Sex scandal sinks a military star on the rise WASHINGTON
Top Army general demoted and retired for misbehavior
One of the Army’s most promising generals will be demoted to one star and retired after a scandal that involved sex clubs in Seoul and Rome, highpriced booze and indiscretions with young female troops, the Army announced Thursday.
Ron Lewis, who had been a three-star general and top aide to Ash Carter when Carter was Defense secretary, will lose about $10,000 a year in pension payments because of the demotion.
The Pentagon inspector general “substantiated allegations that Maj. Gen. Lewis misused his government travel charge card for personal expenses, made false official statements regarding his (credit card) misuse and engaged in conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman on multiple occasions,” Cynthia Smith, an Army spokeswoman, said in a statement.
Lewis was a high-flying decorated attack helicopter pilot whose ascent to the highest ranks of the Army seemed unlimited. Allegations of an improper relationship with a female subordinate prompted Carter to fire him in 2015. The devastating report from the Pentagon inspector general detailed particulars that showed Lewis lying about a bar tab of more than $1,000 to have it expunged from his governmentissued credit card.
Lewis disputed many of the report’s findings. In his rebuttal, Lewis acknowledged mistakes and “errors in judgment” but denied visits to sex clubs and maintained that his relationship with a woman on an official trip to Hawaii with Carter had been mischaracterized.
Lewis lost one star immediately after being fired as Carter’s top aide. The discipline meted out Thursday drops him from a major general to a brigadier general.
That decision follows one last week in which Defense Secretary Jim Mattis approved the decision by the Air Force to claw back two stars from Gen. Arthur Lichte, who was found to have coerced a subordinate officer into sex. Lichte, who is married, said the relationship was consensual.
The military has struggled in the past year with a series of high-profile flameouts of general officers caught up in illicit sex scandals. Chief among them was Maj. Gen. David Haight, the “swinging general,” whose extramarital affair and alternative lifestyle prompted the Army to demote him to lieutenant colonel.
The Haight case, brought to light in a series of stories by USA TODAY, prompted the Army to suspend his clearance to view classified information.
Lewis’ transgressions were more prosaic by comparison: booze, strip clubs and eyebrowraising relationships with subordinates.