Ex-Fort Bragg soldier who allegedly forged retirement documents faces sex assault, revenge porn charges

Rachael Riley, The Fayetteville Observer
·2 min read
1

A former Fort Bragg command sergeant major who has since been demoted and allegedly forged documents to retire in the midst of an Army investigation is facing an Oct. 11 trial on five new charges –including impeding a sexual assault and revenge porn.

Master Sgt. Clinton M. Murray is also charged with desertion, failure to obey a regulation and extortion , according to an Army trial docket and charge sheet. Murray has pleaded not guilty.

Further details about Murray’s latest case are found in federal documents after he filed a lawsuit on July 17, 2020, seeking a temporary restraining order against being recalled to active-duty military status. The case was ultimately dismissed.

Murray was found guilty in January 2020 following court-martial proceedings at Fort Bragg of having an inappropriate relationship while deployed to Afghanistan with a private first class between July 1, 2017, and Dec 30, 2017. He was reprimanded and demoted one step in rank to master sergeant.

'The tragic death is a real mystery': Reward increased to $50K in slaying of Fort Bragg paratrooper

Former Command Sgt. Maj. Clinton Murray faces multiple charges after allegedly forging retirement firms in the midst of an Army investigation against him.
Former Command Sgt. Maj. Clinton Murray faces multiple charges after allegedly forging retirement firms in the midst of an Army investigation against him.

He was found not guilty of sexual assault of the junior enlisted soldier, and a charge of maltreatment of subordinates was dismissed. Also dismissed was an allegation that Murray fostered “the perception of undue familiarity” with a first lieutenant in Afghanistan between April 1, 2017, and Dec. 30, 2017, the record shows.

At the time he was charged, Murray was command sergeant major of the 3rd Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, according to his enlistment records included in the federal court filing.

The latest charges against Murray came during the course of the court martial, according to the federal lawsuit.

The pending charges allege:

  • Murray violated an Army regulation by having an intimate or sexual relationship with a commissioned officer between Sept. 1, 2017, to May 1, 2018, while in Fayetteville and while deployed near Kabul, Afghanistan.

  • Murray tried to extort a woman, whose name is redacted from the report, between May 19 and May 20, 2018, by obtaining intimate visual images and threatening to divulge the relationship to the woman’s husband and her employer – the Army.

  • Murray attempted to impede a sexual assault investigation between Dec. 11 and Dec. 14, 2017, by requesting an individual, whose name is redacted from the report, to destroy physical evidence of alleged sexual conduct.

  • Murray broadcast intimate images of an unnamed woman on June 18, 2018.

The sexual assault charge is tied to an allegation that Murray had sex with the woman on May 21, 2018, and again threatened to tell her husband and the Army about the relationship.

Additionally, Murray is accused of fraudulently separating from the Army between June 1 to June 30, 2020, “under the guise of a medical retirement while flagged for investigation,” the charge sheet states.

This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Ex-Fort Bragg CSM faces sex assault, revenge porn, extortion charges