JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD — An Army physician was sentenced Wednesday to 13 years and eight months of incarceration after pleading guilty to sexual misconduct involving dozens of men he treated …
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JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD — An Army physician was sentenced Wednesday to 13 years and eight months of incarceration after pleading guilty to sexual misconduct involving dozens of men he treated for pain management at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.
Maj. Michael Stockin, who was an anesthesiologist and pain-management physician at Madigan Army Medical Center, was given the maximum sentence allowed under a plea agreement in which he confessed to sexual misconduct with dozens of patients. A military judge handed down the sentence Wednesday in a packed courtroom at the base's Cascade Court Complex.
The sentence amounted to four months of incarceration for each of the 41 known victims in the case. Michelle McCaskill, a spokesperson for the U.S. Army Office of Special Trial Counsel, said Stockin will serve his sentence at the Army's prison in Fort Leavenworth, Kan. He will be required to register as a sex offender.
Ryan Guilds, an attorney representing seven of the victims, praised that the maximum sentence was given, but said "no sentence will give back what was taken from the victims who suffered pain, doubt and shame." They were offered a chance to reclaim their dignity by coming forward and testifying at the hearing, he said.
"The resilience of the victims in this case should be celebrated," said Maj. Ryan Keeter, who led the prosecution team. They have been living with the trauma ... for years, and the last 16 months of litigation on the way to trial have not been easy."
Another attorney representing 21 of the victims, Christine Dunn, said that while Stockin's plea and sentence offer some justice to her clients, "real justice requires holding the Army accountable for its role in allowing this to happen."
"These brave soldiers are now riddled with anxiety and shame — many of them terrified to even seek medical attention," Dunn said in a statement.
Guilds noted all of the victims are from JBLM, yet Stockin also served at hospitals in Iraq, Hawaii and Walter Reed Medical Center.
"Sexual predators don't just happen overnight," he said. "The Army and CID (Criminal Investigation Division) should be looking for other victims elsewhere."
Both Guilds and Dunn have filed claims for their clients under the Federal Tort Claims Act, a precursor to filing a federal lawsuit.
Stockin pleaded guilty to 36 counts — known as "specifications" in military court — of abusive sexual contact and five counts of indecent viewing involving 41 victims, who were all active-duty or former military. All but one were patients he treated in the hospital's pain-management center, where he conducted medically unnecessary "exams" to view and grope the patients' genitals.
Stockin's sentencing concludes the legal process on the criminal side that began in February 2022, when the military branch began an investigation into the physician. After the year-plus investigation, he was charged with 23 counts of abusive sexual contact and indecent viewing. That number grew to 41 accusers by January 2024, according to the Army Office of Special Trial Counsel.
His trial was scheduled to start last week, the day he pleaded guilty. In addition to incarceration, Stockin will be dismissed from the Army.
A hearing unique to courts-martial followed, where Stockin answered questions from the judge about his crimes and stated each of his guilty pleas with details of each crime.
After the judge accepted the guilty plea, some of Stockin's patients testified about their experiences with the doctor. They detailed how his actions, which occurred from 2019 to 2022, had affected their views of the military and of themselves.
An Army captain who graduated from West Point said his appointments with Stockin broke his trust in medical providers, and that lack of trust extended to his Army chain of command.
"We are taught as young cadets, as young officers, that trust is the foundation of everything we do," he said last week while testifying. Now, he goes in "thinking that those above me I can't trust, that they don't have my best interests at heart."
That's partially the reason he thinks the Army is no longer for him, he added. He plans to soon submit his discharge papers.
The civil side of the legal process continues. At least 22 people who say they were sexually abused by Stockin have filed Federal Tort Claims Act administrative complaints against the Army and Department of Defense, alleging that the U.S. military was liable in Stockin's actions. Some of Stockin's former patients who filed FTCA claims aren't among the 41 victims in his criminal case, according to attorney Dunn.
"The criminal case is wrapping up, but the civil case is just getting started," Dunn said last week.
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