A former commander of the Marines’ Wounded Warrior Regiment has been charged with sex crimes involving three children in Virginia, police said.
Todd Shane Tomko, a 54-year-old former Marine Corps colonel, was arrested last week in his hometown of Quincy, Ill., where he had been serving as the pastor of Parkview Church following his court-martial and forced retirement from the Marines Corps in 2016 amid accusations of inappropriate sexual contact with subordinates, the Quincy Herald-Whig reports.
Tomko was arrested on charges of three counts of indecent liberties with a child, three counts of aggravated sexual battery and one count of cruelty, Virginia Beach police spokeswoman Linda Kuehn told the Virginian-Pilot.
The incidents allegedly occurred in 2002 and Tomko knew the three alleged victims, Kuehn said.
Tomko, according to the Washington Post, was sentenced to 60 days’ confinement and fined $10,000 after pleading guilty during his court-martial to conduct unbecoming of an officer and a gentleman for having an inappropriate contact with enlisted subordinates, including a female Marine corporal.
Tomko also pleaded guilty to possessing anabolic steroids and testosterone, with the majority of the allegations occurring when he was stationed with the Wounded Warrior Regiment in Quantico, Va. Tomko had been relieved of his command there in February 2015 after the allegations surfaced, the Washington Post reported.
Tomko, whose 33 years in the Marines included a tour of duty in Afghanistan, said during the court-martial that he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder just months after he was relieved from the Wounded Warrior Regiment. But he had been struggling for years, Tomko said.
“I’ve been clenching my fists my entire life,” Tomko said, according to the Washington Post. “I can’t tell you the number of times in my life I’ve been told I needed to get help, but how could I?”
Tomko continued: “The only thing I knew how to do was work hard.”
Prosecutors, however, were unmoved, claiming that the disorder didn’t provide Tomko an excuse for his misconduct and repeated violations of the code of military justice.
“We did everything we could to address it, and it didn’t work,” Col. Peter Houtz said of efforts to save Tomko’s declining mental health.
As part of the plea agreement, Tomko said he would seek retirement, the Washington Post reported.
Tomko remained in custody as of Wednesday at the Adams County Jail in Illinois, jail records show. He reportedly was awaiting extradition to Virginia. It was unclear if he had hired an attorney.