A protocol officer for a general at U.S. Central Command at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Fla., has been arrested for allegedly trying to entice a 17-year-old boy into sexual activity.
The Tampa Bay Times reports that Air Force Lt. Col. Stephen Michael Governale was being held Tuesday in Seminole County without bail pending an Oct. 1 hearing in Orlando federal court. Court documents do not identify the general to whom Governale, 49, of Tampa, reported or indicate where the teenager lives.
CentCom did not respond Tuesday to inquiries regarding Governale's duties. On his Facebook page, the newspaper reports, Governale posted a photo in 2010 showing him with the man he indicated was his boss at the time, Gen. David H. Petraeus, the former chief of CentCom.
The boy’s parents alerted FBI officials in Florida to Facebook chats their son had been having with Governale and provided the agency with some of those messages, according to court records.
Governale, who is married, met the boy in October 2009 through an organization affiliated with the military. The boy told authorities he was invited to attend a conference in Brevard County in September 2010 and slept in the same bed with the officer. The boy said Governale rented a pornographic movie and both masturbated as they watched, records indicate.
The hottest stories ripped from the headlines, from crime to courts, legal and scandal.
