She says that she was excluded from hearing the testimony of the other witnesses, that her military-appointed attorney was swapped out five separate times, and that one of them was called to provide testimony against her. Vallejo was briefly detained in jail on a $100,000 bond. Someone might easily have connected the rape case to the unexplained shooting of a Green Beret by a fellow Special Forces soldier three months earlier. Arriving at the site in the early morning hours of Sept. 10, 2016, Scanlon and Tina were immediately creeped out by the griminess of the location. According to a source who spoke to SOFREP on the condition of anonymity, Army investigators discovered that the truck belonged to 37-year-old William J. Lavigne II, an Army Master Sergeant. My testimony was so long and painful. Throughout, she rigidly refused to make eye contact with Vallejo or even look at his side of the courtroom. On March 17, Leshikar called his sister, Nicole Rick, to wish her a happy Saint Patrick's Day. What happened next remains disputed by the family members of both men, but the medical examiner's report reveals some details. Both Vallejo and Lavigne were exonerated. On one occasion, she says, she had to hide in the bathroom after he walked into a tavern in Southern Pines. She had brought with her a victims impact statement that she was prepared to read if Vallejo were found guilty. Death. William J. Lavigne II and Timothy Dumas, a veteran previously stationed at the post, were found dead at a training site on the base Wednesday afternoon. According to Lavigne's statement to police, Leshikar began acting irrationally on the car ride back to Fayetteville, North Carolina. . William J Lavigne II, 37, was identified as one of two men found dead at a Fort Bragg training area Credit: Army 4 Sgt First Class Mark Leshikar's family have now said Lavigne, 37, allegedly shot Leshikar dead during a heated argument There are at least two other SMUs, one dedicated to surveillance and the other to aviation, reportedly. Lavigne was due in Cumberland County District Court next week in connection with a hit-and-run charge from last February, the newspaper reported. More than she questions Vallejos acquittal or the jurys decision, Scanlon simply wants to know what happened at the court-martial. How did the Uber driver react to the distress shown by 1LT Scanlon? a juror asked Tina. Leshikar and Lavigne were also known to use cocaine, Leshikar's family said. 2023 Rolling Stone, LLC. With Leshikar and Lavigne dead, there remains only one witness to the killing: Leshikar's daughter. Its not going to be good for you., For the jury, it must have been a somewhat close call, because they submitted at least 18 questions to the witnesses. Now, she told him that she would be over shortly, and used her phone to order an Uber to take her there. Her first SVC was at the meeting with the DA, but did not advise her that she might be better off pressing her case in civilian court. I was pissed that another obstacle had gone up, she says. The hard-partying antics of the Coast x Coast club could certainly be seen as a manifestation of that sort of attitude, a sense of exemption from ordinary strictures and petty rules. I was pushing him away saying no stop but I think by the time he got me back to the cars in the dark and he wouldnt stop so I just let him do it.. Master Sgt. After that, she put up no more physical resistance. She accused a Special Forces operative of rape. LaVigne also was involved in other Cumberland County cases that never resulted in charges, records show. William LaVigne II, 37 Army veteran Timothy Dumas, 44. shooting Bragg In Other News Some companies charge hefty fees to help vets with disability claims Send us a tip using our anonymous form. In a motion dated June 12, the defense stated that one of the civil-affairs officers was expected to testify that she had observed close, friendly, and flirtatious interaction between Vallejo and Scanlon all night. Next came back-to-back tours in Iraq. The certificates dont indicate how long the bodies were in the woods. She filed a FOIA request for the transcript in 2019, and the Army gave her the trial record instead. Sgt Lavigne was a Green Beret and Delta Force member. Parker says that Lavigne once gave him money to cover some court costs. It seems he crashed there from time to time. The offense was aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, a class E felony that could have landed Lavigne in prison for years, but as usual, he wasnt charged with a crime. It wasnt really that dark out., I dont remember the precise questions that I asked her, Poppe says today, or what exhibits were introduced in evidence, but I remember the facts of the case, and the evidence supported that she consented to the sexual acts with Cris Valley.. The following year, the legal travails of ex-SEAL Eddie Gallagher would make national headlines for months on end. I knew him, Joe says of Lavigne. But Scanlon didnt get caught with the staff sergeant, nor with Vallejo. In September 2015, he went on the Fox affiliate in Colorado Springs, Colorado, with a military dog named Gunner. But the warehouse had no plumbing; there was only a portable toilet out back. It was standard practice at the time, Col. Kazin says. During a stretch of Janes military career, her social and professional circle overlapped with the five men, who made up the core of the motorcycle club, all active-duty soldiers on Delta Force. Do Delta Force operators have a license to kill? A spokesman for the Army Criminal Investigation Command said the investigation continues into the deaths of Master Sgt. from 67] house in Fayetteville, he had shot and killed his closest friend, a Green Beret named Mark Leshikar, with whom he had been drinking and doing drugs for days on end during a family vacation to Disney World. In February, the FBI announced that it is assisting in the case. Right as Scanlon and Tina walked into the crowded barbecue joint and beer hall, Vallejo stopped them, tried to flex, laughed, and walked away, Tina would later recall to a Fayetteville detective. Unlike Tier 2, or white, special-operations forces, made up of ordinary Green Berets, Army Rangers, and Navy SEALs, JSOC units operate under Title 50 of the U.S. Code, which was controversially reinterpreted after 9/11 to permit the military to carry out covert actions, defined by the statute as foreign operations where it is intended that the role of the United States will not be apparent or acknowledged publicly.. The death certificates say the two men were found about 3:30 p.m. Dec. 2, in the woods on Fort Bragg. SUBSCRIBE Today!Also available everywhere you listen to podcasts!The recent deaths of Army Delta Force member William J. Lavigne and Army Veteran Timothy Dum. Leshikar began working on his car out in the driveway. As to any potential discharge, were not able to comment due to Privacy Act protections., When Connecting Vets reached out to CID on Fort Bragg regarding the deaths of Leshikar, Lavigne and Dumas, spokesperson Christopher Grey said: All I am releasing is it is a homicide investigation. Its the first time during many hours of interviews that she has lost her composure, and I can understand why. Because otherwise I would not be using a port-a-potty., She went outside and crossed the blacktop to where the toilet was set up against the exterior wall of a metal building. In February 2019, Lavigne had another brush with the law. It took her months to get a military protective order against him. Together they make up the core of JSOC, the black ops component of the military. William J. Lavigne II, 37, and Army veteran Timothy Dumas deepens with the revelation that Lavigne was also involved in the death of Sgt. Then the shooter then winds up dead on the military base, basically gets assassinated. Scanlon and Tina arrived at Macs shortly before 10 p.m. A number of motorcycles were parked out front. Dumas was scheduled to appear in Forsyth County District Court on Dec. 17 for charges of breaking and entering, communicating threats and impersonating a law enforcement officer, according to court records. Hes vague about the shooting incident. There is no screw driver here, that is enough to go DEFCON 4 on this. No screw driver or any weapon was found near SFC Leshikar's body, the memorandum states. She only met him and Vallejo that one night in her life. Guys like Vallejo and Lavigne are constantly told that theyre the elite, the best of the best, the ultimate badasses, and when it comes to killing and capturing people overseas, they are. Maybe I wasnt clear enough, she texted a girlfriend at 8:59 a.m. on Sept. 12. A major weakness for the defense was Scanlons apparent absence of a motive to fabricate a rape claim, complete with a trip to the hospital and all. In Fayetteville, the Coast x Coast club was riding high, leading rock star lifestyles, in Janes words. A CID investigation reached the same conclusions as the sheriff's office, that Leshikar's killing was deemed justifiable. Scanlon and Vallejo both continued to live in Fayetteville and work on Fort Bragg. We drank so much, she says. She lives a very different life and has no contact with the elite soldiers who had been her colleagues, friends, and lovers for the better part of a decade. Money Minute, What's next for experimental AI projects in the C4ISR sphere. He had been in Delta Force. Scanlon lived off-post in an apartment in Fayetteville, a moody military town in the North Carolina pines just outside of Fort Bragg, the biggest Army base in the U.S. On the evening of Sept. 9, 2016, a friend of hers from the gym, a military wife whom Ill call Tina to protect her privacy, invited her to a charitable event at a barbecue restaurant and bar called Macs Speed Shop. What we noted was a warehouse that appeared to pull double duty as a gym and party location, the ABC officer wrote in an email to a colleague. LaVignes gray 2016 Chevrolet Colorado pickup was found at the crime scene in the woods off Manchester Road. They might have noticed that the shooter was a witness for the alleged rapist, and that they both belonged to the same motorcycle club, made up of soldiers from the Armys most elite unit. And in North Carolina, there is no statute of limitations for rape. After speaking with a chaplain, she met with her units SARC, or sexual-assault response coordinator, who took her to meet with agents from the bases Criminal Investigation Division. Delta Force is the Army's special-mission unit for counterterrorism and hostage rescues. No more than 10 minutes after arriving, Scanlon sent a text message to a 25-year-old staff sergeant, another soldier at Fort Bragg, whom she occasionally hooked up with. And that was the reason why my case was handled the way it was., Well after midnight, with Paddys about to close down, Vallejo invited Scanlon and Tina to the after-afterparty at a place he called Warehouse 13. Thinking it was some kind of lounge or club, they took a cab to the location on Worth Street in downtown Fayetteville, only to find that it was literally a warehouse. She says he grilled her on the quantity of alcohol she had consumed, implying that inebriety had inclined her toward promiscuity. In this regard, Poppe says that she was a commissioned officer a lieutenant who got caught having sex in a compromising position with an enlisted man, Vallejo, technically her military inferior. Master Sgt. Joseph Morman, Scanlon says. Dumass dark-colored 2015 Dodge Ram pickup was discovered abandoned somewhere else, the news release stated. Why they didn't do anything is because someone shit canned this whole thing very high up. William J. Lavigne II, 37, was found dead with another man at a training ground in Fort Bragg on Wednesday, December 2, 2020. Tina watched Vallejo walk up behind Scanlon, causing Scanlon to dart off, according to the statement Tina gave Matrafailo. A spokeswoman for the FBI confirmed this month that the homicide investigation into the shooting deaths of Master Sgt. She was shaking, acting odd, pacing. As a senior non-commissioned officer of Delta Force, the most elite and secretive special operations unit in the U.S. military, Command Sergeant Major Tom Satterly fought some of this country's most fearsome enemies. He was investigated in 2018 after fatally shooting his friend, Sgt. He maintains that Scanlon and Vallejo were witnessed in the act by people at the warehouse that night. As Jane puts it, They did what they wanted when they wanted, and wouldnt take no for an answer.. Because of his traumatic brain injury, Leshikar was prescribed Tramadol which he became addicted to, his family said. First Class Mark. . The doctrine, long a target of legislative reform, bars soldiers and sailors and Marines from recovering damages resulting from wrongful acts by the military. As of 2010, the document shows, he was a TEAM MEMBER/OPERATOR in the organization demarcated 1ST SFOD-D (DELTA FORCE)., Like SEAL Team 6, its sister unit and only military peer, Delta Force is whats known as a Special Mission Unit. Sad as it is, that happens a lot. Another inconsistency was noted when Lavigne told officials, Leshikar was acting in a menacing manner but he could not see SFC's Leshikar's hands, which appears to contradict his statement that he saw that Leshikar brandishing a screw driver. Spouses, children, grandchildren, and on and on.. It was the last time they would ever speak. The police department promptly fired Matrafailo, who had allegedly done the same to two other alleged rape victims. Master Sgt. We want to hear it. Lavigne retained him while still under Army investigation into the shooting death of Leshikar, he says. The Coast x Coast Foundation raised $450,943 in tax-free contributions from 2016 to 2020, according to IRS records. She says she didnt tell her lawyer about it till months later. Connecting Vets contacted Cumberland County Sheriff's Office to obtain a copy of the full incident report, but was told that it will only be released with a court order from a judge. William J. Lavigne II, 37, was one of two men found dead Dec. 2 in a training area on Fort Bragg, N.C., the Army said in a statement. I dont see how anyone could have believed that consensual sex occurred there., When she finished using the toilet and opened the door, she was startled to find Vallejo standing right there. It was very frustrating, Scanlon says, that all these people had waited till the last minute, then were trying to put the decision on me, when Im not a lawyer. You get everyone in for a forensic interview, get emails, social media and everything else in the next 48 hours. Poppe says he take[s] exception to this absurd characterization. 1st Special Forces Command ruled that Leshikar's death was in the line of duty, and of no fault of his own. Ciolino said he feels the daughter's statement is an accurate reflection of what appears in the medical examiner's report. . Over the course of twenty years and thousands of missions, he's fought desperately for his life, rescued hostages, killed and . He always had something in his hand, Locklear says. Dumas was an Army veteran who previously served as the property book officer at 7th Special Forces Group before serving in the same role at Fort Bragg for nine years, according to his LinkedIn profile. A spokesman for USASOC tells me that no transcript of the audio recordings of the trial proceedings was ever typed up because Vallejo was acquitted, so there was no possibility of an appeal. Dumas was an Army veteran who previously served as the property . An Uber driver started toward the warehouse at 2:50 a.m., according to screen shots of the app that Scanlon gave police. But he couldnt really explain why the Army waited 16 months to intervene on the eve of the trial, rather than let civilian justice take its course. Shortly after she and Tina arrived at Macs the night of the fundraiser, Scanlon recognized the Coast x Coast clubs logo from a Facebook photo of her old ROTC mentor, the ex-Delta soldier, which made her implicitly trust Vallejo and his crew, she recalls. Lavinge's statement to law enforcement at the scene was that Leshikar had attacked him with a screw driver. William Lavigne and Timothy Dumas were found dead at a training site on Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Thats being a girl at a bar., According to text messages she sent a girlfriend the next day, Scanlon was drunk and flirted with him. But she didnt consent to what later ensued, she immediately added.
