He appeared stunned by the verdict from an Air Force jury of six officers, which ended a five-day trial at Scott Air Force Base. Gurney could have received up to 16½ years in prison. He was ultimately convicted of 15 criminal charges, including indecent conduct, dereliction of duty, adultery, failure to maintain professional relationships and misuse of government communications equipment including a computer, cell phone and e-mail account for having sent and received sexually charged text messages and nude and semi-nude photos.
Gurney, who advocated for more than 13,000 AFMC enlisted men and women across the 10-base command until he was removed from that job in November 2009, loses his military pay, retirement pay and benefits. Before the trial, his annual base pay was $74,588.
The loss of retirement pay could cost Gurney hundreds of thousands of dollars over a lifetime, said Michelle Lindo McCluer , a former Air Force prosecutor and defense lawyer.
“They were sending a message,” said McCluer, executive director of the National Institute of Military Justice, a Washington-based organization that promotes fair administration of military justice. “He was responsible for the welfare of the entire command, bases across the U.S.”
Gurney’s punishment “sends a message about how the Air Force is going to treat sexual harassment,” said Thaddeus Hoffmeister, a University of Dayton associate professor of law, Army Reserve major and judge advocate general. “You saw a repeated pattern of conduct. He used his power to get that done. ”
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