A Fort Campbell soldier charged in January 2024 with creating and owning sexually explicit images of children and other soldiers without their consent was able to harm another child two months later, according to Army court documents. (Samuel Shore/U.S. Army)
A Fort Campbell soldier charged in January with creating and owning sexually explicit images of children was able to harass another child two months later with a sexual photo and messages, according to Army court documents.
Pfc. Corey Wilkinson, 34, was charged with sexual misconduct that involved children and other soldiers as well as lying to investigators. Officials chose at that time not to place Wilkinson in any form of pretrial confinement, according to his charge sheet.
In March, Wilkinson used iMessage, a messaging application on Apple devices, to send a photo of his private parts to someone younger than 16 years old. He also described how he would like to engage in sexual activity with the child, according to the charge sheet. During the incident, he was in Clarksville, Tenn., a town just outside the base.
Prosecutors on May 1 added two counts of sexual abuse of a child to his court-martial proceedings, according to the charge sheet. He was placed in pretrial confinement on April 26.
Army regulation allows an officer to order confinement when there is reasonable belief that a soldier committed a crime that is subject to a court-martial and it is a serious offense. There also must be concern the soldier could try to flee to avoid trial, might try to kill himself or herself or try to tamper with evidence or threaten witnesses.
An investigation by the news organization ProPublica found the Army is more likely to confine a soldier accused of drug offenses over one accused of sexual assault.
Wilkinson was arraigned June 12 on five charges involving a dozen counts of sexual misconduct, according to his charge sheet. Investigators identified five victims, according to the Office of Special Trial Counsel, which is handling the case for the Army.
He pleaded not guilty before Military Judge Lt. Col. Daniel Mazzone at Fort Campbell, Ky., where Wilkinson is a cannon crewmember assigned to the 1st Battalion, 320th Field Artillery Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division. He requested a jury trial, according to the Army’s court docket.
Wilkinson is scheduled to appear Oct. 1 before the judge, who will rule on whether a plea agreement will be accepted in the case, according to the Office of Special Trial Counsel. If the agreement is not accepted, Wilkinson’s court-martial will begin March 24.
Wilkinson enlisted in 2021 and served on a rotational nine-month deployment to Romania in 2022-2023, according to his official service record.
The earliest allegation on his charge sheet is dated July 2022 when Wilkinson is accused of using Facebook Messenger to distribute child sexual abuse material from Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base in Romania.
He’s accused of conspiring with Pfc. Whitney Shepherd in Grafenwoehr, Germany, to produce child sexual abuse material and photograph the private areas of other soldiers without their consent in January and February 2023. The charge sheet does not describe how and when the photos were taken of other soldiers – only that the soldiers should have had a reasonable expectation of privacy.
He is also charged with possessing those images of the soldiers and children on his iPhone, as well as receiving, producing and distributing child sexual abuse material with the device.
Wilkinson is charged with exposing himself to someone Sept. 2, 2023, in or near Sevierville, Tenn., which is about 260 miles east of Fort Campbell.
On Jan. 5, Wilkinson gave a fake address to agents with the Army Criminal Investigation Division in an official statement, according to the charge sheet.
Shepherd, the 34-year-old soldier with whom Wilkinson is accused of conspiring, was arraigned May 29 and pleaded not guilty, according to the Army’s court docket. She and Wilkinson are assigned to the same battery within the 1st Battalion, 320th Field Artillery Regiment.
She faces three counts of conspiracy, one count of child sexual abuse, seven counts of other forms of sexual abuse and six counts related to child sexual abuse materials, according to a charge sheet. All the incidents occurred in Grafenwoehr, Germany, in late 2022 and early 2023.
Her trial is scheduled to begin Nov. 12 at Fort Campbell, according to the court docket.
