FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. — An Army military police captain accused of stalking a staff sergeant, assaulting a former intimate partner, tracking her without her knowledge and maintaining prohibited relationships with several enlisted Soldiers was dismissed from the service and sentenced to 82 days in confinement after pleading guilty to two offenses.
Capt. Matthew Angelo Punay was serving with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 701st Military Police Battalion, 14th Military Police Brigade, at Fort Leonard Wood when the Army charged him in 2025.
The charges described misconduct spanning from 2021 through 2025 and involved several enlisted Soldiers ranging in rank from specialist to staff sergeant. They included allegations that Punay, while serving as a commissioned officer, entered into romantic or sexual relationships with enlisted Soldiers and later stalked, assaulted and intimidated a staff sergeant who had been his intimate partner.
Punay was ultimately convicted of taking that former partner’s vehicle and residence keys to intimidate her and of deleting data from a SpyGuy account while he believed criminal proceedings against him were pending or likely.
He pleaded guilty to both offenses and was sentenced March 10, 2026, to dismissal from the Army and 82 days in confinement.
The allegations involving his former intimate partner were among the most serious in the case.
Army prosecutors accused Punay of committing an assault against a staff sergeant identified in the charge sheet as his former intimate partner sometime between Jan. 1 and April 30, 2024. The charge alleged that Punay unlawfully touched the woman’s buttocks with his hand.
He pleaded not guilty to that allegation, and it was dismissed.
Prosecutors separately accused Punay of stalking a staff sergeant between roughly January and July 2024. According to the charge sheet, Punay allegedly engaged in a course of conduct directed at the Soldier that would cause a reasonable person to fear bodily harm. Prosecutors further alleged that the conduct actually placed the staff sergeant in reasonable fear of being assaulted.
Punay pleaded not guilty to stalking, and the charge was dismissed.
Another allegation accused Punay of secretly tracking his former intimate partner over a period of several months.
Prosecutors alleged that from about March 1 through July 31, 2024, Punay tracked a staff sergeant who had been his former intimate partner without her knowledge or consent. The Army charged that conduct as unbecoming an officer.
Punay pleaded not guilty, and the charge was dismissed.
One allegation involving the same former intimate partner did result in a conviction.
On or about Jan. 8, 2024, prosecutors said Punay wrongfully took the staff sergeant’s personal vehicle and residence keys with the intent to intimidate her. The Army charged the conduct under Article 128b, the UCMJ’s domestic violence provision.
Punay pleaded guilty.
The charge sheet also shows that Punay’s alleged misconduct involving enlisted Soldiers was not limited to that relationship.
Army prosecutors accused him of fraternizing with a staff sergeant between Nov. 1 and Dec. 31, 2023, by engaging in a sexual relationship with her despite the military’s prohibition on officers fraternizing with enlisted personnel on terms of military equality.
That fraternization charge was dismissed after Punay pleaded not guilty.
Two additional fraternization allegations involved lower-ranking enlisted Soldiers.
Prosecutors accused Punay of engaging in a romantic relationship with a sergeant during May 2022 and another romantic relationship with a specialist between November and December 2021.
Both specifications alleged that Punay knowingly fraternized with enlisted Soldiers while he was a commissioned officer. Both were withdrawn before pleas and did not result in convictions.
The alleged 2021 relationships also led to charges that Punay violated an Army Training and Doctrine Command regulation governing prohibited relationships.
According to the charge sheet, Punay was accused of violating TRADOC Regulation 350-6 by engaging in a familiar relationship through social media with a sergeant between November and December 2021.
A second specification accused him of violating the same regulation by engaging in an intimate relationship with a specialist during the same period.
Those charges were also withdrawn before pleas.
The case continued into 2025.
Prosecutors accused Punay of committing another offense against the property of a staff sergeant between Feb. 21 and May 15, 2025. The charge alleged that he stole a nude image belonging to the Soldier with the intent to intimidate her.
That specification was withdrawn before Punay entered his pleas and did not result in a conviction.
Punay’s second conviction involved what prosecutors described as an attempt to interfere with the criminal case developing against him.
On or about June 26, 2024, Punay requested that data from his SpyGuy account be deleted. The Army alleged that he did so intending to obstruct justice while he had reason to believe criminal proceedings against him were pending or would soon begin.
He pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice.
The military judge imposed 82 days of confinement for the domestic violence offense involving his former partner’s keys and 48 days for obstruction of justice. The sentences ran concurrently, meaning Punay’s total confinement remained 82 days.
He was also dismissed from the Army, the punitive separation available for commissioned officers.
Punay’s Army career appears to have begun several years before the misconduct alleged in the case.
The University of Colorado Colorado Springs Army ROTC program lists “2LT PUNAY, Matthew – MP” among its 2018 Mountain Ranger alumni, identifying him as a second lieutenant in the Military Police branch.
By 2024, Punay had risen to captain and was serving in the military police community at Fort Leonard Wood.
The criminal case that followed involved accusations concerning multiple enlisted Soldiers across several years: a specialist, a sergeant and staff sergeants; alleged romantic and sexual relationships; an alleged assault; stalking; covert tracking; intimidation involving personal property; and an allegation that he stole a nude image.
Most of those accusations did not result in convictions and were either dismissed or withdrawn.
Punay nevertheless left the case convicted of intimidating his former intimate partner by taking her vehicle and residence keys and of deleting SpyGuy account data in an effort to obstruct justice.
His sentence ended with 82 days behind bars and dismissal from the Army.
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