Case 1:10-cr-00257-LMB Document 36 Filed 12/01/10 Page 1 of 3

To: The Honorable Leonie M. Brinkema

U.S. District Judge

Your Honor,

I am Justin M. Wilson, the man, father and son who will stand before you on December 3rd,
2010 to be sentenced for my crime, which I have fully accepted responsibility for. The purpose of
my letter to you is to tell my side of the story and to give you some background information which
directly led to my shameful actions which bring me before your honorable court. I do not intend to
give you excuses, only the reason why.
Up until my time of arrest I had served in the U.S. Navy since July of 1998. I had the
pleasure of serving in one of the most elite fighting units in the world and I volunteered for every
deployment and assignment possible. I loved my job. I loved being able to serve my country and
fight for our country’s interests anywhere in the world. My record was flawless as was my
operational performance and I was fortunate enough to have the honor to serve the legendary seal
team 6 now known as Naval Special Warfare Development Group. Unfortunately it was my poor
decision making off-duty and in my personal life which ruined my very successful career. Before
I became a member of the Mongols Motorcycle Club, I knew another active duty sailor in the
Special Warfare community who was in the club. The Navy was aware of this and he was able to
keep his security clearance and his job. Seeing that this did not jeopardize my friend’s career and
I enjoyed the comradery and brotherhood the members showed each other, I decided to join. I did
not intend to ruin my career or life, I just wanted to ride and have fun. But, once my chain of
command learned about my involvement with the club, they removed my security clearance and
removed me from Naval Special Warfare. I did not get a chance to disassociate from the Club or try
and save my career. I tried to fight it in vain, I did not break any rules or regulations by being in the
club but just mere association shows a serious lack of judgement. And that was the grounds for my
removal; commanding officers lack of confidence. This devastated me, everything I had worked so
hard for and sacrificed so much for was gone. In June of 2008 I was given orders to Great Lakes,
IL for 6 months for training in a new job, a mechinest.
Now while I was fighting to keep my job, the 2 undercover ATF agents would come down
to Virginia Beach from Baltimore to spend time and console me and my family through this hard
time. They acted like true friends.
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Now that I was no longer in Naval Special Warfare, I lost all of my special pays. A total of
$650.00 a month I would no longer receive. My wife at the time and I were living paycheck to
paycheck, as she had just finished a nursing degree. Bills started to pile up and then the first of her
student loans became due . We tried to take out a loan to get some breathing room until my wife
found a job and got a few checks in the bank but could not because we had to many loans out
already. My wife finally found a job at a local hospital in early June of 2008. She had to work four
12 hour shifts each week. Our two children would need to be taken to school and picked up by me
on those days. It was a few days after she started this job that I received orders to Great Lakes, IL.
I had to report no later than August 24th, 2008. This gave me less than a month to find suitable and
affordable child care. My wife needs to keep that job because our family needed that income. It was
at this time I learned that my mother was in a bad situation herself. When the real estate market
crashed she lost her job and in turn, her home in Las Vegas, NV. I seized this opportunity to both
help my mother and my wife and children, so I asked my mother to move in with us and help with
the kids. Meanwhile she could use this time to get back on her feet. The only problem was that
neither one of us had the money to move her from Las Vegas to Virginia Beach or to get me out to
Las Vegas to help her pack and move. Thus I was low hanging fruit for the ATF Agents. They were
always trying to push some sort of illegal money-making scam. It was the ATF agent who offered
me the idea of giving him my motorcycle and claim it on insurance. *Actually they wanted stolen
bikes but I wouldn’t do that* He explained to me everything that needed to happen and how to do
it, and he walked me through it as well. But, I backed out of it. I needed to keep the money he gave
me to afford to move my mother out to Virginia. So I offered the agent my gun as collateral and I
would pay him back the $1200 in installments. At first he said no and wanted all of the money back
immediately. So I offered the soft (flexible) armor panels for him to keep. He agreed to this and said
I had to drive up to him and give him the gun.
Now, I feel it very necessary to explain to you how I came in to possession of these items
to begin with. I had found the gun in a large warehouse on an abandoned Iraqi Air Base that we were
going to be using as a base of operations for a short while. This warehouse was filled with rubble
and other debris, I literally stumbled across the gun. I cleaned off the weapon as best I could and
brought it home as a war trophy. I never fired the weapon, nor did i have any magazines or bullets
for the gun. I wanted to mount it on the wall like a plaque with a very pro-American, Charleston
Heston like saying. My wife absolutely would not allow it, so it sat in the bottom of my safe for a
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few years. The weapon in question was not and is not stolen. It was something that I wanted to turn
into a family heirloom, not sell for profit.
The soft armor I received from another command while in the Navy. When you leave one
command they give you a list of mandatory items to turn in. This item was not on that list and thus
not turned in. I didn’t think anything of it and actually forgot I had them until I was getting my gear
ready for another deployment and I found them in the bottom of a bag. I had new ones from my new
command so this too just sat around in a bag in my garage, until the incident.
These items were the only things that the ATF agent pretending to be a friend would accept
and now I know why. I was doing what I could do at the time to take care of my family and make
sure that they were safe and secure while I was away for 6 months. I was unable to pay the
undercover agent back because once I returned from Great Lakes, IL they quit the mongols MC and
joined the Outlaws MC which ended our close friendship. I did see them after they became Outlaws,
but things were kept very short and cordial.
On September 30, 2010 my military separation hearing was held. I was not present for it, and
unable to speak on my own behalf. The board recommended that I be given an Other Than
Honorable Discharge for 2 counts of misconduct. Because of this I am not entitled to any VA
Benefits, nor are my children.
From one bad decision I have literally lost everything. I wish there was a way to make up
for this mistake. All I want to do is take care of my family and do something in life that will make
my family and children proud of me again. It’s one thing to be away from your children because you
are doing something noble like fighting for this country, but to miss my children’s birthdays and
holidays and games because I am incarcerated is a crushing pain of shame that I do not wish to
endure again. I will not place myself in this situation again for any reason, and because of the love
and support of my family and true friends, I know that this is possible. I humbly beg that you take
into consideration all that I’ve said and all that I have lost and please allow me to return to my
family and start to re-build my life. Thank you.
Very respectfully,
/s/ Justin Wilson