A federal jury in the Northern District of Georgia convicted a Georgia man Friday of sexually and physically abusing two minors while he was stationed in Germany as a U.S. Army soldier, the Justice Department announced.
Adam Schlueter, 37, of Atlanta, was stationed in Grafenwöhr, Germany, between 2009 and 2013, when he subjected two minor victims to repeated physical, emotional and sexual abuse, according to court documents and trial evidence. Both victims testified that Schlueter choked and beat them, among other forms of egregious physical abuse. One child described being pushed through a second-story window and dangled above the ground at age eight, prosecutors said. Schlueter sexually assaulted both victims when they were under the age of 10.
Prosecutors said Schlueter also threatened victims and other witnesses to prevent disclosure of the abuse, including threatening to kill one witness.
The jury convicted Schlueter on two counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a minor under the age of 12 and two counts of assault resulting in serious bodily injury. He is scheduled to be sentenced on July 9 and faces a mandatory minimum of 30 years in prison and a maximum penalty of life in prison. A federal district court judge will determine the sentence after considering U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
The case was announced by Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg for the Northern District of Georgia and Special Agent in Charge Marlo Graham of the FBI’s Atlanta Field Office.
The FBI Atlanta Field Office investigated the case. Trial Attorney McKenzie Hightower of the Justice Department’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Leanne Marek for the Northern District of Georgia are prosecuting the case.
The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Justice Department to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse. The program coordinates federal, state and local resources to identify, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children, including via the internet, and to locate and rescue victims.
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