of the Staff Judge Advocate, 14th Military Police Brigade.
A separate publicly available booking listing also identifies Chandler Dale Hummel in connection with the Phelps County jail system in Missouri.
The listing, published by the third-party website RecentlyBooked.com, identifies booking number 00086851 and includes the designation “Housed For Safe Keeping” under the reported charge information.
That classification does not independently establish that Hummel faced separate criminal charges in Missouri.
The circumstances surrounding the reported county detention, including the agency responsible for his custody and whether the booking was connected to the military investigation, have not yet been confirmed through official county records.
The third-party listing has also displayed inconsistent booking dates, making it necessary to obtain the original jail documentation before establishing a definitive custody timeline.
The Army’s public announcement did not address the Phelps County booking or provide details about Hummel’s custody before the court-martial.
According to the Army, Hummel will serve his sentence at the Midwest Joint Regional Confinement Facility at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
Following his release, he will be subject to sex offender registration requirements under applicable federal and state laws.
The publicly available military court record confirms Hummel’s guilty plea, conviction, and sentence. However, the complete charge sheet, plea agreement, and supporting investigative records have not yet been reviewed by The Salty Soldier.
Those documents, along with the original Phelps County detention records, could provide additional information about the investigation, the judicial proceedings, and Hummel’s custody before sentencing.
The Salty Soldier will continue following the case and update this report as additional official records become available.
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