JAIL TERM FOR BRONX GI WHO HAD HIMSELF SHOT IN THE LEG IN EFFORT TO AVOID RETURNING TO ACTIVE DUTY IN IRAQ

Bronx District Attorney Robert T. Johnson announced today that Jonathan Aponte, a 20-year-old U.S. Serviceman, has pled guilty to falsely reporting a shooting incident last July in an effort to avoid further military service in Iraq. Aponte admitted that he had arranged to have himself shot in the knee and then told police that he had been wounded during a robbery.

Aponte pled guilty to one count of Falsely Reporting an Incident in the 3rd degree, a misdemeanor offense. Under terms of the plea agreement, State Supreme Court Justice John Byrne will sentence Aponte to a term of one year in jail on October 17, 2007 in Part A. Aponte agreed to the one year jail term with the understanding that his guilty plea in this case also covered any potential charges of perjury in connection with the investigation into the shooting.

Assistant District Attorney James Cudden told the court that investigators had determined that Aponte had testified falsely before the grand jury regarding his experiences in Iraq. ADA Cudden said that Aponte had not witnessed a soldier’s suicide as he had claimed, nor had he been under fire in combat. Aponte, Cudden said, spent his tour of duty in Iraq as a supply clerk on a military base and was never involved in any hostilities.

Aponte was shot in the knee shortly after midnight on July 9, 2007 allegedly by Felix Padilla, a 24-year-old Bronx man who was to be paid $500 by Aponte and his wife. Padilla has been charged with conspiracy, assault and illegal gun possession offenses. Padilla allegedly was recruited by Aponte’s wife at the time, Alexandra Gonzalez, a 23-year-old Bronx woman who has been charged with assault and falsely reporting an incident. The cases against Padilla and Gonzalez are still pending.

The cases against all three defendants are being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney James Cudden of the Investigations Division’s Rackets Bureau.