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A former command sergeant major at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., fired for faking his record and wearing numerous unauthorized awards and decorations, was sentenced to six months imprisonment and a demotion to staff sergeant.
Sgt. Maj. Stoney N. Crump, the hospital's senior enlisted advisor until he was relieved in 2010, was sentenced Wednesday in a military court at Fort McNair in Washington after pleading guilty to nearly all the charges against him.
Prosecutors had argued Crump deserved a bad conduct discharge, which was not granted by the court. At the start of the trial, Crump faced a maximum punishment of 25 years imprisonment, demotion to private and a dishonorable discharge.
Crump took the stand to ask the judge, Col. Stephen Henley, for leniency on behalf of his family, which appeared in court. He said he failed them, the Army and subordinates; he apologized to his superiors and said he took "full responsibility" for his actions.
Crump faced 10 specifications of Article 134 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice for wearing unauthorized awards and decorations over the last four years, and four specifications of Article 107 for making false official statements. The judge rejected one specification of Article 107.
The disgraced NCO acknowledged deceptions stretching back to his tenure as the command sergeant major for the medical center at Heidelberg, Germany, and in Landstuhl, Germany; Fort Bliss, Texas; and on multiple occasions at Walter Reed.
Some of the offenses admitted by Crump include wearing six awards and decorations from March to December of 2009, including the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal with Arrowhead device, which indicates — contrary to military records — that he made a combat jump into Grenada. He admitted he wore a U.S. Navy Achievement Medal without authority since 2006 and, on three occasions, two or three unauthorized overseas service bars.
According to the charges — one rejected by the judge — Crump made false official statements to two enlisted soldiers. He acknowledged that he submitted false information to the Department of the Army Secretariat enlisted selection boards, in 2006 and 2007, "with intent to deceive."
On May 17, Crump was relieved by his superior, Col. Gordon Roberts.
At the time, Roberts was the only Medal of Honor recipient on active duty in the Army and was commander of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center brigade.
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Note: An earlier version of this story misidentified one of the decorations Crump admitted he was unauthorized to wear.
