SAN DIEGO: A U.S. Marines drill instructor has been charged with 225 criminal counts connected to abusing recruits, a Marines spokesman said.
Sgt. Jerrod M. Glass postponed making a plea during a court appearance at San Diego Marine Corps Recruit Depot, where he worked, spokesman Austin Mansfield said Thursday. The charges include 91 counts of assault, 90 of failure to obey lawful orders and 27 of cruelty and maltreatment.
Glass had worked as a drill instructor for less than a year when the alleged mistreatment occurred in January and February. No member of his platoon was seriously injured.
In one incident, Glass allegedly ordered a recruit to jump head-first into a trash can and then pushed him further into the container, according to court documents cited in The San Diego Union-Tribune. He is also accused of striking recruits with a tent pole and a heavy flashlight.
In court Wednesday, Glass did not speak except to answer basic questions from the judge, Lt. Col. Jeffrey Meeks. Defense lawyer Capt. Patrick J. Callahan asked that all counts be read aloud.
Callahan did not immediately respond to a phone message for comment Thursday.
About 17,000 recruits graduate each year from the San Diego depot. It is one of only two depots nationwide; the other is in Parris Island, South Carolina.
Gary Solis, a former Marine Corps prosecutor and judge who teaches law of war at Georgetown University Law Center, estimated about six drill instructors, or DIs, are charged nationwide each year with abusing recruits.
"These kids are helpless before DI's," Solis said. "The DI is God and they have no immediate recourse."
The high number of counts against Glass may reflect that a single act resulted in charges for each member of a platoon, Solis said.
"It's one event that affects an entire platoon," he said. "It doesn't mean he did something wrong 224 times."
Abuse charges against Marines have become less common since six recruits drowned 50 years ago during a training exercise at Parris Island in 1956, Solis said.
He's only a year into DI duty. He's been in the Corps for some time.
