Former military medic gets nine months in prison for inappropriate breast exams

OTTAWA – A former military medical technician convicted of conducting inappropriate breast exams on female recruits has been sentenced to nine months in prison.

Chief military judge Col. Mario Dutil told a military court in London, Ont., that retired petty officer James Wilks will serve the time in a civilian prison concurrently with a previous 30-month sentence.

Wilks was found guilty in a military court in February on one count of sexual assault and three counts of breach of trust after performing breast exams on female recruits.

It was the third such conviction for Wilks, who has already spent nine months behind bars after being convicted of similar crimes in December 2011.

A military court sentenced Wilks to an additional 30 months in prison in 2013, but he appealed the matter.

The convictions all stem from incidents that occurred before Wilks retired from the military in April 2011.

Wilks testified at the end of January that he had conducted thousands of medical exams on prospective military recruits during his more than 25 years in uniform.

Military commanders have been grappling with the issue of sexual misconduct in the ranks since media reports three years ago that a large number of incidents were being ignored or played down.

Defence chief Gen. Jonathan Vance has since taken a hard line on any sexual misconduct, including threatening to kick out anyone found guilty of inappropriate behaviour.