Split verdict reached in first military trial of Air Force general
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio — An Air Force major general in Ohio has been convicted by a military judge of one of three specifications of abusive sexual contact in the first military trial of an Air Force general.
The charge faced by Maj. Gen. William Cooley during the weeklong court-martial at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio had three specifications, one alleging a forcible kiss and two alleging forcible touching in 2018.
Cooley was convicted Saturday of the forcible kissing specification but acquitted of the other two.
Officials said the verdict marks the first courtmartial trial and conviction of a general officer in the Air Force’s 75-year history.
A former commander of Air Force Research Laboratory, Cooley was charged with abusive sexual contact in an encounter with a woman who gave him a ride after a barbecue in New Mexico nearly four years ago. Officials said the woman is a civilian who is not a Department of Defense employee.
Cooley was to be sentenced Monday and could face as much as seven years in jail as well as loss of rank, pay and benefits.
Cooley was fired from his research laboratory position in January 2020 after an Air Force investigation and has worked in an administrative job since then. A message seeking comment was left for his attorney Saturday.
“This case clearly demonstrates the commitment of Air Force leaders to fully investigate the facts and hold Airmen of any rank accountable for their actions when they fail to uphold Air Force standards,” Col. Eric Mejia, staff judge advocate for Air Force Materiel Command, said in a statement.
Western wildfires: Flames from wind-driven wildfires on Saturday were burning tinder-dry forest and grassland and putting numerous small villages in New Mexico in the path of danger.
A fire information officer for two wildfires in rural northern New Mexico said Saturday those blazes had merged while quadrupling in size since Thursday morning.
To the east of Santa Fe, ranchers and other rural residents were abruptly told to leave by law enforcement.
In Arizona, cooler weather with some moisture helped crews battling fires near Flagstaff and south of Prescott but winds remained a concern. Over a dozen sizable fires were burning in Arizona and New Mexico, destroying dozens of homes and as of Saturday burning more than 174 square miles.
Somalia blast: A bomb blast hit a popular restaurant in the capital city of Mogadishu, killing at least six people, officials say.
The explosion was detonated by a suicide bomber who had been denied access inside the restaurant where the Somali Police Commissioner and several lawmakers were having dinner, Somali Police Spokesman Maj. Abdifatah Aden Hassan said Saturday.
The explosion occurred Friday evening when many gathered for an Iftar meal to break the Ramadan fast.
Somalia’s al-Shabab Islamic extremist group has claimed responsibility for the explosion.
Missing tour boat: The Japanese Coast Guard said
Sunday that helicopters found four of the 26 people on a tour boat missing in the frigid waters of northern Japan since Saturday.
The four people were found near the tip of Shiretoko Peninsula on the island of Hokkaido.
The coast guard said it could not confirm whether they were rescued alive.
The boat carrying 24 passengers and two crew members had gone missing after sending a distress call, saying it took on water and was beginning to sink.
The rescue came after nearly 19 hours of searching involving numerous patrol boats, aircraft and divers.
Afghanistan attacks: Militants in Afghanistan fired heavy weapons across the border into a Pakistani military outpost overnight, killing three personnel, the army said Saturday.
A firefight ensued with the militants firing toward the army post in Pakistan’s rugged North Waziristan
region, and several were killed, the statement said. There was no immediate way to independently confirm details of the attack.
It comes as Afghanistan is reeling from a series of explosions in recent days, including the bombing of a mosque in northern Kunduz province on Friday that killed 33 people, including several students at a religious school.
Refinery explosion: More than 50 people have been killed and many wounded in southeast Nigeria in an explosion that rocked an illegal oil refinery, state officials and police said Saturday.
The death toll may be more than 100, according to a report in the Lagos-based Punch newspaper. The fire is reported to have spread to nearby properties.
The fire broke out Friday night and quickly spread to two fuel storage areas located at the illegal crude oil refinery causing the
complex to be “engulfed by fire which spread rapidly” within the area, said Declan Emelumba, Imo State Commissioner for Information.
Illegal refineries are common in Nigeria.
Dictionary publisher: A California man was arrested on charges that he sent messages to Merriam-Webster in which he threatened to shoot and bomb its offices because he didn’t like the company’s dictionary definitions relating to gender identity, authorities said.
Jeremy David Hanson of Rossmoor, California, who was arrested Tuesday, threatened to kill every employee of the Massachusetts-based company, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts said in a statement Friday.
He was charged with one count of interstate communication of threats to commit violence and released on conditions in California, the statement said. He is
set to appear in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts this Friday.
Last October, Hanson, 34, sent anonymous comments and messages to MerriamWebster, condemning the company for changing the definitions of words including “boy, “girl” and “trans woman,” according to an FBI affidavit.
“There is no such thing as ‘gender identity,’ ” he wrote in a comment about the definition of “female.” “The imbecile who wrote this entry should be hunted down and shot.”
Hanson escalated his threats, sending messages saying the company’s headquarters should be “shot up and bombed,” the statement said.
It was not clear if Hanson had a lawyer. Messages left at a phone number listed under his name were not immediately returned
His mother told investigators her son had autism, and was “fixated on transgender issues,” the affidavit said.