JBLM doctor found guilty of sexual assault will question victims in court

WASHINGTON STATE – The Army veteran sat in Lewis McChord’s small courtroom on the joint base and, in a shaky voice, spoke for the first time on tape about how he suffered sexual assault at the hands of a doctor.

A senior officer who served in Operation Enduring Freedom told the court how he sought relief from back pain from military doctor Michael Stockin in 2022. Instead, he said, an anesthesiologist at Madigan Army Medical Center recommended he be “dropped at the hospital” and repeatedly touched his genitals without gloves.

Stockin has pleaded guilty to the crime and 35 other assaults on soldiers which were intended to arouse and satisfy the doctor’s sexual desire under the guise of medical purposes. It is believed to be the largest incident of its kind in recent military history.

On Friday, January 10, Judge Col. Larry Babin formally accepted the terms of the plea agreement, which called for Stockin’s dismissal from service, stripping him of any military benefits and facing at least nearly 10 years in prison. In return, Stockin pleaded guilty to 41 charges, or so-called “specifications” in military law, including 36 counts of offensive sexual contact and five counts of indecent viewing. During the proceedings, military prosecutors dropped another 11 charges.

The judge asked Stockin directly: “Are you doing this because you believe you are guilty?”

Stockin replied, “Yes, your honor.”

Military legal protocol allows victims to tell their stories at sentencing, and many soldiers did just that.

The officer in question said he suffered from degenerative disc disease resulting from long hours of standing and went to Stockin’s Pain Management Clinic for help. But he said Stockin had committed a crime that left him “confused”, “embarrassed” and suffering “bouts of depression”.

He said he was testifying because “I want to hold the government accountable for allowing this crime to be committed against me.”

Another young officer who was attacked also testified that he had since had marital problems, sought behavioral treatment and lost trust in doctors and his commanding officers. He told the court he planned to leave the military because “I don’t think the military is the place for me.” The officer told a similar story about looking for painkillers in his groin, but Stockin committed a similar attack.

All the victims were men. Stockin was removed from his position in 2022 when the allegations first surfaced, but they have not been curtailed. The plea agreement calls for him to serve a minimum of 118 months and a maximum of 164 months. He will also be discharged from military service, a condition commonly referred to outside the office as “dishonorable discharge,” and will be barred from any future military or VA benefits. He will also have to register as a sex offender.

This was part of a settlement negotiated for months in this case drew national attention about how the military handles complaints of misconduct.

Stockin’s lawyer refuses to comment until the end of the proceedings.

A lawyer for many of the victims, Ryan Guilds, says he still has questions about the checks and balances that allowed the violence to continue for so long and claim so many lives. There is already an ongoing civil case involving at least 21 victims who are seeking millions of dollars from the government.

Stockin had been an anesthesiologist in the Army since May 2013 and served at Tripler Army Medical Center in Honolulu and Walter Reed in Bethesda, Maryland, before joining JBLM in July 2019. From October 2020 to February 2021, he also served in Iraq. According to military prosecutors.