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# When Navy-Marine Corps Accused Plead Guilty to Article 121a
- URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/navy-marine-corps-article-121a-plea-2017-2025/
- Published: 2026-10-28T06:33:48.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-30T08:05:23.000Z
- Description: Sailors and Marines who pleaded guilty to charges including Article 121a (fraudulent use of credit or debit cards) more often had no confinement and more often received a bad-conduct discharge.
- Author: Jocelyn C. Stewart
- Tags: Understanding Trends, Article 121a, Navy-Marine Corps

[Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/) › [By Offense](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/by-offense/) › [Article 121a](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/article-121a-courts-martial/) › When Navy-Marine Corps Accused Plead Gui

**Short answer:** Sailors and Marines who pleaded guilty to charges including Article 121a (fraudulent use of credit or debit cards) more often had no confinement and more often received a bad-conduct discharge. In 35 such cases, 23% of convictions had no confinement, compared with 15% of all Navy and Marine Corps guilty pleas. 71% of convicted enlisted members received a punitive discharge, compared with 60%.

Based on 35 cases · 2017–2025 · Navy and Marine Corps records · data updated October 24, 2026

## Less Confinement, More Discharges

This page covers Navy and Marine Corps courts-martial in which the accused pleaded guilty to charges that included Article 121a, the article on fraudulent use of credit cards, debit cards, and other access devices. Every case in this post is a guilty plea. A case is contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge, so none of these cases was contested.

Confinement was less common than in other guilty pleas, but punitive discharges were more common. 27 of the 35 sentences included confinement (77%), and 8 did not. For all Navy and Marine Corps guilty pleas, 15% of convictions had no confinement. Here the share was 23%. 71% of enlisted convictions included a punitive discharge, compared with 60% for all Navy and Marine Corps guilty pleas.

## Bad-Conduct Discharges Only

All 24 punitive discharges were bad-conduct discharges, and none was dishonorable. A bad-conduct discharge is the lesser of the 2 punitive discharges for enlisted members and is available at both general and special courts-martial.

A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation. These records do not track separations. No officers appear in these cases.

## Most Terms Were a Year or Less

When confinement was adjudged, the median was 5 months, shorter than the 6-month median for all Navy and Marine Corps guilty pleas. A quarter of the terms were 1 year or longer.

Terms under 6 months were 40% of convictions, the same as the 40% for all guilty pleas. Terms of 6 months to 1 year were 31%, compared with 24%. Only 2 of 35 convictions (6%) included confinement longer than one year, compared with 21%. None included 5 years or more, compared with 5% of all guilty pleas. These are adjudged sentences, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. They cover every charge in the case.

| Adjudged confinement            | Convictions | Share here | Share, all Navy and Marine Corps guilty pleas in those years |
| ------------------------------- | ----------- | ---------- | ------------------------------------------------------------ |
| No confinement                  | 8           | 23%        | 15%                                                          |
| Under 6 months                  | 14          | 40%        | 40%                                                          |
| 6 months to 1 year              | 11          | 31%        | 24%                                                          |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 2           | 6%         | 16%                                                          |
| 5 years or more                 | 0           | 0%         | 5%                                                           |

## Card Fraud Was Often Charged With Larceny

Article 121a was the only charge in 8 of the 35 cases. Article 121 larceny was the most common other charge, in 13 cases. Article 80 attempts appeared in 9, Article 86 unauthorized absence in 5, Article 81 conspiracy in 5, and Article 92 orders violations in 4.

A sentence covers every charge. In cases that charged card fraud with larceny or conspiracy, the sentence covers those charges too.

## Special Courts-Martial Handled Most Cases

8 of 35 cases (23%) were general courts-martial. The rest were special courts-martial. A special court-martial caps confinement at one year and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge. There were no dishonorable discharges here. Only a general court-martial can adjudge more than one year of confinement, and few sentences here were longer than one year.

## Rank of the Accused

By rank, 28 accused were junior enlisted members and 6 were NCOs, with 0 officers. This group is more junior than all Navy and Marine Corps guilty pleas.

## Where and When

Camp Pendleton, California had the most cases with 8, followed by Norfolk, Virginia with 6, San Diego, California with 5, and Parris Island, South Carolina and Bremerton, Washington with 3 each. Together they account for 71% of the cases. Larger installations try more cases of every kind.

The records show 1 case in 2017 and none in 2018, then 3 in 2019, 2 in 2020, 9 in 2021, 7 in 2022, 5 in 2023, 3 in 2024, and 5 in 2025.

## Rules in Force

The Military Justice Act of 2016 took effect on January 1, 2019\. It set fixed panel sizes, created judge-alone special courts-martial capped at six months with no punitive discharge, and brought in written plea agreements. Cases with offenses before 2019 kept the old rules. For offenses after December 27, 2023, the military judge sets the sentence within new sentencing parameters.

## What the Records Do Not Show

The records give trial dates, not offense dates, so they cannot show which rules applied to a case. They do not show the amount taken, the evidence, or plea terms. Navy and Marine Corps records from the earlier years often omit the plea, so guilty pleas from that time may be missing here. Cases handled by nonjudicial punishment or administrative separation are not included.

Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: [UCMJ change timeline](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/ucmj-change-timeline/).

### How We Counted

Navy and Marine Corps courts-martial tried 2017–2025: where the accused pleaded guilty to charges including Article 121a (fraudulent use of credit cards, debit cards) (35 cases), compared with all Navy and Marine Corps guilty pleas in those years.

Source: public court-martial records (Article 140a, UCMJ) in [Military Trial Results](https://www.bodiesburied.com/military-trial-results/), data updated October 24, 2026\. Definitions, sources, and known gaps: [how this data was built](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/how-the-military-trial-results-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](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/article-121a-courts-martial/) (hub)
- [Sentences](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/sentences/) (hub)
- [Is Navy-Marine Corps Article 121a Prosecution Rising or Falling? Article 121a, 2017–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/navy-marine-corps-article-121a-trend-2017-2025/)
- [Article 121a Sentences in the Navy-Marine Corps: Confinement and Discharges, 2017–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/navy-marine-corps-article-121a-sent-2017-2025/)
- [When Army Accused Plead Guilty to Article 121a](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/army-article-121a-plea-2021-2025/) (another service)
- [Guilty Pleas in Navy-Marine Corps AWOL Cases: How Often, and What Came Next](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/navy-marine-corps-article-86-plea-2017-2025/)
- [Guilty Pleas in Navy-Marine Corps Assault Cases: How Often, and What Came Next](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/navy-marine-corps-article-128-plea-2017-2025/)
- [Guilty Pleas in Navy-Marine Corps Child Endangerment Cases: How Often, and What Came Next](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/navy-marine-corps-article-119b-plea-2017-2025/)
- [Search every case in Military Trial Results](https://www.bodiesburied.com/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](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/?ref=bodiesburied.com). This analysis is for education and information only. It is not legal advice, and every case is different.