Former Army National Guard Recruiter sentenced to ten years in prison for sexual abuse of minor

Tacoma – A former Air Force Special Agent was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to ten years in prison for enticement of a minor, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman. Joshua Carl Harrod, 44, of Spanaway, Washington, was charged in July 2021 and pleaded guilty in October 2023. At the sentencing hearing, U.S. District Judge Benjamin Settle said the crimes were “sadistic” and “indescribably cruel.”

According to records filed in the case, between October 2017 and April 2018, Harrod sexually molested a young child left in his care. The conduct occurred in the location where he resided on Joint Base Lewis-McChord, an area of exclusive federal jurisdiction. Harrod separated from the Air Force in 2018 and prior to his arrest in this case, served as a recruiter for the Army National Guard in Lakewood, Washington.

Harrod also pleaded guilty to making a false statement to a government agency for his efforts to falsify phone records related to evidence in the case.

In addition to the ten-year prison term, Judge Settle ordered Harrod to be on lifetime supervised release. In handing down the sentence, Judge Settle said, “The consequences of many crimes before me do not have the impact that this one does…Victims of these crimes carry with them a life sentence.”

The case was investigated by the FBI with assistance from the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations (OSI), Joint Base Lewis-McChord Military Police Investigations, the Lakewood Police Department, and the Washington State Patrol.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Kristine Foerster and Elyne Vaught.