{"id":50471,"date":"2023-05-25T18:29:58","date_gmt":"2023-05-25T18:29:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2023\/05\/25\/once-given-false-criminal-record-officer-now-gets-promotion-back-pay\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T04:22:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T04:22:12","slug":"once-given-false-criminal-record-officer-now-gets-promotion-back-pay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/your-army\/2023\/05\/25\/once-given-false-criminal-record-officer-now-gets-promotion-back-pay\/","title":{"rendered":"Once given false criminal record, officer now gets promotion, back pay"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As the Army finishes its review of botched recruiting fraud investigations that branded troops with false criminal histories, the service has awarded a previously denied promotion to an officer who led the charge to correct the errors after they derailed his career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now-Maj. Gilberto De Leon was selected for major in 2019. However, because investigators from the Army\u2019s Criminal Investigation Division improperly listed him in criminal databases years before, his promotion was halted after an automated records review found \u201cadverse information.\u201d Even though he\u2019d never been charged and a review board deemed him promotable, De Leon\u2019s promotion eligibility expired in spring 2022 before he could pin on his new rank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Frustrated, he wrote a March 2022 op-ed for Military Times<\/a>, and became the public face of thousands of troops whom CID investigated and submitted to criminal databases without arrest or prosecution. Resulting pressure from advocates and lawmakers led the Army to review thousands of cases to identify and correct improper database entries that have upended lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amid pressure from Congress<\/a>, the agency has completed its review and \u201cwill provide a detailed report to Congress within the next month,\u201d said Ronna Weyland, a spokesperson for the Army\u2019s Criminal Investigation Division.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After his Wednesday promotion, De Leon will receive two years of back pay and medically retire in the higher grade, according to documents he shared with Army Times. But he said he doesn\u2019t believe that\u2019s enough for what he and others endured, which included false arrest records submitted to a Federal Bureau of Investigation database.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMere removal of criminal titles and reinstatement of earned ranks does not equate to achieving righteous justice or accountability,\u201d De Leon said in a text message, adding that he wants to see continued scrutiny from lawmakers and \u201ca public apology\u201d from senior leaders. He also criticized the service\u2019s communication with him in a post on LinkedIn<\/a>, and said he learned from media reports that the Senate had approved his promotion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

De Leon, who was the first-known soldier to be formally cleared in the Army\u2019s internal review of the recruiting fraud investigations, is now the first-known soldier to have its negative impacts on their career reversed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

G-RAP, as it was known while active from 2005 to 2012, paid a private company to employ off-duty Guardsmen as independent contractor \u201crecruiting assistants.\u201d The recruiting assistants received around $2,000 for each new enlisted soldier they referred to Guard recruiters, and the program helped refill the Army National Guard\u2019s ranks during the bloody surge years of the Global War on Terror.<\/p>\n\n\n\t