How Much Confinement for an Article 121a Conviction in the Army?
From 2021 to 2025, 14 Army courts-martial ended in a conviction under Article 121a (fraudulent use of credit cards, debit cards). 13 of the 14 accused pleaded guilty, and only 7% of the cases were contested, compared with 21% for all Army convictions in those years.
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Short answer: From 2021 to 2025, 14 Army courts-martial ended in a conviction under Article 121a (fraudulent use of credit cards, debit cards). 13 of the 14 accused pleaded guilty, and only 7% of the cases were contested, compared with 21% for all Army convictions in those years. The median confinement was 4 months, against 6 months Army-wide.
Nearly Every Accused Pleaded Guilty
13 accused pleaded guilty and 1 entered a not-guilty or mixed plea. The contested share, 7%, was lower than the 21% across all Army convictions from 2021 to 2025.
10 of the 13 guilty pleas are recorded with a plea agreement, and 3 have no entry. Army records show whether an agreement existed, not its terms.
A military judge alone decided guilt in 13 of the 14 cases (93%). An enlisted panel decided 1.
Larceny Was the Most Common Companion Charge
Article 121a was the only charge in 3 of the 14 cases. Article 121 (larceny) appeared in 6. Article 86 (AWOL), Article 107 (false official statement), and Article 80 (attempt) each appeared in 2, and Article 122 (robbery) in 1.
Confinement
12 of the 14 convictions carried confinement. The median was 4 months, shorter than the 6 months for all Army convictions. A quarter of the sentences with confinement were 1.8 years or longer.
The sentences are as adjudged at trial, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. Each covers every charge in the case, including the companion charges above.
Punitive Discharges Were Slightly More Common
11 of the 14 convicted enlisted members received a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge (79%). 2 of those were dishonorable. Across all Army convictions in those years, the share was 73%.
A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.
Rank and Court Level
8 accused were junior enlisted (E-1 to E-4) and 6 were NCOs (E-5 to E-9). No officers or warrant officers appear. The mix was similar to all Army convictions in those years, where 57% were junior enlisted.
General courts-martial made up 43% of these cases (6 of 14), and special courts-martial made up the rest. A general court-martial can impose long confinement and a dishonorable discharge. A special court-martial caps confinement at one year.
Year-by-Year Counts
The cases were tried from March 2021 to September 2025: 5 in 2021, 1 in 2022, 3 in 2023, 3 in 2024, and 2 in 2025. Army records in this data are sparse before 2021, after the services were required to begin publishing trial records under Article 140a by December 2020.
Rule Changes and Missing Details
Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel decide whether to prosecute covered offenses, and new sentencing parameters apply when every guilty finding is for an offense after December 27, 2023. These rules depend on the offense date, which the records do not give.
The records do not show the evidence, the plea terms, or conduct handled outside a court-martial.
Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Army courts-martial tried 2021–2025: ending in a conviction under Article 121a (fraudulent use of credit cards, debit cards) (14 cases), compared with all Army convictions in those years.
Source: public court-martial records (Article 140a, UCMJ) in Military Trial Results, data updated October 24, 2026. Definitions, sources, and known gaps: how this data was built. Errors: content@bodiesburied.com.
Related Analysis
- Article 121a (Fraudulent Use of Credit Cards, Debit Cards, Numbered Since 2019): Court-Martial Data and Trends (hub)
- Sentences (hub)
- When Army Accused Plead Guilty to Article 121a
- Article 121a Sentences in the Navy-Marine Corps: Confinement and Discharges, 2017–2025 (another service)
- Article 107 Sentences in the Army: Confinement and Discharges, 2021–2025
- Article 113 Sentences in the Army: Confinement and Discharges, 2021–2025
- Article 120 Sentences in the Army: Confinement and Discharges, 2021–2025
- Article 120c Sentences in the Army: Confinement and Discharges, 2021–2025
- Search every case in Military Trial Results (members)
About the author. Jocelyn C. Stewart is a retired Army JAG with more than 24 years of trying courts-martial and more than 200 jury trials. She hosts Where All The Bodies Are Buried and runs the Law Office of Jocelyn C. Stewart. This analysis is for education and information only. It is not legal advice, and every case is different.