Missile launch officer pleads guilty to drug use; stemmed from probe that exposed cheating

Published May 03, 2016

A nuclear missile launch officer who pleaded guilty to illegal drug use has been dismissed from the Air Force and was sentenced to one month of confinement in a Montana jail.

2nd Lt. Nicole Dalmazzi of the 341st Missile Wing at Malmstrom Air Force Base had been charged with obstruction of justice, but that was withdrawn as part of a pretrial agreement.

Dalmazzi said she took ecstasy pills five times between January 2013 and February 2014, in part because she was going through a divorce.

The charges stemmed from a criminal investigation that led to the discovery last winter of a separate proficiency exam-cheating scandal that implicated nearly 100 nuclear officers at Malmstrom, near Great Falls.

Lt. Col. Lyndell Powell of Joint Lewis-McChord Air Force Base sentenced Dalmazzi on Wednesday.

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https://www.foxnews.com/us/missile-launch-officer-pleads-guilty-to-drug-use-stemmed-from-probe-that-exposed-cheating