3rd Marine detained, accused of parachute sabotage

[thedrifter]

Article ran : 07/11/2003
3rd Marine detained, accused of parachute sabotage
By ERIC STEINKOPFF
DAILY NEWS STAFF
A third Camp Lejeune Marine was taken into custody this week in connection with alleged sabotage of parachutes during training last year at Camp Davis.

Cpl. Clayton A. Chaffin, 28, an air delivery specialist from Franklin, Ohio, is being held in the Camp Lejeune brig on pre-trial confinement, said 2nd Lt. Kate VandenBossche, a Camp Lejeune spokeswoman. He is assigned to 2nd Air Delivery Platoon, Beach and Terminal Operations Company, 2nd Transportation Support Battalion, 2nd Force Service Support Group.

Under rule for courts-martial 305, Chaffin's command is required to review probable cause and the need for his confinement within 48 hours of incarceration, and a neutral officer detached from the command must review the case by Monday.

Chaffin, who entered the Marine Corps in June 1994, has not been formally charged.

Chaffin's civilian attorney, Vaughan Taylor of Jacksonville, said he could not comment on any matters of evidence.

"He maintains his total innocence with regard to this matter," Taylor said.

Chaffin may not be the last Marine considered for charges stemming from the Sept. 28, 2002, incident in which the main parachutes of three Marines failed to open at 1,250 feet after jumping from a C-17 Globemaster. They were forced to deploy reserve parachutes as they plummeted toward earth. There were no fatalities in the incident, and the exercise was canceled.

An investigation revealed that all 30 of the 550-pound suspension lines on 13 of 25 parachutes that were to be used that day were cut in a way that traditional inspection would not have revealed.

On Jan. 28, Lance Cpl. Antoine D. Boykins, 21, of Baltimore and Cpl. Julian C. Ramirez, 25, of Los Angeles, both air delivery specialists with the same unit as Chaffin, were taken into custody. On Feb. 12, they were charged with 13 counts of attempted premeditated murder, 13 counts of reckless endangerment, as well as conspiracy to commit premeditated murder and destruction of government property. Ramirez was also charged with unauthorized absence.

They faced an Article 32 hearing March 19 and 20 to determine if there was sufficient evidence to move forward with a court-martial.

At the hearing, Naval Criminal Investigative Service Special Agent Robert Lesane said Boykins became the focus of the investigation when lab tests revealed his fingerprint on a note that contained only the 13 riser serial numbers of all the sabotaged parachutes. The note was found under a table in the room where the parachutes were stored.

Boykins wore a recording device in an unsuccessful attempt to implicate Ramirez, and when investigators told Boykins that his DNA matched a skin sample lifted from the sabotaged rig, he told them he interrupted Ramirez in the act of committing the crimes but remained as a lookout, Lesane said.

Previous tests on the rigs were limited. Now prosecutors have asked technicians at the U.S. Army Criminal Investigative Lab in Forest Park, Ga., to broaden the scope of testing for DNA from sweat, saliva, blood and skin to the entire surface of all 13 parachutes.

The tests are important, investigators said, because the government's case against Ramirez was limited to Boykins' accusation and an alleged attempt at fleeing the area.

The government dropped the charges against Ramirez for lack of evidence, and he was released from the brig March 31.

Boykins, if found guilty at a court-martial scheduled to begin on July 29, faces the possibility of life in prison without parole.

Lesane testified at the March 19 hearing that at least two others in the unit still were under suspicion, particularly a Marine who borrowed the key to the parachute storage facility the night before the jump and asked the guard not to write it in his log book because he was not on the commander's access list.

Contact Eric Steinkopff at esteinkopff@jdnews.com or 353-1171, Ext. 236.


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