Bilecki Challenges Separation Board’s OTH Recommendation; Commandant Retains Master Sergeant

Bilecki Challenges Separation Board’s OTH Recommendation; Commandant Retains Master Sergeant

July 2025

Naval Support Activity Bahrain (Command Element, 5th Marine Expeditionary Brigade, MARFOR CENTCOM)

Marine Master Sergeant – E-8

Allegations: UCMJ Article 120 Abusive Sexual Contact

Facts

This was a Marine Master Sergeant in the Command Element of 5th MEB at NSA Bahrain whose administrative separation board found a basis and recommended Other Than Honorable characterization. The Commandant of the Marine Corps declined to separate.

The factual basis cited UCMJ Article 120 abusive sexual contact. The Government alleged that in late September 2024 at or near Galali, Bahrain, our client had touched the buttocks, inner thigh, groin, or vulva of a Staff Sergeant with his hand, with intent to abuse, humiliate, harass, or degrade and/or to arouse or gratify, without consent; and that he caused her to touch his penis with her hand without consent.

The NCIS investigation had begun in late September 2024. NCIS interviewed the alleged victim in early October 2024. A pretext text-message conversation in early October 2024 stopped when our client attempted to call. A No Contact Order issued. Surveillance footage from the Hanging Gardens of Dilmunia building was obtained.

Notification of administrative separation went out in April 2025 with recommended characterization Other Than Honorable.

The Administrative Separation Board convened in July 2025 at NSA Bahrain. Tim Bilecki defended the Marine with detailed Marine Corps defense counsel.

The Board found a basis and recommended Other Than Honorable characterization.

We compared the complainant’s account with the version she had given a friend. The friend’s account omitted the trip to the laundry room and the period when both the complainant and our client fell asleep on the couch. Those intervening events mattered to the sequence the board was being asked to assess. After the board recommended OTH separation, we submitted a Letter of Deficiency challenging the board record.

The Commandant of the Marine Corps (MMSR-3), as the final separation authority for E-7-and-above misconduct separations under MCO 1900.16 (MARCORSEPMAN), declined to separate.

The Master Sergeant was retained on active duty.

The board’s recommendation was not the final decision. Bilecki continued the defense after the hearing through the Letter of Deficiency, placing the challenge before the final separation authority. The Commandant declined to separate the Marine.

Result: AdSep Board found basis and recommended OTH; defense Letter of Deficiency submitted; CMC declined to separate; Master Sergeant retained on active duty.

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FAQ

Q: What did Bilecki do after the board recommended an OTH discharge?
He submitted a Letter of Deficiency challenging the board record before final action. The defense had compared the complainant's account with the version relayed by her friend, including intervening events missing from the friend's account. The post-board submission gave the separation authority the defense's challenge along with the recommendation.

Q: Was the Marine discharged because the board recommended it?
No. The board found a basis and recommended OTH separation, but the Commandant declined to separate him. He remained on active duty. The board finding was not a court-martial conviction, and its recommendation was not a completed discharge.