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Base sets hearing for sergeant accused of sexual harassment

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By John Nolan, Staff Writer Updated 3:53 PM Tuesday, January 25, 2011

The Air Force has decided to conduct a hearing to further investigate charges that a former adviser to the commander of the Air Force Materiel Command at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base sexually harassed 10 female airmen over two years.

The public hearing is scheduled May 26 at Wright-Patterson, where the accused man, Chief Master Sgt. William C. Gurney, remains on active duty in a desk job at AFMC headquarters. The hearing may last several days. Conducting the hearing at Wright-Patt would make it more convenient for witnesses who are assigned there, the Air Force has said.

The hearing is to compile a factual basis that the Air Force can use to decide whether to refer Gurney for a court-martial, dismiss charges against him or impose other discipline that could include loss of rank and pay.

Witnesses can be summoned to testify at the hearing and evidence reviewed. Gurney will have the right to be present and be represented by a defense lawyer.

A presiding officer is to prepare a report from the hearing that Col. Gary Goldstone, commander of the 375th Air Mobility Wing at Scott Air Force Base, Ill., could use to determine how to proceed against Gurney, the 375th said on Friday, March 12.

The Air Force said last month it had filed 18 charges against Gurney, including adultery and misuse of official position; failure to obey an order or regulation, and dereliction of duty; maltreatment, indecent conduct and wrongful sexual contact.

The charges stem from a female airman’s complaint that Gurney sexually harassed her. He was removed in November 2009 from his job as the AFMC’s command chief master sergeant, an adviser to AFMC commander Gen. Donald Hoffman, while the Air Force Office of Special Investigations examined the allegations. They include allegations that Gurney had extramarital relationships with female airmen, sent semi-nude images of himself to one of those airmen, requested pictures of an airman’s breasts, and touched victims’ breasts and buttocks.

As in the civilian court system, Gurney is presumed to be innocent until and unless he is proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

Hoffman asked that the case be transferred to another Air Force command because he had supervised Gurney. Air Force headquarters transferred the matter to the 375th Air Mobility Wing at Scott Air Force Base.

Gurney has been replaced in his former job by Chief Master Sgt. Eric Jaren, who represents the AFMC’s enlisted personnel in his capacity as adviser to Hoffman.

Capt. Kristin McCall, an Air Force lawyer at Wright-Patt who is representing Gurney, had no comment Friday, an aide to McCall said.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2242 or jnolan@DaytonDailyNews.com.

There is only one reporter from the Dayton area at this trial: John Nolan of the Dayton Daily News.

We are the only local media outlet with the resources to send a reporter to cover an important out-of-state story like this.

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