Two 7th Special Forces Group soldiers are scheduled for hearings on the same day, with the same Okaloosa County, Florida, judge, according to court records.
Staff Sgts. Derek McKinney and William Mrozek are due in court Feb. 18 following arrests in April. McKinney was charged with second-degree murder, after the shooting death of his estranged ex-wife, while Mrozek faces two charges of sexual battery of a child under 12 years old and one count of child cruelty.
Attorneys for McKinney and Mrozak did not respond to requests for comment.
Mrozek’s charges stem from summer 2017, when two girls, ages 7 and 11, spent two weeks in his Crestview, Florida, home. Court filings do not identify the girls by name or explain his relationship to them.
“As far as I know, that never happened, but that is descriptive,” Mrozek told the girls’ mother when she confronted him in a recorded phone call earlier this year.
The children described being restrained and penetrated multiple times during their visit, with Mrozek urging them not to tell anyone what had happened, according to the police report.
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The girls' mother first reported the incidents to Army Criminal Investigation Command at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, where the family lives. Mrozak was arrested in Florida in April.
That same week, McKinney was charged with murder after a neighbor heard a gunshot “following a domestic dispute,” and his estranged wife was found dead in her bedroom.
Meghann Myers is the Pentagon bureau chief at Military Times. She covers operations, policy, personnel, leadership and other issues affecting service members.
