A former Army officer and attorney, Manfredo Martin-Michael Madrigal, has been sentenced to 54 months in federal prison. Madrigal, previously assigned to the United States Army Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School (JAG School) in Charlottesville, Virginia, was convicted on charges related to the destruction of U.S. Army property and providing false statements to federal investigators.
Madrigal, aged 38 and formerly residing in Charlottesville, pled guilty in July 2024. His charges included one count of destruction of U.S. Army materials and three counts of making false statements.
Court documents revealed that in February 2022, Madrigal held a staff position at the JAG School within the Training Developments Directorate. This role involved designing training products for the JAG Corps and the Army. Madrigal had an active security clearance due to his previous service overseas on sensitive operations.
The investigation into Madrigal began when he failed to report a prior arrest for driving under the influence (DUI). While under investigation by both the U.S. Army and JAG School, he deleted online JAG training materials without authorization. He filmed this act while expressing negative sentiments towards the Army. The FBI discovered that on the same night as deleting these materials, Madrigal contacted the Russian embassy in Washington D.C., subsequently texting a witness about Russia's interest in his knowledge.
On February 22, 2022, upon discharge from the JAG School, Madrigal falsely claimed no unreported contact with foreign nationals on his exit paperwork. During interviews with the FBI in April and May 2022 regarding his actions, he made multiple false statements about his involvement with material deletion and denied any contact with foreign nationals at the Embassy.
The announcement was made by Acting United States Attorney Zachary T. Lee of the Western District of Virginia along with Stanley M. Meador, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Richmond Division.
The case was investigated by both the Federal Bureau of Investigation and U.S. Army Counterintelligence Command.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Katie Burroughs Medearis, Vito A. Iaia, Sean M. Welsh, alongside Special Assistant United States Attorney Jessica Joyce are prosecuting this case for the government.