"I need somebody to take care of me," he says, "because if nobody takes care of me my bottom will hurt."
The Air Force has declined to charge a senior military doctor accused of sexually and physically abusing two elementary-school-aged boys despite pleas from Air Force lawyers appointed to advocate for them, interviews and documents obtained by USA TODAY show.
The allegations against Air Force Col. Eric Holt, a battlefield physician who was severely wounded in Afghanistan, were dismissed June 15 after an Air Force two-star general determined that evidence military and civilian officials had uncovered was “inconclusive.”
Lawyers for the boys, however, wrote on June 14 to Air Force officials that there was “sufficient factual basis” to press charges against Holt for abusing the boys, including photographs of their injuries … and expert testimony supporting the veracity of their allegations.”
The severity of the allegations, including sodomy, black eyes and cuts, has captured the attention of members of Congress who have called on Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson and chief of staff Gen. David Goldfein to direct their most senior prosecutor to review the case.
Holt graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1991, transferred to the Air Force and went to medical school. In January 2009, he was on his fourth deployment, providing medical care on the battlefield for special operations forces.
He was accompanying Marine commandos on a night-time raid in Afghanistan when a roadside bomb ripped through the Humvee he was riding in. The blast hurled Holt 35 yards, severely wounding his face, skull and spine. He endured years of treatment and recovery, has returned to duty and is an assistant professor.
In October 2016, allegations of sexual abuse arose after one of the boys returned from a visit with Holt. The boy awoke the night of Oct. 13 having soiled himself, according to the June 14 memo to Maj. Gen. James Jacobson, the officer deciding whether Holt would be charged.
As his mother cleaned him up, the boy told her that Holt "pulls on his penis and puts his fingers in his bottom." Crying, he told two other women in the home the same story. A photo of his bruised penis and a statement from one of the women were left out of the investigative report by the Air Force, according to the memo.
A video of one of the boys shows him distraught, sitting on a bed, crying. In it, he pleads for help.
"I need somebody to take care of me," he says, "because if nobody takes care of me my bottom will hurt."
Kerby, one of the attorneys for the boys, said it is clear that something happened to the boys. And that they need help.
