A U.S. Army doctor accused of sexual misconduct in a November lawsuit is being held in a Texas county jail, according to an Army statement released Thursday.
“Fort Hood officials ordered Maj. Blaine McGraw into pretrial confinement on Dec. 2, and he is currently being held in the Bell County Jail, Texas, after apparently violating conditions of liberty imposed by his commander,” the statement said.
Though he is jailed, the statement said, McGraw has not been charged with a crime and his confinement will be reviewed within a week by “a neutral and detached military magistrate,” as is consistent with the Uniformed Code of Military Justice, to determine if he will continue to be incarcerated.
A 13-page civil lawsuit accuses McGraw, an OB-GYN at Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center at Fort Hood, of a slew of sexual and professional misconduct, including an allegation that he took video footage of a breast and pelvic exam.
The Texas installation said that McGraw was suspended Oct. 17 “upon a patient’s allegation of misconduct,” and that the Army’s Criminal Investigation Division initiated an investigation “within hours.”
Letters were sent out to potentially affected patients at Fort Hood and Tripler Army Medical Center on Oahu, Hawaii, where McGraw was assigned from 2019 to 2023 while completing his medical residency.
The Army’s Criminal Investigation Division said in a statement Wednesday that hundreds of interviews had so far been conducted and over half a terabyte “of digital media” had been reviewed.
The division also shared a screening questionnaire for individuals who might be victims or otherwise have information about the investigation.
Hawaii’s congressional delegation sent a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, and Gen. Steven Stebbins, acting Pentagon inspector general, on Dec. 1, calling for a probe into the military’s failures to stop McGraw’s alleged misconduct over the years.
Andrew Cobos, the attorney who filed the Bell County lawsuit on Nov. 10, said in an email to Military Times on Friday that his clients “are relieved.”
“For the first time since October 17, they feel safe knowing [that] McGraw is in jail. Major McGraw demonstrated that he could not be trusted. He disobeyed orders. He should remain confined until he has been tried for his actions,” he said.
Cobos confirmed his firm is now representing 75 clients against McGraw, up from 70 clients at the end of November.
Eve Sampson is a reporter and former Army officer. She has covered conflict across the world, writing for The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Associated Press.
Read the full article here
