Marine Corps officials filed criminal sex-abuse charges against the former Wounded Warrior Battalion commanding officer, Col. T. Shane Tomko yesterday.
Last year in February, Col. T. Shane “Rhino” Tomko was relieved of his duty after only being in that position for approximately six months. He was relieved by Marine and Family Programs Director Brig. Gen. Russell Sanborn “due to a loss of confidence in his leadership,” in a statement released by Maj. Rob Dolan, a spokesman for Marine Corps Manpower and Reserve Affairs.
A preliminary hearing in the case was scheduled for March, but later postponed, according to the Quincy news. No calls were returned to the news source by the Marine Corps.
Tomko was charged by the Corps with “abusive sexual contact, obstruction of justice, illegal possession of steroids and other crimes,” as listed in the news piece. It detailed charges of Tomko being accused of “sexually assaulting a female Marine corporal in October 2014 by forcibly kissing her on the mouth and later making derogatory remarks about her.”
It also listed other charges of previous sexual assault complaints against Tomko, in the past — one in which was in the civilian courts but was later withdrawn in January after an administrative complaint was upheld.
Tomko had come to the regiment after a year-long tour as the 2nd Marine Division’s operations officer out of Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. He enlisted in 1983 and has experience as an infantryman and special operations officer according to reports.
Tomko came to the regiment July 10 following a year-long tour as operations officer for 2nd Marine Division out of Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. He enlisted in 1983, according to reports, and has a background as an infantry and special operations officer. Many have heard Tomko sing at various military and civilian functions, and was featured as the National Anthem singer for a USO event.
The Wounded Warrior Regiment’s mission is to “provide leadership and enable non-medical care to combat and non-combat Wounded, Ill, and Injured (WII) Marines, sailors attached to Marine units, and their family members in order to maximize their recovery as they return to duty or transition to civilian life.”
Is this ‘battalion’ related, in any way, to the charity Wounded Warrior Project?
No this is a battalion of wounded warrior Marines who go to recover after getting hurt.
Please do not ever think the Corps would be aligned with such a deplorable organization. WWR actually takes care of all our Marines with ALL donations and is transparent.
Anyone who knows Col. Tomko know these charges are false.
Seriously? This guy is a bully, and a roid bully at that. He slept with one of his female Corporals at 3rd BN 24th MAR and was quietly pushed to the next command. There is a sestimic history of this guy abusing his power. He’s an ass.
I personally can not imagine the Rino ever having to force him self on any one, any where, the female in question had to have taken the jester completely wrong! He has always shown total respect for his junior marines, and been there to help with any of there personnel problems. He is 100% Marine
Colonel Tomko is absolutely innocent of these charges! The civilian that made up these charges is the one that should be on trial!! When all the evidence is presented, the Marine Corps will get one of the finest officers in its ranks back and will be embarrassed that these charges were ever entertained by a court. All of Rhino’s Marines stand behind him 100 percent!!!
If you knew the truth, you’d change your tune. Molestation is despicable no matter how much you admire the molester.
Let me help you out Bill – FIRST of all – it is ILLEGAL to post what the Colonel is charged with under the Privacy Act – so guess what – What the articles have posted is incorrect – IF someone actually looked at the charge sheet they would know he is NOT being charged with that. NOT to mention – the civilian female who is responsible for this has her day in court coming. She brought this on herself and how she forced the Cpl to lie. Not only that, the Cpl in question was scared because she had VERY inappropriate things on her FB page ….The truth is coming out shortly and you Bill will be sorry.
Um….. doesn’t the article say what he was charged with? Isn’t “abusive sexual contact” the same as molestation? Mom of 3, what if this happened to your kid? Let’s pray that the military takes action to reduce sexual assault instead of accepting it, like some people on here seem to do. What about the obstruction of justice, steroids and other crimes? I can only imagine what that means. As a female in another service, it’s about damn time that they prosecute these predators. Then we can focus on our jobs and not on dealing with some jerk who keeps touching us.
A female civilian is involved? Say no more.
This man is a gifted leader who people follow because they want to, not because they have to. Everyone is with you when you’re up, who is with you when you are down? Shane Tomko is part of The Warrior Class slowly being weeded from our ranks. I would follow him anywhere….to combat where he has been multiple times, to Hell, or into retirement, where at the minimum he should be allowed to get to…..
After the latest arrests from Va. Beach…where are his supporters now?