Contractor Charged with Assault in Relation to Stabbing at Kandahar Airfield in Afghanistan

WASHINGTON – A U.S. Army contractor was indicted today for stabbing another individual with a knife at Kandahar Airfield in Afghanistan, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Neil H. MacBride for the Eastern District of Virginia and James W. McJunkin, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office.

The indictment, returned today by a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia, charges Sean T. Brehm, 44, of Western Cape, South Africa, with one count of assault with a dangerous weapon with intent to do bodily harm and without just cause or excuse, and one count of assault resulting in serious bodily injury.

According to the indictment, the stabbing took place on Nov. 25, 2010. The indictment alleges that at the time of the stabbing, Brehm was working as a contractor for DynCorp International LLC, a U.S. Army contractor in Afghanistan. Brehm originally was charged in a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va., on Dec. 9, 2010.  U.S. Magistrate Judge Ivan D. Davis ruled on Dec. 10, 2010, that Brehm be removed to the United States, and he arrived on Dec. 21, 2010, at Dulles International Airport in Virginia.

If convicted, the defendant faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison for assault with a dangerous weapon with intent to do bodily harm and without just cause or excuse, and 10 years in prison for assault resulting in serious bodily injury.

The defendant is charged under the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act (MEJA), a statute that gives U.S. courts jurisdiction to prosecute crimes committed outside the United States by, among others, contractors or subcontractors of the Department of Defense.

The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney James S. Yoon of the Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Ronald L. Walutes Jr., for the Eastern District of Virginia. The Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs provided assistance. The case is being investigated by the FBI’s Washington Field Office.

An indictment is merely a formal accusation. It is not proof of guilt, and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.