Guilty pleas entered in Air Force sex case

DAYTON, Ohio, Jan. 25 (UPI) -- A U.S. Air Force enlisted man pleaded guilty to 13 of 18 charges against him in a sexual misconduct case but is challenging the five others, officials said.

Chief Master Sgt. William C. Gurney, the former top enlisted airman of the Air Force Materiel Command at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, pleaded guilty Monday to charges of dereliction of duty, adultery, indecent conduct and misuse of government communications equipment, the Dayton Daily News reported.

Gurney, a 27-year Air Force veteran, pleaded guilty to 13 of the counts against him on the first day of his court-martial at Scott Air Force Base near St. Louis, which was assigned to handle his case.

Gurney will face trial on five remaining charges, including maltreating two Air Force women by pursuing sexual relationships with them, having sexual contact with another airman without her permission, and misusing his position by attempting to influence Air Force duty assignments of two airmen with whom he was pursuing personal relationships.

In entering his guilty pleas, Gurney said he had "no legal justification or excuse for them."

Gurney said he took responsibility for his offenses, alleged to have occurred from 2007 through most of 2009, and admitted they were willful.

"I failed not only as an airman, but as a husband," Gurney told the court-martial.