Lt. Col Stuart Scheller, who recently garnered considerable attention for social media posts and videos demanding “accountability” is now in military jail, the Marine Corps announced.
He is in pretrial confinement at the Regional Brig for Marine Corps Installations East at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, pending an Article 32 preliminary hearing, Capt. Sam Stephenson, a spokesman for Training and Education Command, said in a Tuesday statement to Marine Corps Times. The time, date and location for that hearing have yet to be determined.
However, although confined, Scheller currently faces no charges under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, Stephenson said. However, multiple UCMJ charges are being considered.
“The general nature of the offenses being considered at the Art. 32 hearing are: Article 88 (contempt toward officials), Article 90 (willfully disobeying superior commissioned officer), Article 92 (failure to obey lawful general orders), Article 133 (conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman),” Stephenson told Marine Corps Times via email Tuesday.
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The former infantry Marine and battalion commander of the Advanced Infantry Training Battalion at the School of Infantry–East in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, first made waves Aug. 26 with a video that went viral, sharing his “growing discontent and contempt” of “ineptitude at the foreign policy level.”
The video was released the night that 13 service members, including 11 Marines, were killed in an attack at the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul.
On Aug. 27 he was fired. He continued posting social media videos and posts to Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn.
Scheller’s confinement follows Saturday Facebook posts. The Facebook posts, according to a statement sent to Marine Corps Times by Scheller’s parents, broke a “gag order,” which required Scheller to remain silent.
The Marine Corps declined to comment on the specific events that led to Scheller’s confinement.
One of Scheller’s 1,400-word weekend Facebook posts criticized political leaders such as former Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Donald Trump, along with military leaders including former Gens. Jim Mattis, David Petraeus and Michael Flynn.
Additionally, it closed with Scheller seemingly asking to be confined.
“Col. Emmel please have the MPs waiting for me at 0800 on Monday. I’m ready for jail,” Scheller ended his post.
Scheller’s family issued a statement on Monday in which they called on the military to support their son.
Cathy and Stuart Scheller Sr. stated that Stuart Scheller’s command “seems to be concerned” but the command “does not appear to have the tools to support him” and “incarceration appears to be their only solution.”
“All our son did was ask the questions that everyone was asking themselves, but too scared to speak out loud,” Scheller’s parents wrote. “He doesn’t deserve this treatment.”
The Pipe Hitter Foundation announced Wednesday that it is “assisting” Scheller in both his pending legal fight and his transition out of the Marine Corps.
The foundation initially was founded by the family of former Navy Seal Eddie Gallagher after Gallagher was arrested and charged with war crimes in 2018.
James R. Webb is a rapid response reporter for Military Times. He served as a US Marine infantryman in Iraq. Additionally, he has worked as a Legislative Assistant in the US Senate and as an embedded photographer in Afghanistan.
