Newly obtained military court records provide the first detailed public account of the crimes that led to the court-martial and imprisonment of former U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Allen G. VanEtten, a former member of the Air Force’s F-22 Raptor Demonstration Team.
The records, obtained by The Salty Soldier, reveal that VanEtten met a 15-year-old volunteer while working an airshow in La Crosse, Wisconsin, in June 2024. According to court filings, the two later communicated through Instagram and Snapchat, where prosecutors alleged VanEtten engaged in inappropriate communications with the teenager and repeatedly encouraged her to create and send illegal sexually explicit material.
Government attorneys alleged the communications continued over approximately two weeks and involved repeated requests for sexually explicit material. Prosecutors also alleged VanEtten sent explicit images and videos of himself during those exchanges. According to court filings, investigators alleged the teenager ultimately complied with several of his requests.
Military prosecutors ultimately charged VanEtten with two specifications of solicitation under Article 82 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, two specifications of sexual abuse of a child under Article 120b, and one specification involving child pornography under Article 134. The charging documents alleged VanEtten exposed himself to the minor and sent sexually explicit messages as part of the criminal conduct.
Editor’s Note: This article is a condensed version prepared for a general audience and to comply with advertising platform content guidelines. Because the underlying military court records contain sensitive material involving the exploitation of a minor, certain details have been omitted from this version. The complete investigative report, including additional facts drawn directly from the court filings, is available to age-verified subscribers at TheSaltySoldierUncensored.com.
Before trial, VanEtten’s defense sought dismissal or merger of several charges, arguing they arose from the same course of conduct and unfairly increased his criminal exposure. Prosecutors opposed the request, arguing each offense represented a separate criminal act with distinct legal and factual elements. Government attorneys further argued that the charging decision was restrained because each individual image or communication could have been charged separately but was not.
Court records also show the proceedings were delayed after VanEtten retained civilian defense counsel, who requested additional time to review discovery and prepare the case. VanEtten later consented to the release of one of his assigned military defense attorneys following the change in representation.
Rather than proceed to a contested trial, VanEtten pleaded guilty before a military judge at a general court-martial on April 3, 2026.
Under the plea agreement, the military judge was required to impose between 24 and 72 months of confinement. The judge sentenced VanEtten to the maximum confinement permitted under the agreement—72 months—along with a dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, reduction to the grade of Airman Basic (E-1), and a reprimand.
Before his conviction, VanEtten served with the 94th Fighter Generation Squadron at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia, and was featured in Air Force promotional material highlighting his role as a dedicated crew chief assigned to the F-22 Raptor Demonstration Team.
When the Air Force initially announced the outcome of the court-martial, it publicly identified the offenses of conviction and the sentence but released few details about the underlying conduct. The court records obtained by The Salty Soldier provide substantially more context regarding the investigation, the charges, and the legal proceedings that resulted in VanEtten’s guilty plea and conviction.
As part of its continuing coverage of the military justice system, The Salty Soldier sought the records to provide readers with a more complete and accurate account of a case involving a publicly identified member of the U.S. Air Force.
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