Air Force NCO Faces Trouble for Prior Conviction
Here is another story of a servicemember sent to jail on he said, she said evidence and he didn’t even commit a physical assault:
A hard-charging senior enlisted leader finds himself suddenly sidelined in his mission and his stellar career, ordered home from the war zone amid an investigation into a criminal record arising out of a domestic confrontation a full decade ago.
The probe into the 2006 civilian prosecution of then-Tech Sgt. Eric Soluri highlights the Air Force’s ongoing challenges in fully and fairly holding airmen accountable for their conduct. It’s a responsibility under heightened scrutiny today as all services work to eliminate a reputation for minimizing conduct and policies harmful to women. And it underscores how misconduct by some airmen may fall through the cracks as hundreds are being kicked out of an Air Force cutting end strength by separating those who have had even minor blemishes on their service records.
Whether Soluri’s civilian prosecution escaped the full notice of his chain of command or was ever part of his Air Force record is unclear. However, he quickly recovered from an incident that could have ended his career to a fast track to E-9.
In November 2004, when he was working as an E-6 recruiter in Massachusetts, he threatened to bash in the head of his former girlfriend with a candle jar. The woman, a staff sergeant at Hanscom Air Force Base, told authorities they’d been arguing when he demanded she rub his feet and dance naked for him. She refused. Soluri was convicted in a civilian courtroom two years later of threatening to commit a crime. He served 14 days of a six-month jail sentence and was court-ordered to attend a batterers program and undergo a psychological evaluation.
His career should have been over. Soluri himself expected as much, and unsuccessfully petitioned the judge to remove the jail time from his record. But he remained in the Air Force, and just months after he walked out of jail, in June 2007, he was selected for promotion to master sergeant.Soluri was promoted two more times, to the top one percent of the enlisted force, at a time when the slightest infraction — failed PT tests or administrative discipline, for example — has ended the careers of thousands of airmen. [Air Force Times]
You can read the rest at the link, but Soluri denied what the girlfriend claimed:
When interviewed by the detective in January 2005, Soluri denied the allegations. He said the woman made up the story because Soluri had threatened to tell the staff sergeant’s leadership about her alleged drinking problem. Soluri also accused his former girlfriend of striking his son from a previous marriage.
Morrison reported those allegations to local child and family services officials, but the matter was dropped.
So the only evidence used to convict the NCO was the girlfriend’s testimony about a threat and he did not even physically assault her while his testimony about her committing child abuse was dropped. I do not know who is telling the truth, heck they both could be lying, but this is another perfect example of how hard these domestic violence cases are to adjudicated. That is why his leadership at the time likely let him stay in the Air Force instead of taking action to kick him out.
What I am wondering is what Soluri answered on this security clearance background check in regards to whether he was convicted of committing a crime. If he lied about that then he should be charged. Even if he was honest about his prior conviction and did nothing wrong to cover it up, his career is likely over after all this negative publicity.
Wow, in Massachusetts you can do jail time for “threatening to commit a crime”? That’s almost like “thought crime”.
Minority Report is real! Damn Precogs! lol
“Wow, in Massachusetts you can do jail time for “threatening to commit a crime”? That’s almost like “thought crime”.
That isn’t a thought crime. Threatening to bash someone’s head in is actually a crime pretty much anywhere. Sometimes it precedes a robbery “give me your money or I’ll bash your head in”.
That said, in these sorts of he said she said cases without any evidence whatsoever I believe the man 9 times out of 10. Because the law is on the woman’s side and there is incentive for her to lie.
I like this bit in the article: ““That information will be presented to the wing commander upon the investigation’s conclusion,” he said.”
Like the wing commander has any real discretion in the matter now that this man’s name has hit the AF Times. I guess he does have the option to weigh the evidence and decide not to prosecute…but his career would be over.
Unless there is something more to this story, like not being fully honest on security clearance review, I don’t see what the AF can prosecute him on. The AF might just deny him retention and make him retire to cover their azzes from the activists and this will be the last we hear of it.
Interesting article from last year about this guy in his hometown newspaper:
http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/article/20130222/CURR04/702229985
Watertown native’s career goes ‘Full Throttle’
Eric B. Soluri’s life took off once he joined the Air Force. But lately, it’s gone “Full Throttle.”
The Watertown native was recently promoted to chief master sergeant, a rank only 1 percent of enlisted Air Force personnel holds. But away from that profession, Chief Master Sgt. Soluri can be seen on national television as a regular and chief of security on truTV’s “Full Throttle Saloon.”
How he got the television gig demonstrates his drive and eagerness to succeed, with a plan to eventually return to Watertown to become mayor.
***read the rest at the link***
“he threatened to bash in the head of his former girlfriend with a candle jar. The woman told authorities they’d been arguing when he demanded she rub his feet and dance naked for him. She refused. ”
The moral of the story…
If you don’t satisfy your man, he wax off.
That was an informative article, guitard. Thanks for sharing that. He sounds like a really good guy.
The AF Times did quite a smear job on him.
The article mentioned that the ex girlfriend hit his son (ostensibly), and his son has cancer. He’s a single dad and the USAF left his kids uncovered by medical insurance for several months while they were sorting out the he said/she said and he had to spend a few nights in jail. The way the AF Times covered this information (or rather, didn’t cover it) speaks volumes.
I know threats are no joking matter, but I could see two people in a heated argument making all kinds of threats to hurt/kill each other. Wonder if a court would charge both with making threats?
I think only male threats “matter” in court, Andy.
After reading that newspaper article guitard linked to, the AF Times one almost makes me physically ill. Imagine what they’d say if this was a single mom and her live in lover had hit her kid, then she ended up in jail and her kids weren’t covered by health insurance for months after an unsubstantiated accusation. The article makes it sound like this is a just and good thing. This writer it a human parasite. She needs to sit next to the ebola doctor.
Like Liz said.
He is married and his sons treatment was completely paid for by trip are and or the donations Douglas high school raised. His current wife works where military paperwork is processed, such as promotion paperwork, re-enactment paperwork, leave, etc. Is that a coincidence? I don’t think so! After forcing 1/2 of the unit he was a part of to “volunteer” to work security he bought a brand new motorcycle and the next year a corvette, and he already had a hummer! I could go on for days…he was investigated a year or so ago for referring to his subordinate s as his bitches and hos, and he was their pimp. Enough said…do you still think he is a nice guy????
Correction…tricare not trip are
Re-enlistment not re-enactment
When I said volunteer to do security it was at the full throttle saloon.
The ‘hometown’ article states that a highschool fund helped pay for his son’s medical treatments.
“This year, we’ve been able to do some phenomenal things to help out so many different families on base,” Mr. Soluri said. He noted those services include a scholarship program for Air Force spouses and a drug education program for high schoolers. Last fall, Mr. Soluri’s 17-year-old son, Logan, was diagnosed with cancer and the organization provided assistance for that battle.”
I don’t know anything about his personal expenditures or personal life. I do know that no journalist or publication with any concern for credibility should make unsubstantiated claims and form conclusions such as “his career should have been over” based on hearsay evidence. The AF Times isn’t the Enquirer or the Star and this person isn’t a public figure and/or celebrity.
This writer is vile.
I agree with C on this, I personally worked for this man and was referred to as “ho” who was not making him any money. He is grimey and forced most of the unit to work full throttle without days off. If you said no to him, he would take away your days off. I don’t know if you guys are military or not but I had a very small blemish on my record which was a honest mistake that cost me promotion for years at which point I recently decided to leave the military. How is it that, his blemish being much more serious than mine, allowing him to promote? Its not fair and good guys have been booted from the military for far less charges and never spent a single day in jail. Remember he was convicted in a court before some of you try defending him. Last note, I am featured in a few online articles and hometown news articles however not promoted accordingly so him being in a hometown paper doesn’t mean anything…
C wrote: He is married and his sons treatment was completely paid for by Tricare and or the donations Douglas high school raised. His current wife works where military paperwork is processed, such as promotion paperwork, re-enlistment paperwork, leave, etc. Is that a coincidence? I don’t think so!
———————————————————-
Is there something unusual about a dependent family member’s care being payed for by Tricare? Or for that matter, for high school students to raise donations to help a fellow classmate going through something really serious like cancer?
Senior enlisted promotion selection boards are conducted by a centralized panel in Washington DC. So unless his wife works at the Pentagon and has conspired with a large group of people to somehow rig the system so that her husband gets fraudulently promoted – there is zero percent chance she had any influence on his promotion.
You didn’t read the comment someone was under the impression he was a poor single father and the air force did not pay for his sons treatment. As for his wife helping with promotion, you came to that conclusion on your own I simple said she works in the MPE where Re-enlistment, promotion, leave and almost all career impacting paperwork is processed!
So you’re saying your comment about the wife was unrelated to the story … you just thought the good people of RokDrop should know about his wife’s work just for the sake of being informed about her employment status?
It almost sounds like this guy became more interested in outside persuits than the Air Force… and more interested in playing biker and TV star than NCO…
…and since he was profiting from it, showing it off, and rubbing it in… and maybe not spreading the wealth… people started to look for ways to sink him.
…and they found one.
I will let people come up with their own conclusion
How close was I, C?
“You didn’t read the comment someone was under the impression he was a poor single father and the air force did not pay for his sons treatment.”
He was a single father at the time of the accusation (with no basis in evidence), and his children’s health insurance was taken away. And the vile author of this piece implies this was a just thing. If he were a single mother airmen, this story would have been completely different.
His son didn’t have cancer until he was remarried and long had health coverage reenstated but nice try
C: “I will let people come up with their own conclusion”
That’s a rather ingenuous , if not 부정직한 thing to say after all you wrote. Even if the guy is a total jerk, you’re a rather choice delicacy yourself saying all that without him here.
C: “His son didn’t have cancer until he was remarried and long had health coverage reenstated but nice try”
Yeah, sure is a stretch to think a kid who had health problems prior to 2013 might have any need for medical treatment six years prior to that.
Wow. You are a turd.
Follow-up article:
http://www.airforcetimes.com/story/military/2015/01/30/soluri-civilian-misdemeanor-conviction-investigation-retirement/22597391/
Just call 1 800 WILKERSON AF LAW GROUP, claim the girl was barefoot, exwifes testifies. Done over, he goes free. AF justice wins again:)
Yeah, the air force liked that General who acquitted Wilkerson on the grounds that there was absolutely no evidence whatsoever to support the inebriant’s claims, and much evidence to the contrary, so much they forced him to retire.
I’m sure there are more Generals out there will to throw out false claims though. It’s not like there’s any political pressure here…so, right on, OT.
guitard,
Here’s more about the Democrat that wants the rules changed:
http://speier.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=205&Itemid=47
All of her actions about the US Military hae been related to “Sexual Assault”. That’s all she thinks they do.
Obviously she hasn’t seen the reflective belts.
#30 that’s why it’s called “Boy said gurl said”. One General is smarter than a Jury. My 06 outranks 6 05’s!
Whats that stuff called? Oh yeh I remember “Situational Evidence” I read that some where, or was it a movie? 4 am time for a walk, I’ll get my shoes later.
No Ole Tanker, it isn’t boy said gurl said, it’s boy said and gurl changed her story numerous times, and her testimony actually contradicted evidence to the contrary and a great deal of implausibility to her story at the get go.
Do you really believe that somewhere between the hours of half past midnight when his wife was serving this inebriant tea and a little after one when his wife threw her out of the house for stomping around and waking the children the man snook into her room and worked his hand into her (still belted by her admission) pants?
I am under the assumption, from your handle, that you have served in the military and know that a court martial board does not require an unanimous vote, only a majority, and there is a high degree of motivation for the subordinates to rule with the decision of the highest ranking person on that board. The Supreme Court has already ruled on this matter to give a Commander ultimate oversight to weigh the facts FOR THIS REASON. Without that oversight, it fails the Constitutional sniff test.
Current politics are rife with politically motivated prosecutions when it comes to sexaul assault allegations today. If you think otherwise you are either quite ignorant of current politics in the military or ideologically blind.
It’s worth mentioning that the inebriant in this case (as with most cases of this type) had motive as well.
Her lucrative government contract was about to expire and they surely wouldn’t renew it if she were reported for bad conduct. But throw some charges out and she gets whistle blower protection status.
Gah, I’ve known far too many people whose lives have been ruined this way, either directly or indirectly.
I will not post on this topic further.
Q: what’s the difference between a hippo and a zippo?
A: one is very big and heavy and the other is a little lighter.
Liz. i feel lucky to have never had jury duty. My luck it would be a 12 angry men scenario and I’d be voting guilty.
I did have a Tank Commander Courts Martyred once, for bringing marijuana into Germany through Rhein Main. he went on to retire.
Q: what’s the difference between a hippo and a zippo?
A: There is some chance of survival if you get drunk, bend over, and the Zippo gets workef into your butt.
That one never occurred in our test simulations… 😯
Really? You know this how?
Poor Wife. She’s getting cheated on.
Poor wife. She’s getting cheated on after watching Full Throttle
Elaina – u need 2 leave him!