Air Force sergeant guilty in sex scandal

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SAN ANTONIO, Sept. 24 (UPI) -- A former U.S. Air Force basic training instructor at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland pleaded guilty Monday to having sex with a trainee.

Staff Sgt. Jason Manko admitted to wrongfully seeking a relationship with a technical trainee and wrongfully engaging in sexual activity with the woman, base spokesman Brent Boller said.

Manko is the fifth instructor to face trial in a scandal at the Texas air base involving the investigation of 19 instructors and the identification of 42 women as victims. Manko is one of nine instructors from the 331st Training Squadron to fall under suspicion of having improper relationships with trainees, the San Antonio, Texas, Express-News reported Monday.

He asked that a military judge, not a jury, be charged with his sentence, and received 45 days confinement, 30 days hard labor and a reduction of three grades to airman first class, the Air Force Times reported.