Mike Myers was sentenced to six months in prison after entering his plea in the courtroom of this Army post near Tokyo. The former chaplain for the st Military Intelligence Battalion, th Military Intelligence Brigade also will be dismissed from the Army and receive a reprimand stemming from his affair with Joanne Ruffner, a year-old Arizona woman.
Navy Capt. Dennis Bengtson, the military judge, did not specify forfeiture of pay and allowances in his ruling. Prosecutors said a determination would be made on possible penalties in the near future. Myers, 45, sobbed uncontrollably and dropped his head on the defense table as the sentence was read.
The judge granted a day credit for time served during his restriction to post last November following Article 15 nonjudicial punishment. William Carpenter, the lead prosecutor, would not discuss the sentence, details within a pretrial agreement or why the government pursued a deal. In his closing statement, he asked the judge for a three-year sentence, dismissal from the Army, and forfeiture of all pay and allowances.
Myers is not a victim. According to testimony, Ruffner and Myers had gone so far as to make wedding plans until she discovered he actually was a married chaplain with two teenage children. Their platonic relationship, mostly carried out in e-mails and online chats, turned serious in June after he was assigned to Camp Zama and then deployed to Iraq soon after, according to testimony.
Myers frequently broke down as he spoke about the affair, which included sexual encounters during a three-night stay in a Kansas City, Mo. After he returned to Japan last September and she verified his true identity, Myers sent an Oct. A short time later, Ruffner said she discovered several photos and profiles containing her information posted on adult-oriented Web sites. Sexually explicit photos of her also were sent to colleagues at the Realtor association she works for in Arizona.
