Date: 2015-05-12
By Barry Davis
Air Force sergeant Travis Yates will spend the next 37 years behind bars.
This comes after Yates admitted last year to sexually molesting two young girls, one only 15 years old at the time.
Along with the prison term, Yates has also forfeited any pay and allowances, was reduced to grade E-1 and dishonorably discharged.
According to reports, the allegations surfaced after the youngest of the two girls moved out to California to live with her grandmother. One girl said her grandmother was talking about how one of her other grandchildren had been sexually molested, when she confessed to her grandmother that Yates had molested her and another family member.
From there, the young woman, who is now 20 years old, said they called Yates' wife and told her about it.
She said the wife was upset, but believed her. They then called Yates, who was in Florida at the time. When Yates returned to his home base, the Air Force OIG was called in.
One member of the biological family said it took way too long for the Air Force to prosecute and sentence Yates.