Marine Lt. Col. Michael Masters, who had been the executive officer at Parris Island’s Recruit Training Regiment, was removed at the Marine Corps’ Parris Island Recruit Depot after the officer’s arrest on battery and child cruelty charges in Florida over the Labor Day holiday weekend, officials at the South Carolina installation said Tuesday. (Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office, Fla.)
ATLANTA — The Marine Corps has removed a leader at its Parris Island Recruit Depot after the officer’s arrest on battery and child cruelty charges in Florida over the Labor Day holiday weekend, officials at the South Carolina installation said Tuesday.
Marine Lt. Col. Michael Masters, who had been the executive officer at Parris Island’s Recruit Training Regiment, was “reassigned pending charges,” said Marine Maj. Philip Kulczewski, a spokesman for Parris Island. Masters was arrested Saturday in Santa Rosa County, Fla., in the state’s western panhandle, according to jail records.
Masters, 40, is the third high ranking leader at Parris Island removed from his position in recent months. Col. Bradley Ward, who had commanded the recruit regiment since July 2021, and his senior enlisted leader Sgt. Maj. Fabian Casillas were fired July 5 “for a loss of trust and confidence,” the Corps said at that time. Marine officials have declined to further elaborate on those decisions.
Police in Santa Rosa County charged Masters with one count of abuse of a child without great bodily harm and one count of domestic battery by strangulation, according to Santa Rosa County jail records. Both charges are felonies.
“The investigation is ongoing and additional details are unavailable at this time,” Kulczewski said in a statement, referring additional questions to authorities in Santa Rosa County.
Police and Sheriff’s Office officials in Santa Rosa County did not respond to requests Tuesday for additional information about Masters’ arrest. Jail records showed the Marine officer was released from custody Tuesday morning on $10,000 bond.
Masters was accused of choking a female at a residence in Gulf Breeze, Fla., on Saturday “to the point she could not breathe,” Military.com reported Tuesday of the officer’s arrest, citing a police incident report. Masters denied the accusations to responding officers, but he was arrested after police saw “slight red marks” on his accuser’s neck, Military.com reported.
Masters, a ground intelligence officer, was commissioned into the Marines after his 2005 graduation from the University of North Florida, according to his official Marine biography. He has served multiple tours in Iraq, including as an intelligence officer with the elite Joint Special Operations Command. He most recently served as the executive officer of the Marine Corps Tactics and Operations Group at the marine Air-Ground Combat Center at Twentynine Palms in California, according to the Corps.
