LTC Raymond Valas convicted
Bobo sends us a link to the Stars & Stripes article which announces the conviction of LTC Raymond Valas for soliciting for sex with a minor girl while he was on temporary duty (TDY) to San Antonio a year ago August;
Valas faces between 10 years and life in federal prison when he is sentenced on Feb. 27, 2015. He was taken into federal custody after the verdict was read.
When Valas was indicted in August, Gov. Maggie Hassan ordered Valas barred from state property. He was then deputy operations officer for Joint Force Headquarters, NHARNG. He was allowed to telework.
Public Affairs Officer Lt. Col. Greg Heilshorn said Friday: “We are beginning the process of separating (Valas) from the National Guard.” He will be stripped of all benefits and privileges.
Valas had said that he was interviewing the 15-year-old for a research paper on sex trafficking, the jury didn’t believe him.
Category: Shitbags
justice served
Good riddance. Something tells me he really won’t enjoy incarceration – particularly if he ends up in state or Federal custody vice Leavenworth.
Some people just have to learn the hard way that Jimmy Buffet wasn’t kidding in Livingston Saturday Night with that “15 may get you 20” line.
Yep. Bottom of the pecker (pecking) order.
Thor and Bubba will have fun giving him regular proctological exams. By the time Valas gets out, he won’t “fart”, he’ll “whoosh”.
Funny.
A totally “Phildoesque” dude.
In case you’re wondering why the jury found that he had sex with the girl twice but he was convicted of sex trafficking, there is no Federal statutory rape charge as there is under the UCMJ and state laws. He could still be prosecuted for having sex with a minor. His future is not bright. Stupid bastard.
Yep. Separate state offense, courtesy of Federalism. Not in any way,shape, or form double jeopardy.
Missed the fact that it was a Federal criminal court trial vice court-martial. Yeah, this guy is in deep sh!t when he gets to prison. He better pray he never ends up in “gen pop”.
Oh, I forgot to mention the four officers who testified on his behalf. Their futures are none too bright either b/c, as I understand it, they were asked whether his having sex with a minor would alter their view of him and they said no.
One of the four was “the sexual assault response coordinator for the New Hampshire National Guard”. It sounds like the NH Guard needs to take a close look at a bunches of their officers.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/crime/article/Jurors-in-S-A-convict-lieutenant-colonel-of-5909062.php
They apparently need to take a look at their accession and selection processes as well, UpNorth.
Valas was a War College Fellow. That means he was not only selected for resident War College – which is exceptionally competitive for the USAR and ARNG – but was also selected for one of the few Fellowship slots (full-time study at a civilian university in lieu of at Carlisle Barracks). I don’t believe those comprise more than 10% of the USAR/ARNG resident slots for the Army War College. I’m pretty sure they also require chain-of-command endorsement even to apply to compete for same (I could be wrong).
And yet he’s now convicted of employing an underage prostitute. I’m guessing it’s likely not the first time he’s ever employed a pro – and possibly not the first time he’s employed an underage pro, either.
Seems to me the NH ARNG’s accession and selection processes should have removed him from duty long before it came to this. Best I can tell, such conduct is generally not a character flaw that “magically appears” for the first time while TDY.
Highly doubtful this was his first for either, as you say. That article points out a culture in that state guard that needs to be rooted out,
New Hampshire just closed a search for a new Chief of Staff. TAG NH was actively soliciting other TAGs and NG GOs for qualified officers from outside of NH. I think that they know that there’s a problem.
Ah, the old “I was doing research” defense. Is that anything like “everybody does it” and “the dog ate my homework?”
Good riddance.
Pedophile shitbag.
I knew that “I was just doing research” wasn’t going to fly the first time I heard it.
He did have another defense, though, according to some other coverage I read – that he didn’t know the girl was underage. The girl testified that her pimps told her to tell customers that she was 19. In some cases, a reasonable and honest belief that the girl was of age can provide a defense, depending on the wording of the particular statute.
MrBill: I believe this guy was tried for a violation of the Federal TVPA, which appears to caetgorically declare those engaged in underage prostitution as victims of severe human trafficking. It doesn’t appear to have an “out” for anyone doing so unknowingly.
This guy is in deep sh!t, and I don’t think he has any way out.
No, he’s screwed, so to speak. The defense of ‘well, she looked 18’ does work in a small number of states when the charge is statutory rape and the victim is not below a certain age no matter what she looks like but, by law, most states disallow it. It’s the criminal equivalent of what’s called strict liability in torts. Essentially, once the essential elements are established, all you have left is to beg for mercy in sentencing.
Wasn’t a state trial. So what a few states might do doesn’t matter.
Trial was Federal, and the Federal law he was convicted of violating (human trafficking involving an underage “victim”) doesn’t seem to have any such “out” for the unknowing.
I was responding to Mr. Bill, Hondo.
OK – since you replied to my comment vice his, I thought you were replying to me.
I was kinda doing the proverbial “head scratch” given your earlier comment. Now I understand.
Sounds like legitimate thesis research to me…
The thesis probably would be valid. The research methodology (boinking a pro)? Um, not so much – regardless of the pro’s age.
Hondo – does the commenter’s name ring a bell? ;^)
Yes. But his bogus research methodology was of a rather different nature. (smile)
Why don’t you have a seat?
I’m sure that Bubba & Thor have already auctioned him off so they already know whose “wife” he’ll be!
I have no sympathy for this bucket of sewage, any more than I do for the Catholic priests whose malicious predations on chidren and parishioners went buried and denied by the Vatican for decades. There is no excuse, period.
May they all rot for it, and be on the receiving end in their next lives.
So, in the last month or so, three people who I’ve worked with; Valas, Green, and Pounding, have made the news for criminal activities. It must be me.
No, Bobo.
Bad people gravitate toward good people, because they know instinctively that they themselves are corrupt and want to not be corrupt. They seek the uncorrupted to try to acquire what they don’t have.
It isn’t you.
Bobo, we had a few beers together last year. Should I delete my browser history?
Yeah, you’re pretty much screwed. Just get read off and walk away now.
Must be your “aura”, Bobo. (smile)
Seriously – IMO Ex-PH2 has it nailed. How many sh!tbag fakes have we seen hanging out with VSOs/veteran’s groups/veteran’s biker clubs? Or “rockin’ the lie” to attain leadership positions in same?
I think it’s much like a moth attracted to a flame. Many fakes and lowlifes seem attracted to things and people they know they can never be. So they hang out with them – and lie/cheat/steal their ass off to get ahead so that they can run with (or in some cases, lord it over) those who are legit.
The 3 you mention IMO seem to fit that bill perfectly. You’re just the nearby legit measuring stick against which they measure themselves – and find themselves wanting.
He can always get a job at All Points Logistics. They have an affinity for cretins and disgraced LTC’S. Have fun in jail shitbag.
Some GO just lost a golden boy.
what’s with these diet colonels getting in trouble all the time? i’m pretty sure 0-5’s screw up more per capita than any other grade in the dod.