Court-Martial Ordered For Fairchild Officer

(From For the Record, March 26, 1997:) Misidentified: Napoleon Bailey, accused of sexual assault, is a master sergeant at Fairchild Air Force Base. A headline in Tuesday’s Spokesman-Review misidentified him.

A Fairchild Air Force Base master sergeant accused of sexually assaulting three women will be tried by a military tribunal on 17 charges.

The court-martial was ordered Monday for Master Sgt. Napoleon Bailey on all the counts reviewed at a military hearing earlier this month.

Lt. Gen. Charles Robertson, commander of the 15th Air Force, agreed with the hearing officer’s recommendation that Bailey should stand trial on charges ranging from rape and forcible sodomy to kidnapping and obstruction of justice.

All three women who reported the assaults testified at the preliminary hearing. Two are Spokane residents, and the third is a member of the Air Force who requested a transfer after the alleged assault.

Bailey, 39, has maintained he is innocent on all counts. The Georgia native has been stationed at Fairchild for 12 years, where he was a member of the 92nd Security Police Squadron.

Bailey was charged after a lengthy investigation by the Air Force Office of Special Investigations. The first assault was reported in 1995, but that investigation was dropped after the victim recanted her story.

When a second sexual assault complaint was filed with Spokane police last fall, Fairchild officials canceled his security clearance and reassigned him to desk work. He was jailed on Jan. 31 after he was interviewed by military investigators and his home, car and storage space were searched.

Bailey had the option to testify at his Article 32, which is similar to a grand jury proceeding in the civilian court system. Air Force officials refused to comment on whether he did testify.

Although the preliminary hearing was closed to the public, Air Force officials said the court-martial will be open. It will take place at Fairchild, Lt. Amy Holten said.

A date for the court-martial is expected to be announced today, Holten said.

Bailey faces a possible maximum penalty of life in prison and dishonorable discharge if he is convicted on all counts.

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