Bigamy, adultery and valor under fire

The court martial of a high ranking Army officer that concluded last month in Germany had ties to a Hungry Horse soldier who died two years ago while serving in Afghanistan.

Pfc. Nicholas Cook was killed in Konar Province on March 7, 2010, when insurgents ambushed his unit with small arms fire. A 2008 Columbia Falls High School graduate, Cook joined the Army in April 2009 and was soon a proud member of “The Rock” — the 2nd Battalion (Airborne), 503rd Infantry, Task Force Mountain Warrior, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, stationed at Fort Ederly, Vicenza, Italy.

Cook was well known in the community and an avid snowboarder who took trips to Austria and Italy to “shred” the slopes while stationed overseas. One year after his death, Cook was honored with the Silver Star for risking his life while providing cover fire that allowed the other 23 soldiers in his patrol, including five who were wounded, to move to better positions and make it off the mountain alive. He died saving their lives.

Cook’s humble origins and sacrifice on the battlefield stand in stark contrast to the story of his commanding officer, Col. James H. Johnson III, who took command of the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team in 2008. He was fired in March 2011 after an Army investigation found he had misused government resources in order to help an Iraqi woman with whom he was having an affair.

An honor graduate from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Johnson was the son of a retired lieutenant general and a rising star in the Army. Married to an American woman with two children, Johnson fell in love with the Iraqi woman while he was stationed in northern Iraq in 2005.

Investigators claimed Johnson provided aid to the Iraqi woman and her father for several years after they moved to The Netherlands as refugees, including falsifying receipts and vouchers for government reimbursement, including a $59,500 invoice to pay the Iraqi woman’s father.

In a strange coincidence, the story came to the Flathead when Johnson, already under investigation, decided to marry the Iraqi woman and found a Web site advertising double proxy marriages hosted by Flathead attorney Dean Knapton.

“Montana is the only state in the union that allows marriage by double proxy, where neither party is required to be present to obtain a legal marriage certificate,” the Web site says. An $800 fee would cover all court, attorney and related costs, the Web site says.

Knapton, who claims to have filed paperwork for more than 1,000 double proxy marriages since 2003, says in his Web site that he first got interested in double proxy marriages when a friend’s son was serving with the Army in Iraq and wanted to marry an Italian woman.

Flathead County Clerk of Court Peg Allison confirmed that Johnson and the Iraqi woman were married here by double proxy on Nov. 9, 2011. She said that because many judges and attorneys are not interested in providing that kind of legal service, about 90 percent of the double proxy marriages in Montana take place in Flathead County.

“We’re not the marriage police,” she explained.

Allison noted that Kalispell City Judge Heidi Ulbricht and Flathead County Justice of the Peace Mark Sullivan conduct the lion’s share of the services. Under state law, judges can be paid for performing weddings.

A count of bigamy was added to Johnson’s charges after his real wife discovered she’d been unexpectedly denied coverage under the military health insurance system following surgery. She had been reluctant to alert authorities about her husband’s relationship with the Iraqi woman because it might damage his Army career.

She also faced losing her share of his retirement pay and other military benefits, including educational benefits for their two children, totaling perhaps $4 million over an average life span, if Johnson was kicked out of the Army. In the end, she decided to e-mail the prosecutor.

When the court martial began, Johnson, 48, faced six charges of violating the Uniform Code of Military Justice and 27 specifications that included bigamy, adultery, fraud, forgery and making false statements. Both his father and his wife attended the trial in Kaiserslauten, Germany.

Johnson pleaded guilty to 15 charges, not guilty to two, and several charges were dropped. He pleaded not guilty to providing a cell phone to the Iraqi woman’s family, which racked up about $80,000 in government-paid charges.

Johnson also pleaded not guilty to negotiating with a Dutch firm to build wind mills in Afghanistan to provide drinking water. The Iraqi woman’ father, whom Johnson had brought to Afghanistan to serve as a cultural adviser, stood to make more than $500,000 under the Dutch contracts.

Convicted of fraud, bigamy and conduct unbecoming an officer and gentleman, the court-martial panel on June 14 sentenced Johnson to a reprimand and a $300,000 fine. He faces up to five years confinement if he doesn’t pay the fine, but he was not dismissed from the Army nor sentenced to forfeit his pay and allowances.

John McKay, of Fort Worth, Texas, who alerted newspapers across the country about Johnson’s court martial, sent a letter to his Washington, D.C. representatives that includes photos of nine soldiers who died in Afghanistan while serving under Johnson.

“My question is, who apologizes to the families of those who were killed in action during his command of the 173rd Airborne Brigade in Afghanistan?” McKay wrote. “If he had put more focus on the mission and spent less time on the phone and e-mailing his mistress, would some of those listed below be with their families and loved ones today?”