QUANTICO, VA  --  A Catholic Navy chaplain who had sex with an unspecified number of men has been charged with aggravated assault because he is HIV-positive and is facing life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted on all charges.

The chaplain, Lt. Cmdr. John Thomas Matthew Lee, 42, is charged with sodomy, aggravated assault, indecent assault, fraternization and conduct unbecoming a military officer, according to a Marine Corps statement.

His attorney, David Sheldon, said Lee will plead guilty to many of those charges at a general court-martial in Quantico, VA. The attorney said Lee has known of his HIV positive status for more than two years, Navy Times reports.

No details are known regarding the victims in the case, other than that they are all men, and the Navy has refused to release Lee's charge sheet, which would explain why he is being charged and how much jail time he faces if convicted.

"He has entered into a pretrial agreement with the government that will substantially reduce his exposure to confinement," said Sheldon, who added that Lee was facing life without parole if convicted on all charges. "He's extremely remorseful about what happened and about his conduct, both as a chaplain and as an officer. He will take responsibility for what he has done."

Lee served as a chaplain at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD, from 2003 to 2006, before being transferred to Quantico, VA. From 2001 to 2003, Lee was stationed in Gaeta, Italy, with Naval Forces Europe, 6th Fleet Detachment, and on the guided-missile cruiser Port Royal from 1998 to 2001.

Paul Sexton, a former sonar technician second class who worked with Lee in Hong Kong; Pusan, South Korea; and in Hawaii, had only positive things to say about the chaplain: "Every time we had one of these projects, we would talk," Sexton said. "He was a role model for a lot of us. I thought he was fantastic. He was one of those junior officers who you could talk to about anything. He was more a confidant than a political figure."

"He was a fantastic person," Sexton said and claims he never heard or saw Lee behave inappropriately,

A former officer, who is a member of a group of openly gay academy alumni, said that if the charges were true, and if they involved midshipmen, it would have been unethical on several levels.

"Any priest having sex with anybody is unethical to begin with," said the officer, who asked not to be identified by name. "But when you are a midshipman, you are learning about rank, duty, honor, loyalty. He is supposed to be guiding them, helping them to become future leaders of not just the Navy, but the United States. If this guy had consensual sex with another officer, fine, that's OK, but if they are a midshipman, it is wrong, even if it's a day before they are commissioned."

The officer stressed that his objection was to fraternization, not to the presence of gay students at the academy.

"There are gay midshipman," he said. "And they are more open now than ever. There are gay midshipmen serving right now. People know about it. It is not a mystery."

Last update: 12-07-2007 15:34

Posted by In The Know, on 12-06-2007 00:22, 1. Get it Right This guy isn't facing life in prison. He's already plea-bargained. Most if not all of the men he's slept with were consensual relations. It's unfortunate that he didn't disclose his status - but forcible sodomy is another way of saying date rape and is always tough to prove. Not defending him - simply pointing out a few of the facts that seem to be missed.   » Report this comment to administrator