Stars and Stripes | February 22, 2008
VILSECK, Germany — A 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment soldier will spend the next six months in jail after being convicted of possessing child pornography.Spc. Joshua Windey, 22, pleaded guilty Wednesday to possessing a DVD and laptop computer containing 26 images and two videos of the sexual abuse of teenagers and children. Some of the victims were as young as 7.
He also pleaded guilty to making a false official statement to CID investigators when he told them that he didn’t download the child pornography after it was discovered by authorities on Nov. 3, 2006.
Windey told the court he stumbled on the child porn while using a software program to search for adult porn on the Internet. The “peer-to-peer” program lets users share and search for files on each other’s computers. However, prosecutor Capt. Derrick Grace said Windey actively sought child porn by searching for files with words such as “child rape,” “Lolita” and “underage.”
During the trial, Judge (Col.) Greg Marchessault used a projection screen to review each image and video with the accused and prosecution and defense lawyers. The screen was not visible to the public gallery but several soldiers watching the trial left the room as the judge described in graphic detail the scenes of child abuse depicted.
Marchessault said authorities were able to identify at least three children depicted in Windey’s collection, thus establishing them as minors by birth date as opposed to judging the images.
Windey faced a maximum of 15 years’ confinement, forfeiture of all pay and allowances and a dishonorable discharge. The prosecution only sought 18-months’ confinement.
During the sentencing phase of the trial the court heard from several members of the regiment — officers and enlisted soldiers — who described Windey as a good soldier who they would readily deploy with, even knowing about his child porn collection.
But Grace said Windey sought out child pornography, downloaded it, decided which images to keep, stored them on a computer disc and hid it. Grace said Windey tried to download more than 6,700 images and 6,700 movies.
“(It was) his own little sick collection of videos and images,” he said.
Windey said his behavior was inexcusable and should be punished but added that he was molested by a neighbor as a child. “The man was ultimately arrested and put in prison. Afterwards I went through many years of therapy,” he said.
Defense attorney Capt. Abe Burgess said Windey’s community — the other soldiers from his unit — still believed he was a good soldier. He pointed out that the unit promoted Windey to specialist knowing that he faced the child porn charges.
“Don’t hold him responsible for all the evils of child pornography,” he said.
In addition to the jail time, Windey received a reduction in rank to private and was given a bad-conduct discharge.
End of Article
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Disclaimer: The following commentary is that of Isaac Golding and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Second Cavalry Assn or of its representatives.
Editor’s Note I wanted to take a moment to bring a few things up in light of this article.
1) This is a sad and disgusting event for everybody involved. It truly hurts me to see this kind of stuff happening. It’s a horrible horrible thing for a child to be abused sexually or for that matter mentally or physically. The effects of the abuse are felt years after the abuse has occurred and in most cases the wounds never heal. This is of course not an excuse for this person’s actions or the actions of any type of pedophile be it one whom simply looks at images or one that acts on the impulses. In this case the soldier here wasn’t found to be abusing children he was found in possession of the offending material. He was tried and convicted and being dealt with. I hope this sends out a clear and resounding note to other would be “collectors” of such material. “You are not welcome in our Regiment”
2) This article as a whole brings up a collection of issues that the Regiment has had to deal with and I’m quite certain will have to continue to deal with. For the editorial staff the simple act of publishing this article took 2 days of discussion between myself William Heidner and David Gettman and in the end I was given the nod to publish this article on the basis that even in the worst of situations there are lessons to be learned.
3) It’s my personal opinion that this individual does NOT represent the 2nd. Our unit is a sum of its parts. Yes it takes the actions of individual soldiers to make up the Regiment. However it must be said that this individual clearly was NOT acting like a Soldier.
4) To those in uniform that had to deal with the unpleasant facts of this event. I want to take a moment to let you know that those that have worn the same boots you wear now, we know you have fought a hard fight. Your dealing with issues even more painful than the sting of a bullet. And at the end of the day we hope that you can take something from this event and grow stronger as a person and as soldiers. We know where you are right now. We know what your up against, and those who have worn the same boots you wear now, we are proud of you and of YOUR Regiment, of OUR Regiment.
Drive on guys….drive on.
Isaac Golding
