How Do False Allegations Happen in the Military?

Hi this is Tim Bilecki managing partner of collections and I’m here with a colleague of mine Michael Waddington and one of the questions that we get asked a lot is how to avoid a false allegation of sexual assault because the reality is false allegations do occur they happen a lot especially in the military but we see trends that happen over and over and over because often as people say wife I’ve been on this earth 20 30 40 years I’ve never been falsely accused I know other

People who get falsely accused so there are a few things that you can avoid which will probably limit your exposure to false allegations and if you limit that exposure to false allegations then you don’t have to potentially run the risk of going to a court-martial run the risk of getting having a criminal trial and then importantly running the risk of a wrongful conviction against you for a crime you didn’t commit so oftentimes these come down to just decisions that you make it come down to life

Choices and while some of them may be common sense we see a trend in a pattern of over and over and over the same scenarios happen which can lead to a false accusation Mike you seem the same thing absolutely and if this is something that my wife and I my wife Alexandra and I are law partners we have a son who’s now 19 years old he’s an e for the United States Army Reserve and before he went to boot camp he went to boot camp when

He was 17 we beat these into his head okay and and we’re not talking in this video about people that are being actually accused of a crime they committed we’re talking about a false allegation in the things that we warn young men for and in old men and any man out there and my son in particular and things we see in a lot of these cases are very much common sense but people often don’t use common sense I mean for example if you meet someone at

A bar or anywhere and they start telling you about the past three or four boyfriends or husbands and how those people are so bad they were raping them they were beating them and they’re just a poor abuse victim and that’s that’s something they’re telling you about especially if it’s early on you need to run away almost every false allegation we get there’s red there are red flags left and right and the person is usually a consummate victim like their husband abused in their past and they’ve

Been raped I mean their entire life they’re a victim if you do anything wrong to that person or just don’t want to even beat with them you’d have to do anything wrong you’re probably gonna get falsely accused somewhere along the line you’ve run a high risk that’s one of the things what else give me give me some more ideas or some more examples of what you see that lead to false allegations yeah if you’re in the bar and you’re drinking with someone and he’s had a

Lot to drink and she is so drunk she is stumbling or can’t control her alcohol and you see a wedding ring on her finger probably it’s a good time to walk away so if you’re in the barn okay how attractive she is or he is and they’re drinking and that person you’re flirting and you look down and there’s a wedding ring now you may have one as well I don’t know I’m not trying to judge but the reality is if the person you’re trying to hook

Up with the bar is intoxicated they’re drinking the Forgan with you and they have a wedding ring walk away because what can happen is you can have completely consensual sex that night and I’m not the morality police I’m not judging that though right or wrong my personal beliefs aside but the next morning a husband or a wife or a spouse can find out and oftentimes that can lead to a false allegation of sexual assault so again if you’re at the bar and you’re drinking and a

Grower or guys forwarding with you and they’re married walk away or if they have a boyfriend like so many of our cases start when the boyfriend either physically walks in or finds out and it doesn’t have to be the next day you know if you have hooked up with someone while your TDY and they have a boyfriend or girlfriend or they’re married two years down the road if the wife finds out guess what statute of limitations is five years you’re facing a sex assault charge two

Three four years later and you and how did you find yourself again something that happened while ty3 years ago in Honolulu and there are no witnesses it comes down to whether or not the jury believes a person and they could convict you so I also don’t have sex with people that are super drunk just if you don’t know them don’t have sex with them and many of these young soldiers and sailors and airmen marina may you crazy mr. Waddington who do you think this is the

Modern era you’re darn right it is in sexual assault allegations false ones particularly are a big part of the modern era so you don’t have to listen to me but I don’t think you want to have to neither one of us to defend you when if you use common sense you could avoided it so those are two great points Tim and here’s another one if you’re in the military don’t have sex with someone in your unit and if you outrank them well just don’t have sex

With anyone outrank either those are two other big things you have sex with someone in your unit and you outrank them you’re probably gonna catch some sort of sex assault or sexual harassment charge or allegation even if it’s false it’s gonna ruin your career yeah absolutely there’s another one I see don’t have sex with someone you meet on whisper or or on another dating app well we can see in the modern world people being on tinder on bumble on whisper but when you meet them and

Oftentimes that this is obviously common sense but they may say they’re 14 or they’re 15 and you may see a picture of someone who’s 21 22 well let me tell you what NCIS and Sandy they run D sting operations where they will show you a picture of a 21 year old or a 22 year old and they’ll throw into the conversation that they’re in high school or that they’re 14 and common sense I’m like your museum we’re gonna walk away right up right away as soon

As we see that but I have Marines I’ve sailors I have airmen I have servicemembers across the board who just go show up to these people’s houses and meet them and say oh I saw a picture I thought they were 21 22 and then they get arrested they get charged now one things you can do is don’t hook up with who you’ve just met on an anonymous ad like whisper there are plenty of ways to meet people and I’m dinners fine bubbles fine there other apps

That can be fine but do some due diligence and don’t do it on someone not on a site where you’re gonna meet them when it’s sketchy because if it sounds if it sounds sketchy I mean clue you in it actually is yeah that’s see these are these are common-sense things but I’ve in the past year I represented I ate in the Special Forces that showed up to hook up with someone that that he met on one of these and I also represented a naval officer that

Did the same thing and there was both set up sting operations and standing back and looking at it you you think you were known better but that’s great that’s a great tip Tim here’s another one and this this is kind of politically incorrect but don’t have sex with people that are crazy man don’t do it don’t have sex with someone that is mentally unstable I have oh six is to do it I mean I ness and he ones and I have old ones but they they

Meet someone that is met they know is mentally ill that sometimes they’ve accused other people but that they are on a bunch of psychotropic drugs and they’ll start dating the person and having sex with them and then combine that with my next tip and you see this a lot I know you do because I do and it’s in it and then you mistreat them or you lead them on like don’t don’t lead people on that are that are crazy that have false accuse people in the

Past that are vindictive and or mistreat them because you’re gonna be at false accused of sexual assault at a minimum if you’re gonna violate all these rules we mentioned don’t kick the woman out of the house as soon as you finish in the middle of the cold and her stocking feet and tell her she’s a dirty [ __ ] and throw her out because guess what yeah because then the algis know that come against you and another one if you’re if you’re married don’t mess around

On your wife if you’re married and you’re married and miserable right think of the divorce get a separation but if you’re gonna go mess around on your wife then when I see people do is they’ll go to they’ll have a girlfriend in the Philippines I’ll have a girlfriend in this being in Hawaii a lot of clients and they may be an e-1 all the way to no six let me have girlfriends in the Philippines they don’t think their wife knows about it but their spouse is

A lot smarter than you think they’re using these apps sending money sending flowers and then they leave these women on in the Philippines and I’m not picking on the Philippines do something that we see a lot here in Hawaii and they don’t tell them they’re married they don’t tell them they have kids and these women in the Philippines expect it maybe come to the US expect some type of engagement and then they’re being led on then the spouse finds out and then all of a sudden

A disaster occurs also and then the spouse think making the allegation of sexual assault okay because they’re vindictive or they’re upset and if they have a reason to be upset but all of this can be avoided by if you’re married don’t have an extramarital relationship and in it just goes back to common sense if you’re married and miserable stop work out the issue and gonna do the work don’t go mess around on your spouse because if you do it can all come back to haunt you

And as you said my keys are common sense things looking at it from someone who’s now in my 40s I’ve got three children I’m very happily area these all look like common-sense things to people watching this they may say hey Tim no kidding but you would be shocked at the amount of calls I get and you get every single day and we get 4050 sometimes 80 enquiries a month for service members that want us to represent them and they all have these same themes I’m often

Saying hey if you would have just taken some of this initial advice at the beginning you wouldn’t need to hire us now because it may very well be a false accusation but now you have to defend your freedoms gonna cost you 40 50 60 thousand dollars to go defend your freedom and you’re gonna have to go through an entire trial and oftentimes these are very tough cases to defend because they come down to credibility and if you lose you go to prison and your life is

Forever changed all for something that you look at it say is it worth it I’m in the bar you see this girl she may be good-looking or not or you with this girl whatever the issue is you have to say is it worth potentially going to prison over and being a registered sex offender for a false allegation because you put yourself in a really bad situation you might not committed the crime but you put yourself in an incredibly bad position I completely agree with you Tim

Here’s another little tip again not politically correct but I see this a lot don’t have sex or get involved with a victim advocate don’t do it and many you are probably putting a negative data click dislike on YouTube fine you’re gonna be next calling my office so many of these people that are there so victim oriented they’re in the me to movement there everybody’s a victim they’re a victim and they’re volunteering to help victims and you’re the idiot that starts dating them and having sex with

Them guess what buddy whenever you dump them your ass is going on the me to list and you’re gonna lose your career I see that so often and they tell me but I’m against I’m against sexual assault and she’s against sexual assault so we’ll make up that’s a good couple well nobody’s for sexual assault first of all that I know of I mean I’m sure there are a few but the bottom line is you get someone who devotes their life towards helping alleged victims and in

Military a lot of fake victims and fake allegations and their career their life is devoted that and they teach this stuff and they’re the ones teaching one drink you can’t consent they’re the ones forcing and trying to get people to make allegations why would you have sex with someone like that why would you I mean you can do it if you want but do it at your own peril I’ve had several clients like that in the past year though ago she’s the victim advocate for the

Unit oh go figure and usually it’s a combination Tim in it it it’s the victim advocate and you outrank her and she’s told you her past five boyfriends raped her and she’s drunk at the bar and she you’re married or she’s married and you know all these things combined it’s it’s usually not one of these things it’s usually and then you mistreated her or you refused to leave your wife for her or her boyfriend walked in if you the more of these factors we’re discussing that

You add to the equation the more likely that you’re gonna be falsely accused absolutely solution act just one or two things is three or four that we see and they pile on to pile on but the interesting thing is you have the power to make decisions because no one can make these decisions but you and if they look at the people you associate with and I always put people into two kind of categories I shouldn’t I may be life isn’t just that binary but if you

Look at people around you their victims or Victor’s right people that are victims everything they’re a victim of I didn’t make enough money so their employer doesn’t pay them enough there’s you know they can’t they’re in debt maybe they can’t manage their money whatever they can’t get a promotion well maybe it’s someone else’s fault right so people are always victims of everything that happens around them and those are the type of people I try to stay away from people that everything’s a problem everything someone else’s

Problem I like to associate myself with Vic doors people that look at problems and then say how do we solve this problem I’m not gonna be a victim of society I make my own decisions I make my own choices so if the person that you’re with are you that you’re sleeping with if you can put them into that victim pile and not the Victoire Paulo it’s probably someone you want to walk away from because long-term in your career I don’t care how good the weekend is

With her or him or how good the night is long term it’s gonna fail you and the bigger projects when these things happen when we get these calls people’s lives change fundamentally then they have to call you where they call me to represent them and now the stress really piles on and the weight on their shoulders is immense you see it you see these people who are doing amazing things in their life maybe making bad decisions but then they come into and they’re broken because now

They feel the weight of the government on them and they’re now facing five ten twenty thirty years in prison over over an offense they didn’t commit albeit they put himself in a bad situation and so that’s where you and I come in to have to get to walk these people walk the walk with these individuals these service members and get them through the process get them through the court-martial and be able to explain to a jury that my client they might not have made the

Best decisions going forward I may not be decisions that you would have made but they’re absolutely innocent of these charges and that’s a skill that someone like you or something like me has to do and having to do we do it all the time but they’re just so freakin preventable I’d much rather have someone make a good decision up front and have to go through hell and back with you right to get them acquitted and we’re gonna do another follow-on video where we talk about why

These alleged victims who are making false allegations are so believable why the system is why there’s a system that’s put in place to make people but very very believable when they’re actually not why that’s such a challenge for trial lawyers Tim you know what one of the problems is because there are other false allegations this is easy to win right no because the person that’s making the allegation that you had sex with while they’re drunk while they’re married that’s crazy that’s a consummate victim they’re very

Credible and so they’ll take the stand and people being oh my god your guy did rape her and we’re thinking about Jesus why would she make this up and so it’s actually very difficult to take down someone that believes their victim and has gone through the whole life as a victim at least in their mind because they know the right things to say they’re gonna talk about PTSD they’re very convincing like some of these are very negative people that are consummate victims they’re very convincing to

Someone who is unskilled so the jury might not have ever dealt with someone like this and they’re like how could someone really cry on the witness stand for two hours and describe these acts that you’re terrible client committed and lie about it a human would never do that so if you don’t want to be in this situation you could want to avoid it but it’s not easy to win a case requires a lot of skill to take down someone that is is a trained liar and

Some of them I actually believe that they’re telling the truth and they’re very convincing but the reality is there are so many opportunities to prove and a false accusation if a false accusations happened to you already you can’t go back in time you may say you know Tim you know Mike you’re absolutely right I put myself in this situation I didn’t do this at that point in time you need to get a serious representation get someone who knows knows these factors that knows how to see

Through the BS that knows how to win these cases at trial you can’t go back and you know regret you may have regret but don’t put yourself in the victim category put yourself in the Victoire category because when you come into my office when you get on the folic Meerut get on the phone with you Mike I want someone that wants to win more than I do I don’t want someone that says oh the army screwed me they’re screwing me I’m gonna go to jail I

Want something that’s gonna come in and say you know sir I’ve made some really bad decisions I didn’t do what I’m accused of and I don’t care what is gonna take what I’m gonna fight this with all I have that’s the client that I’m gonna represent that’s the client Mike when I get 10 or you know five or six or seven calls in a week all I want to represent mean I can only take on so many cases I want that individual who is also not

Gonna be a victim but it’s gonna be a Victoire because I don’t like representing people who it’s everyone else’s problem but their own let’s come to the other solve the problem get serious about it and go win this thing yeah that’s really what this is about when when we get hired on a case a lot of people they they they’re beating down their victims they have PTSD I’m talking about the person being accused I understand you might be depressed you should be depressed and at least

Upset if you are being accused of a crime you didn’t commit but you need to change your attitude and come in with a lawyers mentality I’m gonna we’re gonna go if we’re gonna go down we’re gonna go down swinging and that with the warrior mentality if you come out swinging and then come out aggressively and fight then you have a much higher chance of winning the case and beating the allegations and continue on with your life because I don’t like representing people me the same as

You that are negative they’re always complaining that are you know it’s everybody else’s fault because the fact is these things don’t happen in a vacuum there’s a usually there’s usually usually a lot of bad decisions that are made to lead up to a false allegation and you need a lawyer to be able to battle your way out of that and what we don’t need is someone who’s just calling and complaining every day you need some of the positive winners attitude because that person also makes it

Much better and more convincing witness on witness and if they testify in their own defense so that about wraps up this episode of the military law news network until next time I’m Michael Waddington with Tim Bilecki you.