Airman Jose Cossio Pleads Guilty of Creating False Military Website

As reported by the U.S. Air Forces, a member of the 1^st Special Operations Mission Support Squadron was charged with falsifying an official website. Airman Basic Jose Cossio pleaded guilty to the charge of counterfeiting and was convicted. The website in question was the Hurlburt Field Website. He was also charged with obtaining passwords and network identifications from several individuals.

Airman Cossio is 25 years old. He went before a military judge to plead guilty to two counts of Article 134 and asked the court to give him a chance to get on with his life.

"I am looking for closure, and I think I've found it today," Airman Cossio said during an unsworn statement during the courtroom proceedings. "I am looking forward to getting on with my life."

Lieutenant Colonel Jennifer Whittier presided as the judge in the case and gave Airman Cossio 150 days of confinement along with his pay being docked $1000 for five months. The confinement sentence was given as time served because of an agreement before trial.

"This is the outcome the government was looking for," said Captain Jason Lammli, trial council for the 1st Special Operations Wing. "Airman Cossio can move on, and the government can now move on."

Cossio's case was originally dismissed in 2006. However, the Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals reversed the ruling in early 2007.

Airman Cossio has now received two court martials in his military career. In 2004 he was found guilty of unrelated matters. He was sentenced and served eight months in jail for his crime and also received a bad conduct discharge. Cossio was finishing out his appellate leave from the first charges when he caught for the second crimes.