An investigating officer has recommended a senior Army National Guard officer face court-martial on charges he knowingly exposed a woman to HIV by having unprotected sex.
Col. Jeffrey Pounding is charged with assault, adultery and conduct unbecoming an officer. If he is tried and convicted, Pounding could receive a maximum sentence of 15 years confinement, dismissal from the service, and total forfeiture of all pays and allowances.
The Article 32 hearing to determine if Pounding should face a court-martial took place Nov. 17-18 at Fort McNair in Washington, D.C.
Related: Colonel's alleged lover testifies at Article 32
The investigating officer, Lt. Col. Steven Bryant, has since completed his report and recommended a court-martial on all charges and specifications, according to officials at Fort McNair.
The report is being reviewed by Col. Michael Henderson, commander of Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, Virginia.
Henderson, the special courts-martial convening authority, can dismiss the charges or recommend it move forward to Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Buchanan.
Buchanan, the commanding general of the Military District of Washington, is the general courts-martial convening authority.
Pounding, a Special Forces officer who is assigned as the deputy director of the National Guard Bureau's strategic plans and policy directorate (J-5), faces one charge each of assault, adultery and conduct unbecoming an officer.
The woman who is accusing Pounding of exposing her to HIV said their relationship began when they were both at Texas A&M University. He was an Army fellow and she a member of the university staff, she said during the Article 32 hearing.
As policy, Army Times does not name alleged victims of assault of a sexual nature.
The two met for drinks, and their relationship quickly turned physical, she said.
"We'd see each other a few times a week, and we'd end up spending the night," she said from the witness stand.
The pair continued their relationship for more than two years, even after Pounding completed his fellowship at the university, the woman said.
She also said she met Pounding in the Washington, D.C., area and near Fort Bragg, North Carolina, when he was on work trips.
The woman testified they did not use protection when they had sex, and he did not disclose his HIV status to her.
When asked if she would have had sex with Pounding if she knew his HIV status, the woman said: "Absolutely not."
During her testimony, the woman said she had since been tested twice and is negative for HIV.
The woman was on the stand for more than five hours, as James Gordon, Pounding's defense attorney, grilled her on her testimony, work history and personal life in an effort to determine her credibility.
The hearing was contentious at times, as Gordon and Bryant sparred over Gordon's line of questioning.
Pounding, who has been assigned to the Guard Bureau since early 2004, is accused of having unprotected sex with a woman who is not his wife during three different time periods, according to the charge sheet against him.
According to the charges, Pounding exposed his partner to the HIV virus, "a means likely to produce death or grievous bodily harm," through unprotected sex between Nov. 1, 2009, and May 31, 2010, in Bryan, Texas.
Another incident reportedly occurred Dec. 6-9, 2010, in Arlington, Virginia. A third incident is alleged to have occurred Sept. 6-9, 2011, in Southern Pines, North Carolina, according to the charge sheet.
Pounding knew he had the Human Immunodeficiency Virus but did not disclose that fact to his partner, according to the charge sheet.
Michelle Tan is the editor of Army Times and Air Force Times. She has covered the military for Military Times since 2005, and has embedded with U.S. troops in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, Haiti, Gabon and the Horn of Africa.
