CHARLOTTE, N.C. — More than four years after a U.S. Air Force major was sexually assaulted while sleeping in a Marriott hotel room, a $160 million federal lawsuit over the incident is approaching a November 2026 jury trial. The attacker, Jermaine Lamont Peay Jr., was sentenced on January 6, 2025, to 38 to 58 months…
SAN ANTONIO, Texas — The U.S. Air Force has identified the service member who died after falling during a military rappelling demonstration ahead of a college football game Saturday as Tech. Sgt. Ian Patterson, a decorated Airman with 15 years of military service. Patterson died following an October 17, 2026, accident at the Alamodome in…
ALAMOGORDO, N.M. — What began as the mysterious disappearance of a U.S. Air Force noncommissioned officer in southern New Mexico eventually led investigators to the Dominican Republic, where his family feared an online relationship may have played a role in his sudden departure. For nearly a year, the family of Staff Sgt. Isaiah Morningstar searched…
Newly obtained court records provide new details about the case against active-duty Airman Benton Christopher Fezer, who faces 22 felony child abuse charges involving his 5-year-old daughter. Editor’s Note: This story discusses allegations of child abuse. Some details contained in court records have been omitted from this report due to their graphic nature. An uncensored…
Chief Master Sgt. Anthony Green is shown while serving as command chief at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, on Sept. 4, 2019, left, and during a chief’s induction ceremony in Tampa on Jan. 31, 2020, right. (U.S. Air Force photos by Airman 1st Class Ryan C. Grossklag and Airman 1st Class Shannon Bowman) A former…
A missing 15-year-old Pennsylvania girl was found in the basement of a home rented by a 27-year-old active-duty airman after investigators tracked his cellphone to Dover Air Force Base, according to a federal criminal complaint obtained by The Salty Soldier. The girl later told investigators that Dylan Drake Williams sexually assaulted her, recorded multiple encounters…
An Air Force staff sergeant trusted to keep aircraft safe at Ramstein Air Base repeatedly tested positive for cocaine and stopped using the drug only after commanders restricted him to the installation, according to a sharply worded reprimand issued after his court-martial. Staff Sgt. (E-5) Jacob R. Van Pelt pleaded guilty to possessing cocaine and…
A McConnell Air Force Base airman accused of sexually abusing teenage boys he met through a local church was convicted at a general court-martial of possessing child pornography, multiple indecent-conduct offenses and obstruction of justice, but was acquitted of both sexual-abuse charges prosecutors brought against him. Senior Airman Randall Race Thomas Moore Jr., 26, assigned…
TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. — A career Airman who pleaded for mercy after admitting marijuana use, describing a divorce-driven collapse marked by depression, heavy drinking and suicidal thoughts, later pleaded guilty to using marijuana during a new period and was sentenced to a bad-conduct discharge. Staff Sgt. Kinyada J. Johnson, assigned to the 552nd…
An active-duty Airman stationed at Minot Air Force Base admitted to investigators that he secretly recorded a 13-year-old family or household member inside his on-base home, according to newly obtained North Dakota court records. Those recordings became part of a much larger investigation into Cory James Mulrain, a technical sergeant assigned to Minot AFB. Federal…
