Army Times has learned that a retired Louisiana National Guard captain was permitted to resign after a general court-martial found him guilty of “motorboating” a subordinate soldier at an informal promotion ceremony while stationed in Jordan in May 2021.
No one thought this would happen!
According to court documents obtained by Army Times, Capt. Billy Joe Crosby Jr., a logistic commander who was deployed abroad with 256th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, was originally prosecuted with violent sexual contact & behavior becoming an officer. Crosby was the commanding officer at a Jordanian outpost.
Crosby’s “behavior is not in line with the Army values,” said Maj. Jessica Rovero, a spokesperson for the department supervising the trial, in a statement to Army Times, as reported.
Rovero said that “multiple Soldiers immediately reported the behavior, and Crosby pled guilty at trial.”
However, the plea deal came with conditions.
The officer reached an agreement to have the charge of abusive sexual contact dropped. According to court documents, he pleaded guilty to assault completed by battery (a non-sexual charge) and conduct unbecoming.
Crosby, a former enlisted soldier who took part in the 1989 Panama invasion, was detained for 30 days. The plea agreement also barred the judge from removing him from the Army, which had prevented him from receiving his pension.
Crosby resigned on March 31 after finishing his confinement and going home, according to a Louisiana National Guard official, Lt. Col. Noel Collins.
Crosby never responded to a request for comment sent via email.
Crosby reportedly told the junior soldier twice that he planned to “motorboat” her at her promotion event because of Army Combat Uniform’s chest-placed rank insignia was designed for such acts.
According to the prosecutors’ motion, both remarks were witnessed by an NCO.
Prosecutors explained “motorboating” as “when a person places his or her face between a [woman]’s breasts and shakes his or her head back and forth while making sounds resembling a boat motor.”
Crosby apparently told the NCO weeks before the assault that he planned to take the junior soldier on a driving trip to some other base in Jordan. Crosby requested the soldier’s company because “he liked looking at her tits,” according to the NCO.
Crosby was informed the day before the assault that the younger soldier did not want a promotion ritual.
According to a prosecution motion, Crosby “approached [the junior soldier], told her to stand up, placed the rank in front of her chest, leaned in the grab the rank with his teeth…then placed his face between [the junior soldier]’s breasts…[and] vigorously moved his head from side to side between [her] breasts while still holding the rank with his teeth.”