A lieutenant colonel arrested for sexual abuse of a minor will no longer face a court-martial after the Air Force decided not to proceed with his case.
The Air Force withdrew charges against Lt. Col. Kevin J. DiFalco and dismissed the case without prejudice June 7, 2024, according to a spokesperson for Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada.
“This case has been removed from the Air Force’s trial docket. The convening authority decided to move forward with administrative procedures, as opposed to court-martial proceedings,” said a base spokesperson.
DiFalco was arrested Sept. 8, 2022, by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department for allegedly sexually abusing a child. The seven charges he was arrested for included lewdness in the presence of a child and one charge of abuse or neglect, court records show.
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At the time of his arrest, he was commander of the 57th Operations Support Squadron, which manages Nellis Air Force Base’s airfield, airspace and flight scheduling operations, according to its website.
DiFalco, who was relieved as squadron commander after his arrest, is currently an active-duty member stationed at Nellis.
“These decisions are taken seriously and only after consulting with legal counsel, including the Office of Special Trial Counsel, examining the strength of the evidence collected by the USAF Office of Special Investigations, and considering the availability and admissibility of evidence at court-martial proceedings,” said a base spokesperson.
The case remains under investigation by the Air Force Office of Special Investigations.
Military Times reported in September 2022 that the alleged victim told school counselors she’d been sexually assaulted by DiFalco from December 2021 to June 2022, according to a Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department report.
The alleged victim detailed in the same report how DiFalco groomed her, sending her lewd Snapchat messages and asking her to wear lingerie he gifted her.
The counselor informed the police the same day and DiFalco was arrested soon after.
The victim also identified a tattoo in DiFalco’s groin area, which the police later corroborated.
In 2020, DiFalco was assigned as operations officer for the Thunderbirds, the Air Force’s elite aerial demonstration squad based at Nellis.
Riley Ceder is an editorial fellow at Military Times, where he covers breaking news, criminal justice and human interest stories. He previously worked as an investigative practicum student at The Washington Post, where he contributed to the ongoing Abused by the Badge investigation.
