An Army colonel fired last year from his brigade command post will now face a court-martial for alleged sexual abuse, officials from 1st Cavalry Division confirmed to Army Times.
Col. Jon Meredith is charged with two counts of abusive sexual contact and two counts of conduct unbecoming of an officer for his alleged actions, Lt. Col. Jennifer Bocanegra, a spokesperson for the division, told Army Times.
The division commander, Maj. Gen. John Richardson, formally referred the charges on April 21 to a general court-martial, she said.
Meredith was fired from his post at Fort Hood, Texas, in October 2022 due to loss of confidence, Army Times previously reported.
Following a separate investigation, Meredith’s wife, Col. Ann Meredith, was also recently ousted from her leadership role as the commander of the 89th Military Police Brigade, also at Fort Hood. She was suspended and subsequently relieved due to a “loss of confidence in her judgment,” Lt. Col. Tania Donovan, III Corps spokesperson, previously told Army Times.
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Ann Meredith took command of the military police brigade on July 8, 2022. She previously held command and staff positions at the company, battalion and brigade levels, Army officials said. She also served as the Military Police Branch chief with U.S. Army Human Resources Command from 2018 to 2020.
Meredith claimed on social media that she was fired because she sent a text message that was considered to be interfering in the investigation into her husband, Stars & Stripes first reported.
“It was an accident, and I immediately reported myself and took responsibility,” she said in the post, which Army Times also obtained. “I simply made a mistake while defending my family.”
Jon Meredith, who was born and raised in Montana and commissioned in 1996, assumed his role at 1st Brigade in May 2021 during a rotation to Europe. His predecessor, Col. Michael Schoenfeldt, was also relieved of his post.
A court-martial of a colonel is relatively rare, according to an Army Times review of publicly-available trial results. Eight have faced trial since 2014, and one is scheduled for a domestic violence court-martial in September.
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III Corps did not comment further on the removal of Ann Meredith, citing a service policy that protects administrative information. The Merediths were unable to be reached for further comment.
Jonathan is a staff writer and editor of the Early Bird Brief newsletter for Military Times. Follow him on Twitter @lehrfeld_media
Davis Winkie covers the Army for Military Times. He studied history at Vanderbilt and UNC-Chapel Hill, and served five years in the Army Guard. His investigations earned the Society of Professional Journalists' 2023 Sunshine Award and consecutive Military Reporters and Editors honors, among others. Davis was also a 2022 Livingston Awards finalist.
