Manfredo Martin-Michael Madrigal, a former Army officer and attorney, was sentenced Jan. 16, 2025, to over four years in prison. He pleaded guilty in July to federal charges of destroying Army materials and making false statements. (U.S. Army)
A former Army first lieutenant is going to prison for unlawfully deleting training materials and lying to investigators about a call he made to the Russian diplomatic mission in Washington.
Manfredo Martin-Michael Madrigal, 38, was handed a term of four years and six months Thursday during his sentencing in a federal court in Virginia, according to a Justice Department statement the same day.
He had pleaded guilty in July to one count of destroying Army materials and three counts of making false statements.
An attorney who was assigned to a staff position at the Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School in Charlottesville, Madrigal was under investigation by the Army in early 2022 for not disclosing a previous DUI arrest, the statement said.
Amid the investigation, he filmed himself deleting online JAG training materials without authorization and “graphically describing ill will toward the Army,” according to the DOJ statement, which didn’t give the date of that crime.
The training materials were related to national security, the Charlotte Observer reported in July, citing an FBI affidavit. Madrigal sent the video he took of himself deleting the materials to a woman described as a former romantic partner, according to the affidavit.
Later the same day, Madrigal called the Russian Embassy in Washington. The Justice Department statement doesn’t provide further details about the call, which lasted about 2 minutes and 26 seconds, the Observer reported.
Madrigal told the woman that Moscow wanted to know what he knew and also that he was planning to travel to Russia, according to court filings.
On Feb. 22, 2022, Madrigal was discharged from the JAG School, and in an exit statement he denied that he had been in contact with any foreign nationals, according to the Justice Department statement.
Days before his separation from the Army, Madrigal told the woman that the Russians had reached out to him, but a search of his phone records did not show any incoming calls from Russian officials, according to the affidavit cited by the Charlotte Observer.
FBI agents interviewed him in April and May of 2022. He repeated the lie about his contact with foreign nationals and also denied any involvement in the deletion of the Army materials, the DOJ said.
Madrigal had an active security clearance and served overseas on sensitive operations before working at the JAG School, the Justice Department added.
Madrigal’s attorney, John N. Maher, sent McClatchy News a statement in July saying the case was launched because of authorities’ “suspicion” of espionage.
“What the facts truly prove is that First Lieutenant Madrigal distinguished himself as an 82nd Airborne Paratrooper and a senior non-commissioned officer with the 75th Ranger Regiment, having conducted onerous and life threatening missions our country asked him to perform,” Maher said.
