Private pleads guilty in second court-martial connected with debts

By Teri Weaver, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Thursday, September 22, 2005

YONGSAN GARRISON, South Korea — A military judge Tuesday dismissed charges against an Army private of perjury and disobeying an order, but the former chaplain’s assistant and paralegal still faces charges of stealing money from three Koreans.

Pvt. Andrew Foster has pleaded guilty to “wrongfully appropriating” more than $5,000 in connection with the charges.

The Koreans, two former girlfriends and a former Korean Augmentee to the U.S. Army, testified at the court-martial that Foster convinced them to give him more than $5,000 total on 10 separate occasions in late 2004 and 2005.

When they sought repayment, Foster told them he’d been hospitalized, was deploying to Iraq or became angry, the three told a seven-member jury.

But Yang-sun testified that Foster told her she should be not angry but grateful because he’d baptized her, that she was “going to heaven.” Kim Yo-sang testified that Foster borrowed more than $3,000 in tuition money from her, causing her to leave school.

Foster, with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 8th Army, spent almost two hours testifying that he’d borrowed the money in a desperate attempt to feed a gambling addiction and repay more than $15,000 in debts.

He described his gambling as fun times with friends at on-base slots that during a few years spiraled into solo trips to casinos where he would risk his entire monthly pay in one night.

He also said he tried to seek help while at Daegu from Army Community Services, a mental health office and his chaplain, but all offered referrals to each other.

By last winter, Foster testified, he also needed some of the money from his friends for living expenses because he owed a Korean doctor $12,000 in gambling debts.

For that debt, Foster pleaded guilty in a separate court-martial in March to wrongful appropriation and was sentenced to six months confinement and reduction to the Army’s lowest rank. He has served his time, court officials confirmed today. He’s also repaid almost $10,000 of the debt with his government paychecks.

“It’s all my fault, 100 percent my fault,” Foster testified in front of Col. Patrick J. Parrish, chief judge of the 6th Judicial Court in Seoul. “Everyone’s going to get paid back.”

In this second court-martial, Foster pleaded guilty to eight instances of wrongful appropriation involving $5,065. Prosecutors are arguing that Foster stole that money, plus another $146, without any intent to repay it.

On Tuesday, Foster also had faced one charge of perjury. He was accused of lying while under oath during the first court-martial about when he gambled. He also faced 10 specifications of willfully disobeying an order by not staying confined to Yongsan.

The jury heard the prosecution’s evidence on those charges but the defense argued the prosecution’s case lacked corroboration and proof. The judge agreed.

Foster admitted Tuesday that to avoid repaying his friends, he lied about being sick and getting orders for Iraq. He even told Jang Won-chol, the former KATUSA, that he was thinking of suicide.

That made Jang postpone asking for his money back, the Korean college student testified.

“I don’t think he’s a good person right now,” Jang said in the courtroom.

The trial was scheduled to resume Wednesday.

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