Crime

Plea Deal For Navy Seal Linked To Strangulation Death Of U.S. Army Soldier In Mali

LOS ANGELES SENTINEL — Staff Sgt. Logan J. Melgar was found dead on June 4, 2017 in housing he shared with other special operations forces in Mali. Evidence of the murder was covered up by the four servicemen who led investigators on a wild goose chase, claiming that the non-drinking Melgar was drunk and had engaged in “frat-like” behavior that had gotten the soldiers uninvited from events at the U.S. Embassy.

Published

6 years ago

May 31, 2019

Oakland Post

By Global Information Network

A generous plea deal has been offered to the first of two Navy SEALS and two Marine Raiders charged in the strangulation death of a U.S. Army Special Forces soldier based in Bamako, Mali.

Staff Sgt. Logan J. Melgar was found dead on June 4, 2017 in housing he shared with other special operations forces in Mali. Evidence of the murder was covered up by the four servicemen who led investigators on a wild goose chase, claiming that the non-drinking Melgar was drunk and had engaged in “frat-like” behavior that had gotten the soldiers uninvited from events at the U.S. Embassy.

Months went by before a leak in the Washington Post revealed some of the gruesome facts of the killing. Angry that Melgar had accused the SEALs of bringing prostitutes to the off-site embassy housing they shared, the four defendants plotted to rough him up.

According to the now-revealed facts of the case, the foursome broke into Melgar’s locked room where he was sleeping to assault him. A beating ensued during which Melgar was restrained while the gang leader locked Melgar in a chokehold. Within seconds his breathing stopped.

When efforts to revive him were unsuccessful, the servicemen cut open Melgar’s throat, allegedly to establish an airway but, as investigators concluded, to “hide evidence of the injuries inflicted.” His lifeless body was then loaded into one of their cars and brought to a nearby clinic where he was pronounced him dead.

At the time of his death Staff Sgt. Melgar was part of a small team in Bamako assigned to support Malian and French counterterrorism units battling al-Qaida factions in the region.

As part of the plea deal, Chief Special Warfare Officer Adam Matthews will be subjected to a special court-martial rather than a general court martial, which means the maximum is one year in prison, reduction in rank, forfeiture of two-thirds pay for one year, and a bad conduct discharge, according to a press account.

Murder and involuntary manslaughter charges will be dropped if he pleads guilty to hazing, assault consummated by battery, burglary, and conspiracy to obstruct justice charges.

Also facing felony murder and related charges are Gunnery Sgt. Mario Madera-Rodriguez and Staff Sgt. Kevin Maxwell along with Navy SEAL Team Six member Petty Officer Anthony DeDolph.

Melgar was nearing the end of his deployment to Mali at the time of his death. He reportedly told his wife he had a ‘bad feeling’ about some of his fellow troops. Melgar was married to Michelle Melgar and was devoted to his two sons, aged 13 and 15 years of age.

This article originally appeared in the Los Angeles Sentinel.

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Oakland Post: Week of May 21 – 27, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of May 21 – 27, 2025

Published

4 days ago

May 25, 2025

Oakland Post

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Bo Tefu

California Assembly Passes Bill to Strengthen Penalties for Soliciting Minors

The revised version of Assembly Bill 379, authored by Assemblymember Maggy Krell (D-Sacramento), now allows prosecutors to file felony charges against adults who solicit sex from a 16 or 17-year-old, provided the accused is three or more years older than the minor. If the offender is within three years of the minor, the charge would remain a misdemeanor.

Published

1 week ago

May 19, 2025

Oakland Post

iStock.

By Bo Tefu, California Black Media

The California State Assembly has agreed to amend a controversial bill that would increase penalties for adults who solicit sex from minors ages 16 or 17, following a wave of criticism from Republicans and concerns raised by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

“From a prosecutor’s standpoint, this bill strengthens California law and gives us the felony hammer to prosecute the creeps that are preying on teenagers,” Krell said in a statement supporting the amended bill.

The new amendments also include provisions for a state grant program aimed at improving the prosecution of human trafficking and sex trafficking cases, as well as a support fund for survivors partially funded by increased fines on businesses that enable or fail to address human trafficking.

The bill faced significant opposition last week after the Assembly removed a provision that would have treated solicitation of 16 and 17-year-olds as a felony for all offenders.

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BOOK REVIEW: The Afterlife of Malcolm X

Betty Shabazz didn’t like to go to her husband’s speeches, but on that February night in 1965, he asked her to come with their daughters to the Audubon Ballroom in New York. Did Malcolm X sense that something bad would happen on that night? Surely. He was fully aware of the possibility, knowing that he’d been “a marked man” for months because of his very public break with the Nation of Islam.

Published

2 weeks ago

May 18, 2025

Oakland Post

Book Cover of the Afterlife of Malcolm X. Courtesy of Simon & Schuster.

By Terri Schlichenmeyer

Author: by Mark Whitaker, c.2025, Simon & Schuster, $30.99, 448 pages

Who will remember you in fifty years’ time?

A handful of friends – at least those who are still around – might recall you. Your offspring, grandkids, and greats, maybe people who stumble upon your tombstone. Think about it: who will remember you in 2075? And then read “The Afterlife of Malcolm X” by Mark Whitaker and learn about a legacy that still resonates a half-century later.

As the news of his murder spread around New York and around the world, his followers and admirers reacted in many ways. His friend, journalist Peter Goldman, was “hardly shocked” because he also knew that Malcolm’s life was in danger, but the arrest of three men accused of the crime didn’t add up. It ultimately became Goldman’s “obsession.”

Malcolm’s co-writer for The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Alex Haley, quietly finished the book he started with Malcolm, and a small upstart publishing house snatched it up. A diverse group of magazines got in line to run articles about Malcolm X’s life, finally sensing that White America “’needed his voice even more than Blacks did.’”

But though Malcolm X was gone, he continued to leave an impact.

He didn’t live long enough to see the official founding of the Black Panther Party, but he was influential on its beginning. He never knew of the first Kwanzaa, or the triumphs of a convert named Muhammad Ali.

Malcolm left his mark on music. He influenced at least three major athletes.

He was a “touchstone” for a president …

While it’s true that “The Afterlife of Malcolm X” is an eye-opening book, one that works as a great companion to the autobiography, it’s also a fact that it’s somewhat scattered. Is it a look at Malcolm’s life, his legacy, or is it a “murder mystery”?

Turns out, it’s all three, but the storylines are not smooth. There are twists and tangents and that may take some getting used-to. Just when you’re immersed, even absorbed in this book, to the point where you forget about your surroundings, author Mark Whitaker abruptly moves to a different part of the story. It may be jarring.

And yet, it’s a big part of this book, and it’s essential for readers to know the investigation’s outcome and what we know today. It doesn’t change Malcolm X’s legacy, but it adds another frame around it.

If you’ve read the autobiography, if you haven’t thought about Malcolm X in a while, or if you think you know all there is to know, then you owe it to yourself to find “The Afterlife of Malcolm X.”

For you, this is a book you won’t easily forget.