I think we have a new nominee at least for the runner up/honorable mention Darwin Award....
For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://www.military.com/daily-news/...help-jailbreak.html?comp=7000023317843&rank=3
Prosecutors: Top Gun Grad Offered China Secrets for Help in Jailbreak
The Virginian-Pilot | Jul 08, 2015 | by Scott Daugherty
Comments 20
NORFOLK -- A Navy pilot and Top Gun graduate found guilty earlier this year of numerous sex crimes offered to tell the Chinese government everything he knows about being a fighter pilot in exchange for its help in breaking out of the Western Tidewater Regional Jail, according to federal prosecutors.
In a signed letter to the Chinese Embassy seized by correctional officers, Lt. Daniel Chase Harris indicated he had been wrongly convicted of 31 felonies in U.S. District Court in Norfolk and no longer believed in his country.
"Attached is a list (partial) of information I possess that I believe you would be very interested in having. All I ask in return is that you break me out," reads the letter, which concluded with a threat to contact the Russian Embassy if the Chinese did not act fast. "Once out and under your protection, all my knowledge is yours."
Harris, 31, of Virginia Beach, is set to be sentenced July 13 on charges he coerced nine girls between the ages of 12 and 17 into making explicit videos of themselves. He faces the possibility of life in prison.
No new charges have been filed in connection with the letter and Harris' defense attorney denies his client wrote it.
"The defendant flatly denies authoring or sending the subject letter, and is actively investigating rebuttal evidence to the allegations that he could have authored or sent the letter," Andrew Sacks wrote in a court document.
It isn't the first time Harris has denied authoring a potentially damaging letter while in jail. Prosecutors bolstered their case at trial with a series of letters and text messages that investigators believe Harris wrote after his arrest. One of the letters, signed "John Anderson" and mailed to Sacks, claimed that Anderson had framed Harris because he was in love with his wife and wanted to break up their marriage.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Yusi indicated the Chinese Embassy letter was sent using another inmate's name because Harris knew jail staff were routinely screening his mail. The letter was written on the back of Navy flight schedules similar to those that were admitted into evidence at his trial and included a crude map identifying the location of Harris' cell.
A jury convicted Harris in March on the 13th day of a federal trial. Sacks has announced plans to appeal.
According to court testimony, Harris' victims did not know him by name. Prosecutors argued he used multiple online aliases to contact the girls between 2011 and 2013 while he was stationed in Japan; Guam; Key West, Florida; and Virginia Beach. He was last assigned to Strike Fighter Weapons School Atlantic at Naval Air Station Oceana.
The aliases were typically those of teenage boys who would flirt with the girls in order to gain their trust. He would eventually talk them into posing naked for him while chatting on Skype.
The girls said the flirtation eventually turned to threats. The man said he would post the explicit videos online or show them to the girls' friends if they didn't do more sexually explicit things for him.
Harris' wife filed for divorce in February 2014, shortly after his arrest.
In court documents, Sacks argued his client's misdeeds were the result of his relentless desire to be the best. He noted that Harris is the grandson of a two-star admiral, the son of a Navy commander and pilot, and the son-in-law of a Navy surface warfare commander.
"The defendant became a slave to his own aspirations, his self-expectations, and his efforts to succeed. Attaining those achievements controlled the defendant -- whether it was being the best student, the best lacrosse player, the best pilot, the best husband, the best son," Sacks wrote. "At some point, being controlled by events caught up with the defendant, and he rebelled psychologically, unconsciously, unknowingly, seeking instead to wrest some kind of control for himself other than the quests for perfection that had been controlling him for years."
Sacks went on to blame the "John Anderson" letter on his client's "deep denial and repression" and a desire to "avoid the humiliation of child pornography-related conduct." "When law enforcement activity eventually caught up with the defendant, the realization and recognition of his behavior was too shameful to allow him to admit to his flaws," Sacks wrote.
Federal guidelines recommend Harris receive a life sentence. Prosecutors are seeking at least 50 years. Sacks is asking for 15 years -- the mandatory minimum.
For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://www.military.com/daily-news/...help-jailbreak.html?comp=7000023317843&rank=3
Prosecutors: Top Gun Grad Offered China Secrets for Help in Jailbreak
The Virginian-Pilot | Jul 08, 2015 | by Scott Daugherty
Comments 20
NORFOLK -- A Navy pilot and Top Gun graduate found guilty earlier this year of numerous sex crimes offered to tell the Chinese government everything he knows about being a fighter pilot in exchange for its help in breaking out of the Western Tidewater Regional Jail, according to federal prosecutors.
In a signed letter to the Chinese Embassy seized by correctional officers, Lt. Daniel Chase Harris indicated he had been wrongly convicted of 31 felonies in U.S. District Court in Norfolk and no longer believed in his country.
"Attached is a list (partial) of information I possess that I believe you would be very interested in having. All I ask in return is that you break me out," reads the letter, which concluded with a threat to contact the Russian Embassy if the Chinese did not act fast. "Once out and under your protection, all my knowledge is yours."
Harris, 31, of Virginia Beach, is set to be sentenced July 13 on charges he coerced nine girls between the ages of 12 and 17 into making explicit videos of themselves. He faces the possibility of life in prison.
No new charges have been filed in connection with the letter and Harris' defense attorney denies his client wrote it.
"The defendant flatly denies authoring or sending the subject letter, and is actively investigating rebuttal evidence to the allegations that he could have authored or sent the letter," Andrew Sacks wrote in a court document.
It isn't the first time Harris has denied authoring a potentially damaging letter while in jail. Prosecutors bolstered their case at trial with a series of letters and text messages that investigators believe Harris wrote after his arrest. One of the letters, signed "John Anderson" and mailed to Sacks, claimed that Anderson had framed Harris because he was in love with his wife and wanted to break up their marriage.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Yusi indicated the Chinese Embassy letter was sent using another inmate's name because Harris knew jail staff were routinely screening his mail. The letter was written on the back of Navy flight schedules similar to those that were admitted into evidence at his trial and included a crude map identifying the location of Harris' cell.
A jury convicted Harris in March on the 13th day of a federal trial. Sacks has announced plans to appeal.
According to court testimony, Harris' victims did not know him by name. Prosecutors argued he used multiple online aliases to contact the girls between 2011 and 2013 while he was stationed in Japan; Guam; Key West, Florida; and Virginia Beach. He was last assigned to Strike Fighter Weapons School Atlantic at Naval Air Station Oceana.
The aliases were typically those of teenage boys who would flirt with the girls in order to gain their trust. He would eventually talk them into posing naked for him while chatting on Skype.
The girls said the flirtation eventually turned to threats. The man said he would post the explicit videos online or show them to the girls' friends if they didn't do more sexually explicit things for him.
Harris' wife filed for divorce in February 2014, shortly after his arrest.
In court documents, Sacks argued his client's misdeeds were the result of his relentless desire to be the best. He noted that Harris is the grandson of a two-star admiral, the son of a Navy commander and pilot, and the son-in-law of a Navy surface warfare commander.
"The defendant became a slave to his own aspirations, his self-expectations, and his efforts to succeed. Attaining those achievements controlled the defendant -- whether it was being the best student, the best lacrosse player, the best pilot, the best husband, the best son," Sacks wrote. "At some point, being controlled by events caught up with the defendant, and he rebelled psychologically, unconsciously, unknowingly, seeking instead to wrest some kind of control for himself other than the quests for perfection that had been controlling him for years."
Sacks went on to blame the "John Anderson" letter on his client's "deep denial and repression" and a desire to "avoid the humiliation of child pornography-related conduct." "When law enforcement activity eventually caught up with the defendant, the realization and recognition of his behavior was too shameful to allow him to admit to his flaws," Sacks wrote.
Federal guidelines recommend Harris receive a life sentence. Prosecutors are seeking at least 50 years. Sacks is asking for 15 years -- the mandatory minimum.
