Report: 3 reprimanded in pregnant death

[unhappycamper]

Report: 3 reprimanded in pregnant death
By Estes Thompson - The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Sep 12, 2008 13:27:18 EDT

RALEIGH, N.C. — A pregnant soldier’s unit at Fort Bragg didn’t follow procedures for keeping track of newly arrived personnel, the Army said in a report Thursday on the disappearance of the woman, whose body was found this summer at an off-base motel.

The report also said one noncommissioned officer had been reprimanded for lying during the investigation. Two others also were reprimanded. But the report said the oversights and mistakes would not have prevented the death of Spc. Megan L. Touma, 23, of Cold Spring, Ky.

Touma was a dental specialist who arrived June 12 at Fort Bragg after traveling from a base in Germany. Her decomposing body was found June 21 in a motel room bathtub not far from the North Carolina base.

The report said the noncommissioned officer in charge of Touma’s unit, the 19th Replacement Co., failed to follow “a number of redundant checks and balances.”

Sgt. Edgar Patino, 27, of Hope Mills, was the father of Touma’s unborn baby and has been charged with first-degree murder. Investigators said Touma and the married Patino began a relationship while both were stationed in Germany.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/09/ap_touma_report_091108/%2e