FORT HOOD, Texas — A U.S. Army staff sergeant assigned to the 1st Cavalry Division was sentenced to 15 months in confinement and a dishonorable discharge after pleading guilty to two specifications of possessing child pornography, according to military court records obtained by The Salty Soldier.
Staff Sgt. Dakota W. Boggess was convicted Aug. 24, 2026, during a general court-martial at Fort Hood, Texas. Military judge Lt. Col. Christopher S. Sexton imposed the sentence under the terms of a plea agreement, bringing an end to a prosecution that originally included seven specifications involving possession and viewing offenses.
According to his military charge sheet, Boggess was assigned to Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division.
The original charges alleged misconduct spanning nearly three years, including incidents at Fort Hood and during his unit’s deployment to Europe.
According to the Army’s charge sheet, Boggess knowingly and wrongfully possessed prohibited sexual material involving minors, or what appeared to be minors, on a desktop computer at or near Fort Hood on or about Jan. 7, 2025.
The prosecution charged him with three specifications of possession and four additional specifications of viewing such material, all under Article 134 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
The two specifications resulting in convictions involved separate allegations of possessing sexually explicit visual depictions of minors, or what appeared to be minors, on a desktop computer.
Boggess pleaded guilty to both offenses.
The remaining five specifications were dismissed, including a separate allegation that he possessed prohibited material on a Samsung Galaxy S9 smartphone.
Four additional dismissed specifications accused Boggess of viewing such material on electronic devices during several periods between June 2022 and January 2025.
One of those allegations placed the alleged misconduct overseas, near Drawsko Pomorskie, Poland, between April 9 and Sept. 10, 2023.
Military prosecutors alleged that Boggess knowingly viewed the material on a Samsung Galaxy S9 smartphone during that period while his brigade was deployed to Europe.
That specification was ultimately dismissed, and Boggess was not convicted of the alleged conduct in Poland.
Publicly released Army photographs document Boggess participating in military training in Europe during the same period covered by the dismissed Poland allegation.
On May 8, 2023, Boggess, then a sergeant, was photographed alongside a private first class during Combined Resolve 18 at the Hohenfels Training Area in Germany.
The photograph shows the two armor crewmen participating in a simulated combat operation during the multinational training exercise.
Combined Resolve 18 involved more than 4,000 service members and personnel from 15 allied and partner nations and was designed to evaluate combat readiness and multinational military operations.
The photograph was taken approximately one month after the beginning of the period identified in the dismissed Poland allegation.
Boggess’s brigade had arrived in Europe earlier that year.
On Feb. 4, 2023, the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, known as the Black Jack Brigade, officially assumed responsibility for U.S. Army operations supporting Operation Atlantic Resolve during a transfer-of-authority ceremony at Drawsko-Pomorskie Training Area in Poland.
The brigade replaced the division’s 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, which had completed its European rotation.
The connection between the deployment and the criminal case is notable because Drawsko Pomorskie is the same geographic area specifically identified in one of Boggess’s original criminal specifications.
His brigade remained in Europe until September 2023, when it transferred responsibility to the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division.
The Army photograph establishes that Boggess was participating in military training in Germany during the period covered by the Poland allegation. It does not establish that he committed the alleged offense, which was dismissed during the court-martial proceedings.
According to the Army’s official statement of trial results, Boggess pleaded guilty to the second and third specifications of possessing child pornography.
He pleaded not guilty to the remaining five specifications, which were dismissed.
Under the terms of his plea agreement, the military judge was required to impose 15 months of confinement for each of the two convictions, with the sentences running concurrently.
Consequently, Boggess received a total confinement sentence of 15 months rather than 30 months.
The agreement also required a dishonorable discharge and prohibited the imposition of additional punishments.
The official sentencing worksheet confirms that Boggess received no reduction in rank, forfeitures, fines, or other additional punishment as part of the adjudged sentence.
The military judge did not recommend suspending any portion of his sentence.
Army court records further indicate that Boggess’s convictions require sex offender registration under applicable federal requirements. The statement of trial results also identifies his convictions as qualifying offenses for mandatory DNA processing.
Boggess received no credit for pretrial confinement, according to the sentencing records.
The available court documents do not establish how investigators initially discovered the material, how many files were recovered, or whether additional individuals were implicated in the investigation.
The documents also do not identify the reasons the five remaining specifications were dismissed beyond recording their final disposition.
Boggess’s general court-martial was convened under the authority of the 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Hood, Texas.
His conviction and sentence were recorded in the Army’s official court-martial results on Aug. 24, 2026.
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