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Cal Poly ROTC chair accused of filming teen denied military diversion

April 13, 2023

Jacob Sweatland

By KAREN VELIE

A Cal Poly ROTC chair is facing a maximum sentence of more than three years in prison after a judge denied his request for military diversion and ordered him to face four charges related to secretly filming a woman and a teen in a dressing room in a Pismo Beach store.

Pismo Beach police officers arrested Lt.Col. Jacob Sweatland on Sept. 2 after a teenage girl found a spy camera in a dressing room at PacSun. Officers nabbed Sweatland after he attempted to retrieve his hidden camera.

The SLO County District Attorney’s Office charged the Army Lt. Colonel with resisting arrest, invasion of privacy by recording in a dressing room and two counts of filming a person in full or partial undress.

Sweatland then applied for misdemeanor military diversion with the goal of avoiding criminal prosecution and clearing his record.

Noting he served tours in Colombia, Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq, Sweatland’s attorney argued that the 40-year-old suffers from mental health issues that led him to videotape the partially undressed woman and teen.

Misdemeanor military diversion allows defendants to divert their sentences for one year. During that time, defendants need to abide by all laws and complete community service requirements and charges will be dropped.

San Luis Obispo Superior Court Judge Jesse Marino denied Sweatland’s request for military diversion on Wednesday and set a trial setting conference for May 8.

Shortly after his arrest, the Army temporarily removed Sweatland from his post at Cal Poly, though he technically remains the department chair, said Nichole Downs, chief of public affairs for United States Army Cadet Command.


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What a perv.


0

SLO likes to hide its dirty secrets. Without Cal Coast News breaking this story, I’m sure the SLO judge would have let this scumbag slink silently out of town with his military diversion.


Thank you CCN for shining the light on this cockroach and on the military’s methodology for letting their perverts escape justice.


4

Has he been receiving treatment for the mental health issues, or did he and his attorney just diagnose these issues after his arrest?


1

military diversion?


At least 60 JROTC instructors have faced allegations of sexual misconduct involving their students since 2017, a rate higher than previously known, according to a House panel investigation released Wednesday.

The New York Times in July published an investigation that revealed 33 JROTC instructors — all military veterans — had faced criminal charges for sexual misconduct during the last five years. Committee officials investigating the Times’ reporting found the problem was more widespread than previously known, and that the Defense Department was aware of the problems. Stripes 11/22


King County Prosecutors have charged a Kentwood High School instructor with raping a 15-year-old female student. Court documents show Byrd was working for the Junior ROTC program when he sexually assaulted the minor. mynorthwest 6/22


FAIRBORN, Ohio — A former high school ROTC instructor accused of sex crimes involving a juvenile student is now facing more than 80 criminal charges, according to reports. Fricsons is a former ROTC instructor at Fairborn High School, but he resigned after he was arrested earlier this month cleveland.com 5/22


The former ROTC instructor at Hopewell High School was arrested for sex crimes, according to jail records.Mecklenburg County jail records indicate Drayton Gilyard was arrested for indecent liberties with a child and sexual battery. qcnews.com 2/22


A Chicago Public Schools ROTC employee is accused of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old student at Roosevelt High School and exchanging inappropriate messages and FaceTime conversations with the girl for more than a year, according to Chicago police. Travis was listed as a senior administrative assistant for Junior ROTC, an armed forces training program. They started working out together, and Travis had sex with her in the massage room at a Northwest Side health club, according to police sources. He also had sex with her in the ROTC office at Roosevelt High School on the Northwest Side.

At some point, another ROTC instructor saw Travis in his car with the girl and reportedly told him to end the relationship, police sources said.

Travis told the girl that he could hire someone to kill the other ROTC instructor for $2,000, sources said. The girl responded that he should not kill anyone, and Travis told her he wouldn’t if she stayed in a relationship with him, according to sources.

chicago trib 12/19


-1

Sounds like they will use this as cover just like the Catholic priest to fulfill their sick desires.


-1

This guy served in 4 countries. We owe him enough to accept the diversion.


-23

Another black eye for Cal Poly. The list is growing over the last several years. Just another reason I’m glad I pulled all support from this woke university years ago. Carma coming home to roost.


14

He looks like the guy from “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.”


12

Lock him up and remove him from the chair position. Bring in the military caused him to film children and women undressing? He’s a disgrace to our Country and the men and women who gave it all for us. Good on this judge!


39