Army doctor reaches plea deal in sexual misconduct case
An Army physician accused by more than 40 patients of sexual misconduct has reached a plea deal with prosecutors, according to his attorney.
Maj. Michael Stockin, an anesthesiologist at the pain management clinic at Madigan Army Medical Center on Joint Base Lewis-McChord, was charged in one of the largest prosecutions by the Army of its kind after accusations from 41 victims resulted in 47 counts of abusive sexual contact and five counts of indecent viewing. Stockin was arraigned on the charges in February.
His attorney, Robert Capovilla, confirmed to CBS News that a plea had been reached and will likely be entered in January, when the trial in the case was scheduled to begin, but declined to speak further. The plea agreement was first reported by Stars and Stripes.
News of the agreement comes after recent motions hearings were removed from the case's calendar.
In a report that first aired on "CBS Mornings" in February, two men described alleged misconduct that occurred under the guise of medical care from Maj. Michael Stockin.
One of the men said he sought the doctor's help to manage arthritis in his shoulders, and said he was at first "very confused" by Stockin's examination.
"Myself and Dr. Stockin were left alone in the room. He first checked my shoulders and then he asked me to stand up and to pull down my pants and lift up my gown," he said. "Dr. Stockin, he was face level with my groin, and he started touching my genitals."
The other said he was sexually abused by Stockin on three occasions and described a similar experience of receiving what he called an "alternate assessment." He said he struggled to understand why this visit was unlike any he had previously encountered with a physician.
"Even with my wife I couldn't bring myself to talk through what happened," he said, "It just felt very uncomfortable."
Both of the men who spoke with CBS News earlier this year have shared their allegations with military investigators and anticipated that they would eventually be publicly identified as victims at trial as part of the criminal case pending against Stockin.
The Army has said that Stockin remains suspended from patient care but still has administrative duties at Madigan Medical Center in a non-clinical area. The trial in this case had been scheduled for January 2025. Stockin had previously entered a plea of not guilty in April.
A spokesperson for the Army's Office of Special Trial Counsel told CBS that an update on the docket indicating a plea had been reached is accurate and declined to comment further, noting that additional details would be made available on the first day of trial.
Ryan Guilds, an attorney for seven of the alleged victims, including the two who spoke with CBS News, declined to comment.
More than a dozen alleged victims have also filed civil complaints, claiming they were "severely and irreparably harmed" by the Army and the Defense Department whose negligence, they allege, failed to protect them from abuse at the hands of the doctor.
CBS News has not reviewed the plea agreement, but there is no mandatory minimum penalty for the charges, according to the Army. If convicted on all counts, Stockin could have faced a prison sentence of more than 300 years if sentences were to be served consecutively.
