Former Air Force tailback Joseph Saucier, a cadet first class, was sentenced Wednesday after pleading guilty to one charge and three specifications of cocaine use and cocaine and marijuana possession.
Air Force judge Lt. Col. Sterling Pendleton sentenced Saucier to a reprimand, forfeiture of $1,116 per month for four months, and four months confinement. However, he will serve three months confinement because of the pre-trial agreement. He will also have a federal conviction on his record.
Saucier has not yet been disenrolled from the academy, pending further legal processes.
Saucier entered the guilty plea pursuant to a pretrial agreement with the convening authority, Air Force Academy Superintendent Lt. Gen. Jay B. Silveria. Military prosecutors agreed to drop allegations that he also intended to distribute the illegal drugs, which removed the possibility of tacking an extra 15 years in prison onto his sentence.
Saucier had been charged with three specifications of a violation of Article 112a of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, according to a charge sheet released by the academy. He was accused of using cocaine in November 2018, and possessing unidentified amounts of cocaine and marijuana with intent to distribute in December 2018.
Saucier, a senior, hasn’t played this season after he was arrested in his native Arkansas in December for investigation of drug possession. He also failed a drug test at the academy, according to the Gazette. The military assumed jurisdiction because Saucier was subject to the UCMJ, even though he was arrested in another state.
He admitted possessing 2.14 grams of cocaine and 9.6 grams of marijuana in the incident, and said he intended to sell the drugs to help his brother, who was homeless at the time, the Gazette reported.
The cadet told the judge Thursday that he used cocaine last November, citing his frustration over a knee ligament tear that ended his 2018 season, academic pressure and family issues, the Gazette reported.
