Roman Catholic priest, who is HIV positive, pleaded guilty to forcible sodomy
By Josh Mitchell Sun reporter
3:10 PM EST, December 6, 2007
By Josh Mitchell Sun reporter
3:10 PM EST, December 6, 2007
QUANTICO, Va. - A Catholic Navy chaplain who admitted forcing himself on a gay Naval Academy midshipman sent to him for counseling and having sex with an Air Force officer without disclosing he was HIV-positive was sentenced today to serve two years in a military prison.Lt. Cmdr. John Thomas Lee, 42, of Burke, Va., accepted a plea deal with Marine Corps prosecutors that suspended 10 years of a 12-year sentence, dismissed him from the Navy and required him to forfeit all future pay and benefits.The chaplain said during his court-martial at Quantico Marine Corps base that he had sex with an Air Force officer last year without revealing he had HIV. He had known he was carrying the virus, which causes AIDS, since at least 2005, but said he used a condom.
One of two victims to testify, a Navy ensign who graduated from the academy in 2006, told the packed courtroom that he was seeing the chaplain as a counselor when one evening Lee invited him to his Annapolis apartment, and the chaplain served the 20-year-old student beers and a glass of scotch. While sitting on the balcony, the ensign said, Lee exposed himself, then began to perform a sex act on the ensign. He told Lee he felt uncomfortable, and Lee stopped, the ensign said. The Sun typically does not identify victims of sex crimes.Prosecutors had sought a 15-year sentence for Lee, who was assigned to the Naval Academy from September 2003 to October 2006 and later to Quantico. He was ordained as a priest in 1993 and began serving as a military chaplain in 1996.He had been charged with aggravated assault, indecent assault, fraternization, forcible and consensual sodomy, and conduct unbecoming an officer. Without the plea agreement, Lee could have been sentenced to life in prison if found guilty of the forcible sodomy charge alone.
One of two victims to testify, a Navy ensign who graduated from the academy in 2006, told the packed courtroom that he was seeing the chaplain as a counselor when one evening Lee invited him to his Annapolis apartment, and the chaplain served the 20-year-old student beers and a glass of scotch. While sitting on the balcony, the ensign said, Lee exposed himself, then began to perform a sex act on the ensign. He told Lee he felt uncomfortable, and Lee stopped, the ensign said. The Sun typically does not identify victims of sex crimes.Prosecutors had sought a 15-year sentence for Lee, who was assigned to the Naval Academy from September 2003 to October 2006 and later to Quantico. He was ordained as a priest in 1993 and began serving as a military chaplain in 1996.He had been charged with aggravated assault, indecent assault, fraternization, forcible and consensual sodomy, and conduct unbecoming an officer. Without the plea agreement, Lee could have been sentenced to life in prison if found guilty of the forcible sodomy charge alone.
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