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Autistic O.C. Marine sentenced for possessing child porn
July 20th, 2009, 4:48 pm · 36 Comments · posted by Jessica Terrell
He was diagnosed with autism, had received counseling for an attraction to child pornography and lived in a group home. Still, a recruiter thought that Joshua Fry had what it took to be one of “the few, the proud, the Marines.”
Pvt. Fry, who spent the last year in the brig at Camp Pendleton on charges of possessing child pornography, leaving base without authorization and concealing his psychiatric history, was discharged today from the Marines for bad conduct and sentenced to four years confinement.
Although the case has been settled and a verdict handed down, disturbing questions about exactly how an autistic man with such a troubled past ended up in the Marines remain unanswered.
If allegations made by Fry’s defense attorney in a 35 page motion to dismiss obtained by the LA Times and ABC News are correct, then Fry was coached to lie about his past by a Marine recruiter who had befriended him.
Fry was not only instructed to omit information about his mental history from recruitment papers, but he was picked up from a group home in Irvine by the recruiter and driven to a recruitment station, according to defense documents obtained by the LA Times.
“I’d say that was a pretty desperate recruiter,” Rep. Loretta Sanchez, D-Garden Grove, told ABC.
Sanchez, who sits on the Military Personnel Subcommittee, told ABC the actions of the recruiter might warrant a House investigation. Because of a Town Hall on Health Care in Orange County, Sanchez was unable to comment today on whether or not she would call for such an investigation.
When Fry was 18, his grandmother had convinced a judge that Fry was unable to make decisions for himself and had been appointed his conservator. Mary Beth Fry said she had informed the recruiter that her grandson was not Marine material and to take him off the recruiting list, but she was ignored.
How Fry made it all the way through boot camp without red flags being raised is another mystery. The now-21-year-old, who has also been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, behaved erratically during training. He refused to shave, ignored orders and urinated in his canteen, according to court documents.
Even with his behavioral problems, Fry graduated from recruit training and was sent on to infantry school. It was there that he got into trouble for having child pornography on his cell phone and for unauthorized absences from base, according a timeline of his charges released by the Marines.
The Marines are currently pursuing an investigation into the “accession” of Pvt. Fry, according to Major Christopher Logan, director of public affairs for the Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego.
As part of a pre-trial agreement, Fry pleaded guilty and the judge suspended three years of his sentence. He will be released sometime next week, said Marine Lt. Col. Sean Gibson.
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How in the HELL does an autisitic man get into the US Marine Corps. I am a fellow DevilDog and this is appaulling
Ditto. Tack on the behavior in boot camp and something here is truly amiss. And the grandmother didn’t pop smoke when she learned that he was off to boot camp?
ok red flags shouldv’e been raised when he refused to shave,ignore oreders and peed in his canteen….c’mon people wake up and smell the urine…..geez
This doesn’t start to make any sense at all!!!
The recruiter should get a BCD. (Bad Conduct Discharge)
Can only speak from my experience in the Army, but the USMC is even more strict. There is no way a recruit can make it through 8 weeks of basic with this guys problems. Most likely would have pulled him from his training unit and started general discharge the first week if not the first day. There are a lot of undesirables who try to enlist , some make it through different stages only to be caught and kicked out. Cannot believe the performance pressure put on recruiters. Rep Sanchez should look into that.
full…..metal….. jacket……
I don’t know what is more scary - having this retard in a uniform or having Sanchez sitting on the Military Personnel Subcommittee….
Maybe they could switch places, and we’d likely get better results at both ends.
Amen!
Autism and being retarded are 2 very separate things. Many with autism are very intelligent. Don’t know about this guy. Also there is a whole autism spectrum. Seems like he was fairly high functioning to get that far, but….
With autism there is the whole fixation thing. He fixated on children. That is hardly “high functioning,” but I understood what you were saying.
It would have been nice if this article had given more of an indication of Fry’s level of functioning. People with autistic spectrum disorders can be anywhere from functioning at the level of toddlers to brilliant researchers with Ph.D.s., and from severe social and behavioral difficulties to living full lives but being somewhat peculiar. Fry does seem to have some serious additional problems that most individuals with autism don’t have.
I agree that it’s the recruiter, not Fry, who should be punished.
Doesn’t surprise me in the least. Worst job in the Corps. I wouldn’t lie, cheat or otherwise compromise my integrity and it cost me my career. How he made it through boot camp is a mystery though.
My husband was a top recruiter in his Region within the first 45 days of his ‘Recruiter Career’ for the USMC in Dallas, TX. This man lied, encouraged enlistees to ‘forget’ things, to put bleach in their urine if they did marijuana and also knew where to ‘buy’ a High School Diploma (since USMC does not take enlistees with a GED). His career lasted 11 months before he got caught up in a recruiting scandal at his station. All they did was send us back to California where we were from and he got a desk job doing Admin work for the next 5 years. Some recruiters think in terms on “Numbers” not people. He wanted to be “BIG”…some people will do anything to get where they want to be.
WoW!
The U.S.A. is recruiting Autistic Child Molesting citizens to fight our wars around the world?
CRAZY TIMES we are in!
I don’t think most people have time to look up from their computer screens to see what out country has become.
Time to put my head down in shame.
Uncle bill, how dare you call a mentally disabled person a retard! That is ignorant and outrageous. Even if he was mentally retarded (low IQ) one would not call someone like that a “retard.” Further, many people with autism and other mental conditions (Bipolar was mentioned) have normal or above average IQ’s.
Here the recruiter is almost entirely to blame. I think this young man is actually a victim, not a criminal. Reminds me how many inmates we must have that have undiagnosed, or unappreciated mental illnesses or deficits.
Sad.
I also wonder about the group home. You would think that they might raise an issue about someone being recruited out of there. I mean if he needed to be in a group home, then he obviously didn’t belong in the Marines.
Of course I wonder about his history before age 18, what kind of therapy and help he got to help him develop to his maximum potential?
Thank god they weed out the Uncle Bill’s of the world from most meaningful jobs or assignments. He’s obviously low on the IQ level. God bless him.
Somebody with some common sense get this autistic kid out of prison and in a proper care scenario. Marine Corp Judicial, get your head out of your ____.
Yes sir, four years locked up will teach him not to like child porn. Our government is so corrupt and stupid.
Ha, sounds like either they have the dimmest recruiters or they’ll take ANYONE in the marines….or the recruiter wanted to see the child porn too…
scary
Since when does locking up teach autistic kids Reese?
It doesn’t, OK. That’s what I’m saying.
What the hell??? What is the name of that f-ing recruiter?? He is jeopardizing the safety, security and reputation of our country. Who was he working for?
Oh yes… heads are definitely going to roll on this one. Not only those of his Drill Instructors, but all those in his chain of command at MCRD.
But Forrest Gump made it through boot camp!
Can the moderator delete my previous post? I made a mistake and wanted to make a correction.
Interesting commentary. But does it concern anybody that this guy is going to be released in one week? Released to where? Under what supervision? I hope the reporter follows this up.
I hate to play amateur editor here, but what is with paragraph 4? It is clear that man is a Marine, and the only branch involved was the USMC. Why does it say “…Fry was coached to lie about his past by an ARMY recruiter who had befriended him?” Does the writer not understand the difference between a Marine and a soldier, or was there a 2nd recruiter involed. If there was a 2nd recruiter, then why would an Army recuiter be involved in enlisting a man in the USMC?
Somehow I think it’s likely a mistake on the writer’s part… and a professional should know the differences between the military branches.
Looks like i was ever-so-subtly corrected….
“what is your major malfunction numb-nuts!”
First, what in the world is Sanchez doing on the military subcommittee - she needs to be removed - THEN we can look into this situation. Sanchez needs to look into the illegal voting issues… she is on the wrong committee.
I know recruiters have quotas to meet but come on. Wtf ???
This isn’t surprising at all. The Marines will take anyone nowadays - neo-nazi’s, gang members, et al - so it’s not surprising that this trog got in. I’m sure the recruiter patted himself on the back thinking that was an easy commission. Coupled with the ideology drilled into their skulls that anyone who isn’t a Marine or dedicated to the Corp is worthless and weak (utter bs) only fostered this guy’s predilection towards p0rn. And these are the people fighting for ‘my rights?’
I DON’T KNOW WHY PEOPLE THINK THIS BUT BELIEVE IT OR NOT- THERE IS NO ‘COMMISSION’ ON RECRUITING INDIVIDUALS. NO MONETARY MEANS AT ALL. THAT’S A JOKE. RECRUITERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO ‘MAKE THEIR NUMBERS’ , BUT ALL IT DOES IS LOOK GOOD FOR THEM TO MAYBE GET A PROMOTION IN A FEW YEARS. ITS NOT INSTANT SATISFACTION AND NOT MONETARY. THEY WORK LONG HOURS AND THEIR FAMILIES HARDLY SEE THEM. ITS ALL FOR THEIR CAREER.
People claim bipolar to get ssi, get special treatment and doctors assist them in this scheme so they get paid for treating this illness that is so easy to fake. I think this young man is mentally fit and did the things he did to get out of basic training, it didn`t work and he got busted for child porn and is now useing this bipolar stuff to get out of the mess. If you can get throught marine basic traing you can easily follow direction and accept the fact, He knew what he was doing!!!!!