How Camp Pendleton, California Handled Larceny Cases (Article 121), 2019–2023

Trends › By Installation › Camp Pendleton, California › Article 121, 2019–2023

Based on 21 cases · 2019–2023 · Navy and Marine Corps records · data updated October 24, 2026

Few Larceny Cases Were Contested

A case is contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge, through a not-guilty plea or a mixed plea. At Camp Pendleton, 17 of the 21 larceny records list the plea. Of those, 16 accused pleaded guilty and 1 contested at least one charge.

That is 6% contested, lower than the 22% in Article 121 cases in the rest of the Navy and Marine Corps over the same years. The group is small, so a single case changes the percentage by a large amount. Even so, almost every larceny case at this installation ended in a guilty plea rather than a contested trial.

Punitive Discharges Were Slightly More Common

For enlisted members, a punitive discharge means a bad-conduct discharge or a dishonorable discharge. Of 20 convicted enlisted members here, 13 received one, and all 13 were bad-conduct discharges. No dishonorable discharges appear in this group.

The 65% share is slightly higher than the 61% for Navy and Marine Corps Article 121 cases as a whole. A member whose sentence had no punitive discharge could still be separated administratively later.

Confinement Was Common and Mostly Short

Of the 21 cases, 20 ended in a conviction on at least one charge, and 17 of those sentences included confinement (85%). The median confinement was 6 months, the same as the 6 months median in Article 121 cases across the Navy and Marine Corps. A quarter of the confinement sentences were 9 months or longer.

All of these figures are adjudged sentences, meaning the sentences announced at trial. They come before any cap in a plea agreement, any clemency, and any appeal. Each sentence covers every charge in the case, not only the larceny charge.

Sentence Lengths

Sentence lengths were about the same as in the rest of the service. Terms under 6 months made up 35% of convictions here, and terms of 6 months to 1 year also made up 35%. Elsewhere, each of those ranges was 32%. 15% of convictions carried no confinement, compared with 20%.

3 of 20 convictions (15%) carried more than one year of confinement, the same 15% as across the rest of the Navy and Marine Corps. No conviction carried 5 years or more. Only a general court-martial can adjudge confinement of more than one year. A special court-martial is capped at one year.

Most Cases Were Special Courts-Martial

Only 4 of the 21 cases were general courts-martial, or 19%, compared with 29% in Navy and Marine Corps Article 121 cases overall. The rest were special courts-martial.

The court level sets the maximum sentence. A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence, including long confinement and a dishonorable discharge or dismissal. A special court-martial can impose a bad-conduct discharge but not a dishonorable discharge, and its confinement is capped at one year. Since 2019, a special court-martial can also be tried by a military judge alone, with confinement capped at six months and no punitive discharge.

Larceny Alone or with Other Charges

Article 121 was the only charge in 10 of the 21 cases. The other cases included additional articles. The most common were Article 134 (general article), Article 108 (military property), and Article 121a (fraudulent use of credit cards, debit cards), each in 3 cases. Article 86 (AWOL) and Article 81 (conspiracy) each appeared in 2.

A sentence covers the whole case. The confinement and discharge figures above therefore include punishment for those other charges as well.

Rank of the Accused

Of the accused, 16 were junior enlisted (E-1 to E-4) and 4 were NCOs (E-5 to E-9). No officers or warrant officers were charged under Article 121 at this installation during these years.

That group is more junior than in larceny cases across the Navy and Marine Corps, where 58% of the accused were junior enlisted.

Cases by Year

Between January 2019 and December 2023, the records hold 21 cases. There were 4 in 2019, 0 in 2020, 8 in 2021, 4 in 2022, and 5 in 2023. Larceny cases were 7% of the 291 courts-martial at Camp Pendleton, California in those years.

What the Records Do Not Show

These records show only cases that reached a courtroom. Thefts handled through nonjudicial punishment, administrative separation, or no action do not appear. The records also give trial dates, not offense dates. They do not describe the evidence or the terms of any plea agreement.

Navy and Marine Corps records before December 2020 often omit the plea, so the plea counts here use only the 17 records that list one.

For what the offense covers and how it is defended, see Article 121 on the law firm's website. Dates and sources for the law changes: UCMJ change timeline.

Compare: federal court. Theft and Fraud by Dollar Loss: Federal Sentences vs. Article 121 Courts-Martial

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.