Vallejo was briefly detained in jail on a $100,000 bond. Scanlon says reporting the alleged attack, and the subsequent ordeal, hurt her military career. Sketchy-looking, Scanlon describes it, comparing it to a rundown CrossFit gym, with a roll-up garage door, by a railroad track and a junkyard.. My (biased) experience, too. He was investigated in 2018 after fatally shooting his friend, Sgt. They even took his license plates off., Billy, we love you and will miss you, the Coast x Coast club posted to its Instagram page two days later. In his mug shot, Vallejo appeared freshly shaved, his beard gone. The LaVigne and Leshikar familes had just returned from a trip to Disneyland. Erin Scanlon wants to go on the record again so that her alleged attacker is identified as Delta Force. On the back patio, they are standing around a red tent with the Coast x Coast logo, drinking beer, chatting at the bar, and smoking cigarettes. Master Sgt. Thats a significant omission, because Scanlons case is also a signal example of another systemic issue in the military: the entitled attitudes and hard-partying lifestyles of some elite soldiers more than two decades into the war on terrorism; the apparent breakdown in good order and discipline in the Special Forces in recent years, with rising instances of alleged criminality among Green Berets and Navy SEALs; and the special treatment often accorded to special operators by civilian and military law enforcement in and around Fort Bragg. I also recently reported on a very dark story, about a Delta Force operator named William Lavigne shot and killed his best friend, a Green Beret named Mark Leshikar. It was held in the main courthouse on Fort Bragg, a red-brick, Greek-revival building typical of the Carolinas. Vallejo is considered a ladies man and groupies hang out at the ware house [sic] looking for an opportunity to sleep with Mr. Vallejo. This, the detective noted, was according to an employee of the Fayetteville Police Department who had to recuse herself from the case because she herself had once spent the night at Vallejos apartment. She was shaking, acting odd, pacing. Subsequently, the Army swapped out her SVC four separate times. I had to get shots and blood drawn to get tested for STDs so many horrible times. Constant appointments with lawyers, detectives, investigators, and advocates had disrupted her military career, and caused her to miss out on her units 2017 deployment to Iraq. In Dumas' case, he had a Dec. 17 court date in. Among some operators, the result can be an unhealthy sense of entitlement, in the words of a Special Operations Command internal ethics review made public in 2020. Do you realize what you did? she replied at 4:25 a.m. William Lavigne II, 37, pictured above, was found in Fort Bragg on December 2. In this video, we explore the mysterious case of Green Beret Mark Leshikar and Delta Force Member William Lavigne and the sus. As soon as it concluded with an acquittal, the Army deleted the audio recordings. I was pissed that another obstacle had gone up, she says. RIP, bro., One year later, the authorities have identified no suspects, arrested no perpetrators, and disclosed nothing about the evidence theyve gathered to date. He learned to read and understand Arabic, but could not speak it. She vividly recalls the day that one Delta soldier, a Coast x Coast guy (neither Vallejo nor Lavigne), came in from an operation outside the wire. The trial record shows that the prosecution called only four more witnesses, half as many as the defense. US report shows China taking steps toward space dominance, Biden to allow Afghans to stay longer in US, sources say, Michigan expands absentee voting for military members, Some companies charge hefty fees to help vets with disability claims, Meet 12M+, the new community app for military spouses, Your next tech and incoming AI | Defense News Weekly Full Episode 4.28.2023, Home Improvement Loans What are my options? But neither ABC News nor the Observer named Vallejo, and ABC only mentioned in passing that the alleged rapist was a member of Delta Force. Sometimes it only happens because someone with a dog in the fight gets involved. Lavinge's statement to law enforcement at the scene was that Leshikar had attacked him with a screw driver. Send us a tip using our anonymous form. She accused a Special Forces operative of rape. Four .45-caliber shell casings were found at the scene. Because otherwise I would not be using a port-a-potty., She went outside and crossed the blacktop to where the toilet was set up against the exterior wall of a metal building. They were officers in the Judge Advocate Generals Corps, assigned to the Special Forces. During this time, the two allegedly had an argument which then turned into a physical confrontation, according to a 1st Special Forces Command memorandum obtained by Connecting Vets. Mr. Between the summer of 2018 and the fall of 2020, Lavignes behavior became increasingly erratic and dangerous. Later that day, a city fire inspector went to the property and found multiple storage buildings in disrepair, surrounded by junked vehicles, barbecue grills, piles of wooden pallets, tiki torches, and other combustible materials. Former Commander of Delta Force from 1985 to 1989. The staff sergeant had invited her over to his house earlier in the evening, but she and Tina hadnt wanted to leave the party. Scanlon began to cry, he wrote in his report, as she pointed out the building., Matrafailo obtained a warrant, took DNA samples from the hood of the Saab, reviewed security footage, visited Macs, and interviewed Tina, among other witnesses. Ms. Her first SVC was at the meeting with the DA, but did not advise her that she might be better off pressing her case in civilian court. As soon as it was over, Scanlon says, I jumped up and grabbed my shoes and ran inside to get my stuff. Lavigne later said in a statement to police he was removing the car's battery. Looking back on the court-martial, it was a solid case and my testimony was powerful, Scanlon says, but I was this lowly lieutenant up against Delta Force and USASOC and JSOC, and all that entails. As soon as they said not guilty, my people just kind of quickly escorted me out.. If he didnt have a knife, he would be toting around, like Rambo, some bow-and-arrow-type shit.. in the Army to go. This is not how I wanted my time. Fort Bragg officials announced that the Master Sgt. She filed a FOIA request for the transcript in 2019, and the Army gave her the trial record instead. So Marky just took everything, the pride in America that I have, she continued. Now, he is telling his stories to help other veterans. It turned into some sort of wrestling match, but what the argument was about remains unclear. Both men were on active duty in Delta Force at the time. Hes vague about the shooting incident. It appears that a lot goes on here.. Though attorney-client privilege normally protects the SVC-client relationship, Judge Nance found that Scanlon had waived the privilege by including the prosecution in the supposed conversation with her SVC. Vallejo, wearing his full-dress uniform, was seated at the defense table, next to his defense attorney, Kris Poppe, a former JAG prosecutor who previously served as an infantry officer. The record states Dumas yelled police open the door after knocking. Master Sgt. There are recordings somewhere, Scanlon says. They might have noticed that the shooter was a witness for the alleged rapist, and that they both belonged to the same motorcycle club, made up of soldiers from the Armys most elite unit. The examination revealed multiple small lacerations on her vulva, as well as a contusion and four scratch marks on her left flank and lower back, from the hood of the car. The next morning, Scanlon went directly to the Womack Army Medical Center and underwent a sexual-assault forensic examination. He was also suffering from a traumatic brain injury due to an improvised explosive device detonating near him, which was why he was assigned to a desk job at Fort Bragg. Master Sgt. As to any potential discharge, were not able to comment due to Privacy Act protections., When Connecting Vets reached out to CID on Fort Bragg regarding the deaths of Leshikar, Lavigne and Dumas, spokesperson Christopher Grey said: All I am releasing is it is a homicide investigation. The DA treated the killing as a justifiable homicide and Lavigne was not charged with a crime. "The shooter's own words bury his ass because there is no screw driver. He was seven inches taller than her and 70 pounds heavier. Only 11 of the deaths were determined to have been from natural causes. It was very frustrating, Scanlon says, that all these people had waited till the last minute, then were trying to put the decision on me, when Im not a lawyer. Its not going to be good for you., For the jury, it must have been a somewhat close call, because they submitted at least 18 questions to the witnesses. Hes in JSOC.. He gave me his card and invited us to go to the next bar with everyone., They exchanged phone numbers, and a group of about nine, led by Vallejo, relocated from Macs to a bar called Paddys, an over-the-top Irish pub out on Raeford Road that has a metal detector at the front entrance, bartenders in Scottish kilts, brass bathroom door handles cast with anatomical exactitude in the form of male genitalia, and urinals shaped like a womans mouth. Seeking to impeach Scanlons credibility and establish that she had tried to conceal the existence of an eyewitness, Poppe sought and obtained the SVCs testimony on this point. Rick described her brother's friend as a good and honorable man, although she is concerned with some of his actions that day. William J. Lavigne II, 37, and Army veteran Timothy Dumas deepens with the revelation that Lavigne was also involved in the death of Sgt. Officials have identified Master Sgt. That was how they operated.. This experience led Beckwith to advocate for a similar unit in the US Army. To buttress his depiction of her as a woman on the prowl, he put up photos of her taken that night in which she was wearing a sleeveless dress with a short skirt, and texts between her and Tina joking about going out braless or commando., Isnt it true you were flirting with him? she recalls him asking. And no one seems to know quite why. Together they make up the core of JSOC, the black ops component of the military. Because every man with a dark beard or a hat terrified me., But, the statement continued, I am strong. She described Scanlons general demeanor as tearful.. In short, a person like Lavigne would be a VERY difficult person to kill. Pentagon Finally Stops Hiding Military Overdose Epidemic, Senators Press Pentagon for Answers on Rash of Overdose Deaths, These Kids Are Dying Inside the Overdose Crisis Sweeping Fort Bragg. So who did, and why? Created in the late 1970s in the image of the British Special Air Service (SAS), Delta Force has been at . Master Sergeant. Are walking blood banks coming to a field hospital near you? This is why people don't have any faith in the justice system, Ciolino continued. Did it disappear or melt? Starting in 2019, victims who testify get a copy of the court-martial record, including audio, whether it was an acquittal or conviction.. With Leshikar and Lavigne dead, there remains only one witness to the killing: Leshikar's daughter. As Jane puts it, They did what they wanted when they wanted, and wouldnt take no for an answer.. Scanlon and Tina arrived at Macs shortly before 10 p.m. A number of motorcycles were parked out front. He had entered a plea of not guilty. The bullet fragments under the carpet tell you this guy was shot while he was laying on the carpet incapacitated, he said. She said that this friend got in his vehicle and was driving to Lavigne's house to help sort things out when he allegedly got a second, frantic phone call from Lavigne saying he had killed Leshikar. She said she tried to get them to stop using narcotics. Leshikar's daughter said that, Uncle Billy was acting strange and that's why I let my daddy in, to the house. Each year, they hold a string of events in California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, North Carolina, and Virginia, where they sell merchandise, take donations, and raffle off items such as bottles of wine printed with portraits of fallen Delta Force soldiers, concealed-carry holsters, and pistols painted in the colors of the American flag. They lived like there was no tomorrow., The relentless physical drive that she describes is part of what made these men the very best at what they did. At the time Lavignes path crossed Scanlons, his cocaine habit was firmly established, but he remained a team member in good standing on Delta Force, and still had a clean arrest record in Cumberland County. As Rolling Stone reported in a previous piece, "The Fort Bragg Murders," in March 2018 right around the time that military prosecutors took control of Vallejo's trial Lavigne shot and killed a Green Beret in the living room of his house in Fayetteville without suffering the slightest legal consequences.". Leshikar was a member of 19th Special Forces Group and had previously deployed to Afghanistan and Tajikistan. The founder and CEO of the nonprofit is a 39-year-old man, Cristobal Lopez Vallejo, who goes by the alias Cris Valley. Then the Army erased all record of the trial testimony. Attempts to reach these people by phone were unsuccessful, but pretrial filings show that at least two of them were summoned to buttress Vallejos defense of consent. What we noted was a warehouse that appeared to pull double duty as a gym and party location, the ABC officer wrote in an email to a colleague. Finally, the trial was set to begin in late-February 2018. Like Gallagher, Anayat was an ordinary Tier 2 special operator, of whom there are as many as 10,000. Tina watched Vallejo walk up behind Scanlon, causing Scanlon to dart off, according to the statement Tina gave Matrafailo. . It was shocking, Scanlon told The Fayetteville Observer in 2019, and honestly a little bit unbelievable. (Attempts to reach Matrafailo by phone were unsuccessful.). As a criminal profiler, Ciolino has investigated and exonerated death row inmates. No reporters attended the subsequent court-martial, and no transcript was made of the proceedings. The nurse who did the rape kit noted in her report that Scanlons eyes were red and her makeup was smeared. Master Sgt. We drank so much, she says. She looked up and saw Scanlon emerge from the warehouse and start toward the only outlet to the street, a narrow strip of dirt parallel to the train tracks. You want to think theyre not comparing?, According to Scanlon, Poppes initial line of questioning was not subtle. That night he shattered my whole world, the statement read. The Special Forces of the U.S. Army are based out of Fort Bragg, as is the powerful and secretive Joint Special Operations Command, making this spot, inland of the Eastern Seaboard, the central node in the United States global special-operations complex. I only recently learned about Lavignes July 2020 arrest from a police report that the sheriffs office initially withheld. The jury would have been able to see from her dress blues that, in stark contrast with Vallejo, she was a rookie officer in a conventional unit. This is a very secluded parcel, the fire marshal wrote in an email to the zoning department. A nonprofit associated with the club, the Coast x Coast Foundation, raises money through annual cross-country motorcycle rides to honor fallen special operators. When questioned about the apparent inconsistencies in the Army's investigation and the Cumberland County Sheriff's investigation, USASOC spokesmen Col. Tage Rainsford said: It is my understanding that the CID investigation of MSG Lavigne came to the same conclusion as the Cumberland County Sherriffs Office in that it was justifiable and no charges were filed. For reasons that remain a mystery, Lavigne had pulled out the .40-caliber sidearm he carried and double-tapped his best buddy right in front of two horrified little girls, his daughter and Leshikars. SUBSCRIBE Today!Also available everywhere you listen to podcasts!The recent deaths of Army Delta Force member William J. Lavigne and Army Veteran Timothy Dum. soldier who had been accused of rape, and published his photo. The Armys destruction of records means that she will never know what was said in her absence at trial. A toxicology report revealed trace amounts of Tramadol and Valium in Leshikar's system. There might be a good reason for Vallejo to avoid the spot where, almost five years ago to the day, he met Scanlon. The Army never made a transcript of the court-martial, and destroyed the audio recordings as soon as it concluded, leaving no record of the testimony the witnesses gave, the arguments the lawyers made, or the judges oral rulings. In Fayetteville, the Coast x Coast club was riding high, leading rock star lifestyles, in Janes words. He returned the phone to his wife Laura days later saying he found it between the driver's seat and center console of Leshikar's car. In this regard, Poppe says that she was a commissioned officer a lieutenant who got caught having sex in a compromising position with an enlisted man, Vallejo, technically her military inferior. The Cumberland County Sheriff's Office told Connecting Vets that it will not release the police report itself, which was written by police Sgt. Poppe was unable to remember the substance of Matrafailos testimony, only that it involved some aspects of the investigation that had not been discussed., A few months after the trial, Matrafailo would be accused of making inappropriate contact with Scanlon on social media: sending her suggestive emojis, making weird comments about ads for lingerie, and the like. . She wasnt being truthful about her encounter with Cris Vallejo., They should not have allowed my lawyer to testify against me, Scanlon says. A spokesman for the Army Criminal Investigation Command said the investigation continues into the deaths of Master Sgt. They have zero remorse. She doesnt mean that any of the killings she witnessed were illegal or outside the rules of engagement. Dumas was an Army veteran who previously served as the property book officer at 7th Special Forces Group before serving in the same role at Fort Bragg for nine years, according to his LinkedIn profile. Part of Audacy. (U.S. Army) Like Lavigne, Dumas had ties to the Special. Its possible that it was expunged, a clerk tells me. LaVigne was assigned to the Headquarters and Headquarters Company of the U.S. Army Special Operations Command and had been in the Army for 19 years. I dont think they go around on shooting sprees. But the instructions to the jury show that the judge, Col. Jeffrey Nance, allowed the panel to consider Scanlons relationship with the staff sergeant insofar as it was probative of her motive, if any, to fabricate her allegations against the accused. The judge cautioned the panel that they were forbidden to conclude that Scanlon, having willingly slept with one enlisted man, was likely to do it again; but to use an old legal clich, that was a bit like throwing a skunk into the jury box and instructing the jurors not to smell it. Throughout the whole night he kind of acted like a celebrity, Scanlon says. Instead, on June 26, Matrafailo was the first person called to the stand by the defense. He started kissing me, and I was pushing him away. There are no coincidences in life like this. In addition, according to USASOC, the court reporter deleted the audio. Then the shooter then winds up dead on the military base, basically gets assassinated. She said that when she opened the door, and her daddy was mad and walking towards uncle Billy and uncle Billy came around and shot him, and then my daddy did this, her family described. I wanted this all behind me.. Some were deployed, others reassigned, or otherwise bureaucratically reshuffled. I think Ian, he said Will shot at him. Rolling Stone is a part of Penske Media Corporation. Four months before the night in question, Cumberland Countys Alcoholic Beverage Control received a tip from a police officer in Hope Mills, another satellite town of Fort Bragg, about a party occurring in downtown [Fayetteville] in which donations would be accepted, an ABC agent wrote in an affidavit attached to a warrant to search the warehouse and seize alcohol. But Scanlons unit, despite its distinguished pedigree going back to World War I, is a division of the conventional Army, which is kept separate from top-secret JSOC by high walls, both literal and figurative. I know this was specifically Delta Force, but its like this across the whole of USASOC, using an acronym for the U.S. Armys Special Operations Command. William LaVigne II, 37, and Army veteran Timothy Dumas Sr., 44, is. There is no screw driver here, that is enough to go DEFCON 4 on this. Scanlon was looking forward to getting the ordeal over with. A subsequent SOFREP investigation. Then, just before the opening arguments were scheduled to take place, military lawyers from Fort Bragg intervened. Im still spooked. She read USASOCs statement in The Fort Bragg Murders that some unspecified adverse administrative action had been pending against Lavigne at the time of his death. Bullet fragments were present underneath the carpet as well as in the kitchen and living room areas of the house. They didnt care with who. This list of Delta Force members includes both current and former notable members of the United States Army's 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta, a tier one special mission unit and part of Joint Special Operations Command. Vallejo didnt use any form of contraceptive. My granddaughter was so relieved that he was dead that she was crying, Mabey said. According to Lavigne's statement to police, Leshikar began acting irrationally on the car ride back to Fayetteville, North Carolina. Leshikar began working on his car out in the driveway. The jury panel of nine included two women and was a mix of colonels, majors, and senior sergeants, all of whom served in the Special Forces. By the time of Vallejos trial, it was clear that the Army had missed a chance to intervene in the boundary-pushing, motorcycle-borne debauchery of the Coast x Coast club as early as September 2016, when Scanlon went to CID and alleged that Vallejo had raped her behind their un-permitted clubhouse in downtown Fayetteville, which just happens to be adjacent to the county jail, a building full of cops. Let me know when your [sic] home safe. To this he appended a heart emoji and a kissy-face. Im not a police officer. It was the last conversation he would have with his mother. A spokesman for the Army Criminal Investigation Command said the investigation continues into the deaths of Master Sgt. On Sept. 30, he arrested Vallejo on a felony warrant for second-degree rape, second-degree sex offense, and sexual battery. And that was the reason why my case was handled the way it was., Well after midnight, with Paddys about to close down, Vallejo invited Scanlon and Tina to the after-afterparty at a place he called Warehouse 13. Thinking it was some kind of lounge or club, they took a cab to the location on Worth Street in downtown Fayetteville, only to find that it was literally a warehouse. I will keep fighting to put my life back together. William Lavigne and Timothy Dumas were found dead at a training site on Fort Bragg, North Carolina. But it was a disheartening conclusion, she says, to a difficult and drawn-out ordeal that she insists was not my fault.. It was a warm night in the Carolinas, with a quarter-moon in the sky. DELTA FORCE' S DIRTY SECRET 2022-01-04 - [ Cont. Court documents state that Dumas broke into an apartment in Walkertown with the intent to terrorize and injure an occupant of the building, on April 11, 2020. Law enforcement later told Leshikar's family that they had found a screw driver, not at the scene of his death, but outside near his car where he had been removing the battery. 1st Class Mark Leshikar. A sort of Delta Force biker gang that story wouldnt have been good for the Army, not at a time when the Navy was getting hammered by allegations of rampant drug abuse, fratricidal violence, and sexual assault in the ranks of its SEAL teams. During this time, and the months to come, Scanlon was represented by an SVC, or special-victims counsel, a military-appointed attorney. Do Delta Force operators have a license to kill? A Defense Department memorandum noted that Lavigne wasn't credible but Leshikar's death was in the line of duty, while the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office described it as "justifiable homicide." Leshikar's family has alleged evidence was tampered with and that Lavigne called another Delta Force Operator to come to the scene. The military had kept it quiet, though. USASOC declined to comment based on concerns about privacy, but pointed out that a police investigation and a line of duty report have different burdens of proof. Why didnt you tell anyone about the witness that came around the corner? she remembers him asking. First Class Mark Leshikar were best friends. Scanlon agreed to go on the record again, in greater detail, if you would be willing to reiterate that my perpetrator was Delta Force. That was a crazy ethical mistake.. A review of his uniform and decorations shows he was likely assigned to. Because I had been in for 18 months. Over the course of 18 months between 2020 and 2021, more than 80 military members stationed at the base died from "sudden" and "unexplained" causes. His spiral into drugs and paranoia culminated in him shooting at a man on the streets of Fayetteville in July 2020. At times, she observed their operations on a video feed. He literally picked me up off the ground, and my shoes fell off., He set her on the flaking hood of a defunct Saab convertible that was sunk in tall weeds.