Article 121a Sentences in the Navy-Marine Corps: Confinement and Discharges, 2017–2025
The 44 Navy and Marine Corps convictions under Article 121a (fraudulent use of credit cards, debit cards) from 2017–2025 had a median confinement of 5 months, slightly lower than the 6 months for all Navy and Marine Corps convictions.
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Short answer: The 44 Navy and Marine Corps convictions under Article 121a (fraudulent use of credit cards, debit cards) from 2017–2025 had a median confinement of 5 months, slightly lower than the 6 months for all Navy and Marine Corps convictions. Only 2 of the 44 (5%) included more than one year, compared with 25% for all Navy and Marine Corps convictions. 67% of convicted enlisted members received a punitive discharge.
Most Convictions Included Short Confinement
Most card fraud convictions in the Navy and Marine Corps included confinement, and most terms were short. Of the 44 convictions, 34 included confinement. The median confinement was 5 months.
19 convictions (43%) included under 6 months of confinement, and 13 (30%) included 6 months to 1 year. Only 2 convictions included between one and five years, and 0 included 5 years or more. For all Navy and Marine Corps convictions, 18% included between one and five years and 7% included 5 years or more.
10 convictions (23%) had no confinement, compared with 18% for all Navy and Marine Corps convictions. All are adjudged sentences, as imposed at trial before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, all Navy and Marine Corps convictions in those years |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 10 | 23% | 18% |
| Under 6 months | 19 | 43% | 35% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 13 | 30% | 22% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 2 | 5% | 18% |
| 5 years or more | 0 | 0% | 7% |
Mostly Special Courts-Martial
Only 8 of the 44 cases (18%) were general courts-martial, compared with 41% for all Navy and Marine Corps convictions. The rest were special courts-martial, which cap confinement at one year and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge. A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence.
So most of these cases were tried at a level where confinement could not be more than one year.
Most Enlisted Convictions Included a Bad-Conduct Discharge
67% of enlisted convictions included a punitive discharge: 28 bad-conduct discharges and 0 dishonorable discharges. For all Navy and Marine Corps convictions, the rate was 62%.
A bad-conduct discharge is the punitive discharge a special court-martial can adjudge. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation. These records do not track separations.
Most Cases Were Guilty Pleas
Pleas are recorded in 40 of the 44 cases. Of those, 35 accused pleaded guilty and 5 contested at least one charge with a not-guilty or mixed plea. That makes 12% contested, lower than the 24% for all Navy and Marine Corps convictions. Navy and Marine Corps records before December 2020 often omit the plea, and the contested share uses only the records that list one.
Larceny Was Often Charged Too
In 35 of the 44 cases, at least one other article was charged with Article 121a. Article 121 (larceny) was the most common other charge, in 20 cases. Article 80 (attempt) appeared in 10, and Article 92 (orders violation), Article 86 (AWOL), and Article 81 (conspiracy) in 6 each.
Every sentence covers all findings in the case. These other charges are part of the confinement and discharge totals.
Most Accused Were Junior Enlisted
Among the accused with rank recorded, 36 were junior enlisted (E-1 to E-4) and 6 were NCOs (E-5 to E-9). No officers or warrant officers appear. This group is more junior than all Navy and Marine Corps convictions, where 65% were junior enlisted.
Cases by Year and Installation
The cases were tried from October 2017 to October 2025. The yearly counts were 1 in 2017, 0 in 2018, 4 in 2019, and 5 in 2020. The highest count was in 2021, with 11. There were 8 in 2022, then between 3 and 7 a year. The records do not explain the pattern.
Camp Pendleton, California had 8 cases, San Diego, California and Norfolk, Virginia had 6 each, and Camp Lejeune, North Carolina and Bremerton, Washington had 4 each. Together they account for 64% of the 44. The number of cases is small, and larger installations try more cases of every kind. These counts say little about any single base.
Legal Changes in the Period
The Military Justice Act of 2016 took effect on January 1, 2019. It set fixed panel sizes, added judge-alone special courts-martial capped at six months with no punitive discharge, and brought in written plea agreements. For offenses after December 27, 2023, judges set sentences within new parameters when every guilty finding falls after that date. These records give no offense dates, so they cannot separate old-rule cases from new-rule ones.
What the Records Leave Out
Only cases that went to court-martial appear here. The records give trial dates, not offense dates. Card misuse handled through nonjudicial punishment, administrative separation, or no action is not included. The records say nothing about the amounts involved, the evidence, or the plea terms.
Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Navy and Marine Corps courts-martial tried 2017–2025: ending in a conviction under Article 121a (fraudulent use of credit cards, debit cards) (44 cases), compared with all Navy and Marine Corps 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)
- Is Navy-Marine Corps Article 121a Prosecution Rising or Falling? Article 121a, 2017–2025
- When Navy-Marine Corps Accused Plead Guilty to Article 121a
- How Much Confinement for an Article 121a Conviction in the Army? (another service)
- Article 107 Sentences in the Navy-Marine Corps: Confinement and Discharges, 2017–2025
- Article 108 Sentences in the Navy-Marine Corps: Confinement and Discharges, 2017–2025
- Article 113 Sentences in the Navy-Marine Corps: 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.