Young

RANDOLPH GI ADMITS ROLE IN PRISON ABUSE: Apologizes to Iraqi, American people; gets 10 months in jail

By DON CONKEY
The Patriot Ledger

An Army Reserve specialist from Randolph has been sentenced to 10 months in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy and maltreating detainees at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison.

Spc. Roman Krol, 23, an interrogator with the 325th Military Intelligence, admitted pouring water on the naked detainees in October 2003, forcing them to crawl around the prison and throwing a foam football at the prisoners while they were handcuffed on the floor.

??I didn't mean to do it as punishment or something like that, it was just a reaction,'' Krol told the military judge in the case.

With his father Mark Krol of Randolph sitting one row behind him, Krol apologized to both the Iraqi and American people, then fought back tears as he said he would accept any punishment but begged to be allowed to remain in the military. He said he had wanted to be in the Army ever since coming to the United States from Russia at 15.

But Col. James Pohl, the judge in the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal, ordered that Krol be reduced in rank to private and that he receive a bad-conduct discharge after serving his prison term.

Krol, a 1999 graduate of Randolph High School, graduated from basic training at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., in May 2001. He served as an interrogator in Bosnia after being trained at Fort Huachuca, Ariz.

His stepmother, Elena Krol of Randolph, declined to comment when reached at her home this morning.

Krol decided to have Pohl sentence him rather than go through a jury trial. Pohl heard the case and rendered his decision yesterday at Fort Hood, Texas. It took him just 25 minutes to hand down the sentence, which Krol and his father accepted in stoic silence.

Krol said other Abu Ghraib guards were present at the time of his actions against the prisoners, and that Spc. Charles Graner, the alleged ringleader of the abuse, made the detainees do jumping jacks while naked.

Graner was convicted last month for his role in the scandal.

Krol said he joined a ??silent agreement'' with Graner and Spc. Sabrina Harman, who still faces trial, to abuse two Iraqi men who were suspected of raping a 15-year-old male detainee.

Krol admitted ignoring his specialized training when he committed the actions.

??I am here to take responsibility for it,'' he said.

Krol and Spc. Armin J. Cruz were the first members of military intelligence to be charged in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal. Cruz was sentenced to eight months in September.

Also yesterday, Sgt. Javal Davis, 27, a former Abu Ghraib guard, pleaded guilty to battery and two other charges in the prison scandal as part of a deal with prosecutors on the eve of his trial at Fort Hood.

Davis, 27, from Roselle, N.J., also pleaded guilty to dereliction of duty and making a false official statement to Army investigators after photographs of naked and abused prisoners became public last spring.

Davis will not be tried on two other charges he had faced: conspiracy and maltreating detainees.

Defense attorney Paul Bergrin said last week that Davis was working on a deal with prosecutors that would cap his possible sentence at 18 months.

Capt. Chuck Neill, a prosecution spokesman, acknowledged that a deal was made.

A jury of officers and soldiers will be selected today for sentencing. Neill said the jury's sentence recommendation will be compared to the deal offered to Davis, and the lesser sentence will be served.

Davis admitted yesterday that he stepped on the hands and feet of some of the seven detainees brought into his section of Abu Ghraib for punishment after a November 2003 disturbance in a prison tent camp nearby. He said he also fell with full weight on top of them.

Davis, serving with the Maryland-based 372nd Military Police Company, said he was upset because a female soldier had been hit in the face with a brick during the tent camp incident, and he took out his anger on the prisoners.

??It hurt me on the inside, and I just lost it,'' said Davis, who stands about 6-foot-1 and weighs nearly 220 pounds. ??I wasn't trying to hurt them. I was just trying to scare them, but I did it.''

Davis told the judge that he saw what he believed to be military and civilian intelligence personnel physically mistreating detainees and, among other things, using unmuzzled dogs to terrify prisoners before questioning.

Don Conkey may be reached at [email protected].
Material from Patriot Ledger news services was used in this report.

Copyright 2005 The Patriot Ledger
Transmitted Wednesday, February 02, 2005
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10 months for a bucket of water and a nerf football? And they're chopping our fucking heads off??? What the fuck.

Webby

Rest assured, it is unlikely that this was the first occasion. It was just that this one could not be ignored. Perps don't usually get caught on their first offence :-)

Idiots are everwhere.. it does not take some other jurisdiction to have em behave this way. I remember seeing video shot in a Texas jail facility that showed this kinda conduct.

It is individuals that cause problems - either thru their makeup or some character deficiency, - and then bring all others into dispute.

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XXX TLD's - Another mosquito to swat.

mardigras

So, was he fucked up as a kid?

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Young

Nah not at all. He was quite. I can't say I was shocked though, especially since what he did wasn't that bad.

Graduated in the same senior class of about 400 kids.

My small ass hometown has now had a person die and a person get sentenced to military prison due to this war. Its crazy

Napoleon Dynamite

the quiet ones are always the fucked up ones you don't know what's going on in their heads. not to say what he did here was fucked up but look at columbine for example.

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