Two more Lackland AFB instructors implicated in sex scandal

Staff Sgt. Peter Vega-Maldonado leaves his trial at Lackland Air Force Base for a lunch break in San Antonio on Friday, April 6, 2012. Staff Sgt. Peter Vega-Maldonado leaves his trial at Lackland Air Force Base for a lunch break in San Antonio on Friday, April 6, 2012. Photo: Lisa Krantz, SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS Photo: Lisa Krantz, SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Two more Lackland AFB instructors implicated in sex scandal 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

A Lackland AFB staff sergeant Friday implicated two fellow training instructors in a growing base sex scandal.

Staff Sgt. Peter Vega-Maldonado pleaded guilty to charges stemming from his relationship with a 21-year-old airman he supervised in basic training. He got a reduced sentence in a plea deal that requires him to testify against two other trainers.

“I made a terrible mistake,” Vega, 32, told the judge.

Commanders ordered an investigation into possible misconduct among the Air Force's elite training corps here after Staff Sgt. Luis A. Walker was accused late last year of having sexual contact with 10 women in basic and technical training. All four instructors were removed from their training jobs.

Vega was charged with violating a Nov. 12 order to not contact any trainee, including the woman, a fledgling airman he supervised until he was yanked from her unit because of poor performance. He also was charged with violating the Air Education and Training Command's professional conduct code.

Col. Don Eller gave Vega 90 days in jail, 30 days hard labor while restricted to the base, reduction from staff sergeant to airman and forfeiture of $500 a month of pay for four months. The maximum sentence was confinement for one year, reduction to the lowest rank and a bad-conduct discharge.

Capts. Kurt Mabis and Kaylynn Shoop, the prosecution team, unsuccessfully sought a bad-conduct discharge. Mabis said Vega showed favoritism to the woman and might have kissed her while he was her supervisor.

Even after being removed from Flight 012 and reassigned, Vega defied orders by continuing to see the woman, sometimes delivering mail to her unit, prosecutors said. He received four reprimands from April 2011 to Feb. 16. The nature of the reprimands wasn't clear.

First Sgt. Tory Noggle said Vega had such a corrosive impact on Flight 012 that he was reassigned three weeks into the unit's 8 1/2-week instructional cycle. Known for giving favored trainees candy and extra telephone calls, Vega left a legacy of friction in the unit, Noggle testified. “They were not mindful of following orders, simple things.” he said.

The Air Force did not give details of Vega's allegations against the other instructors, both of whom were in his 331st Training Squadron. The trainers were not identified.

Gerry Proctor, a spokesman with the base's 37th Training Wing, said Vega was tried by a special court-martial, where jail time is a year or less, because the allegations were not as egregious as in Walker's case.

Charged with rape, aggravated sexual assault, sodomy, obstruction of justice and violating the professional conduct code, Walker goes on trial April 30 and could get a life sentence.

“They look at what the factors are in the prohibited relationship and if there was coercion or in the case of Walker, there was an assault,” Proctor said.

An Air Force charge sheet stated that Vega's “unprofessional relationship” with the student ran between Nov. 23 and Jan. 27. Evidence presented in the case showed that after the woman began technical training at Keesler AFB in Biloxi, Miss., Vega had a sexual relationship with her.

Standing before the judge, Vega tearfully apologized after evidence showed he had phone sex, sent risqué text messages and had intercourse with the woman while she trained at Keesler.

A once highly rated NCO with two tours in Iraq over eight years, including 12 convoy missions to Baghdad, he said the relationship was serious and that they hoped to someday continue it.

“I'm more than that person you see on the charge sheet or that (letter of reprimand),” Vega told the judge. “I know that whatever happens to me today, my career is probably over and that's the most painful part of it.”

sigc@express-news.net