Army officials have confirmed that the service has stopped paying the salary of a U.S. enlisted soldier who traveled to Russia without permission before being arrested and sentenced to nearly four years in prison for theft.
Staff Sgt. Gordon Black, 34, was convicted of stealing and making threats of murder by a court in the Russian city of Vladivostok in June, and was sentenced to three years and nine months in prison.
Black was assigned to the Eighth Army at Camp Humphreys, South Korea, and was supposed to travel to an Army base in Texas in early May, when he instead flew to Russia to meet Aleksandra Vashchuk, his girlfriend. The pair were in a relationship for at least a year while she was in South Korea, according to their social media posts.
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Russian state-run media reported that while Black was in Vladivostok he and Vashchuk got into an argument, during which he grabbed her by the neck and stole 10,000 rubles — around $115 — and spent the money on himself, including paying for the hotel room where he was staying.
Bryce Dubee, a spokesman for the Army, confirmed to Military.com in an email that the service placed Black in “CCA”, or “Confined Civilian Authority,” status on May 13 — just days before he pleaded guilty and, according to Russian state-run news agencies, began cooperating with prosecutors.
Dubee noted…
