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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

JBLM doctor sentenced to almost 14 years for sexual abuse of soldiers

Madigan Army Medical Center at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, where Maj. Michael D. Stockin would see patients as an anesthesiologist and pain-management physician. Stockin pleaded guilty to sexual misconduct involving active-duty and former military members.  (Ellen M. Banner/Seattle Times)
By Paige Cornwell and Mike Carter Seattle Times

SEATTLE – An Army physician was sentenced on Wednesday to 13 years and eight months of incarceration after pleading guilty to sexual misconduct involving dozens of men he treated for pain management at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

Maj. Michael Stockin, who was an anesthesiologist and pain-management physician at Madigan Army Medical Center, faced from nine years and 10 months to 13 years and eight months of incarceration under a plea agreement. A military judge accepted the agreement last week during Stockin’s court-martial at JBLM.

Ryan Guilds, an attorney representing seven of the victims, praised the fact that the maximum sentence was given, but said “no sentence will give back what was taken from the victims who suffered pain, doubt and shame.”

Stockin pleaded guilty to 36 counts – known as “specifications” in military court – of abusive sexual contact and five counts of indecent viewing involving 41 victims, who were all active-duty or former military. All but one were patients he treated in the hospital’s pain-management center, where he conducted medically unnecessary “exams” to view and grope the patients’ genitals.

Stockin’s sentencing concludes the legal process on the criminal side that began in February 2022, when the military branch began an investigation into the physician. After the year-plus investigation, he was charged with 23 counts of abusive sexual contact and indecent viewing. That number grew to 41 accusers by January 2024, according to the Army Office of Special Trial Counsel.

His trial was scheduled to start last week, the day he pleaded guilty at the Cascade Courtroom Complex on JBLM. In addition to incarceration, Stockin will also be dismissed from the Army.

A hearing unique to courts-martial followed, where Stockin answered questions from the judge about his crimes and stated each of his guilty pleas with details of each crime.

After the judge accepted the guilty plea, some of Stockin’s patients testified about their experiences with the doctor. They detailed how his actions, which occurred from 2019 to 2022, had affected their views of the military and of themselves.

An Army captain who graduated from West Point said his appointments with Stockin broke his trust in medical providers, and that lack of trust extended to his Army chain of command.

“We are taught as young cadets, as young officers, that trust is the foundation of everything we do,” he said last week while testifying. Now, he goes in “thinking that those above me I can’t trust, that they don’t have my best interests at heart.”

That’s partially the reason he thinks the Army is no longer for him, he added. He plans to soon submit his discharge papers.

The civil side of the legal process continues. At least 22 people who say they were sexually abused by Stockin have filed Federal Tort Claims Act administrative complaints against the Army and Department of Defense, alleging that the U.S. military was liable in Stockin’s actions. Some of Stockin’s former patients who filed FTCA claims aren’t among the 41 victims in his criminal case, according to attorney Christine Dunn, who is representing patients who filed the claims.

“The criminal case is wrapping up, but the civil case is just getting started,” Dunn said last week.