Fort Hood sergeant pleads guilty in pimping scheme that used female soldiers

Sgt. 1st Class Gregory McQueen



*Editor's Note: An earlier version of this story included photos of a person that is not McQueen. A Fort Hood liaison misidentified Sgt. 1st Class Gregory McQueen to journalists gathered prior to the hearing for the non-commissioned officer. less Sgt. 1st Class Gregory McQueen



*Editor's Note: An earlier version of this story included photos of a person that is not McQueen. A Fort Hood liaison misidentified Sgt. 1st Class Gregory McQueen to journalists ... more Image 1 of / 11 Caption Close Fort Hood sergeant pleads guilty in pimping scheme that used female soldiers 1 / 11 Back to Gallery

Editor's Note: This story first published in 2015.

FORT HOOD - A Fort Hood soldier pleaded guilty Wednesday to a long list of charges stemming from a scheme he hatched to run a prostitution ring using young female soldiers.

Sgt. 1st Class Gregory McQueen, a non-commissioned officer, faced 21 specifications of misconduct stemming from the prostitution scandal. He pleaded guilty to 15 of them, including allegations that he worked with another soldier to bring at least two low-ranking women into his prostitution ring, but denied complicity in six other charges, including sexual assault.

If convicted, McQueen could get get a maximum sentence of 40 years and six months.

It isn't clear if anyone ever had sex. A soldier said she had sex with Master Sgt. Brad Grimes at a Killeen hotel, but a jury did not find him guilty of that.

A 20-year veteran accused of pandering, conspiracy, maltreatment of a subordinate, abusive sexual contact and adultery, McQueen was the second soldier to go to trial at Fort Hood in the case.

A military jury last March found Grimes guilty of conspiring to patronize a prostitute and solicitation to commit adultery. He was given a reprimand and reduced to sergeant first class.

The panel found Grimes not guilty of adultery and patronizing a prostitute.

The charges were lodged in the wake of a series of high-profile incidents in which military personnel were accused of sexually assaulting or abusing women both in and out of the military.

Prosecutors have tried a long string of cases at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland amid allegations of misconduct involving instructors, recruits and students in technical training school.

So far, 35 basic training instructors have been investigated for misconduct with 68 recruits and technical school students since 2011. In the last trial, Master Sgt. Michael Silva, 44, was given 20 years on Jan. 30 in the rapes of two women — his wife and a recruit he trained two decades ago at Lackland.

Fort Hood officials couldn’t say if there had been another pandering case in the post’s 72-year history, but South Texas College of Law professor Geoffrey Corn called it a “very rare” occurrence that merited prosecution.

“I would have been disappointed with any other disposition,” said Corn, a retired Army lieutenant colonel and former military lawyer. “Not only is risk of significant punishment necessary for this misconduct, but there is an important deterrent message here. We entrust subordinates to leaders to make them better, not to exploit them.”

*Editor's Note: An earlier version of this story included photos of a person that is not McQueen. A Fort Hood liaison misidentified Sgt. 1st Class Gregory McQueen to journalists gathered prior to the hearing for the non-commissioned officer.

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