CBS 5 Investigates With Anna Werner

By Anna Werner
(CBS 5) Rose Gidding says she had a rocky relationship with Army Reservist Bob Gidding.

"I was scared the whole time I was with him," Rose says. "I was so depressed when I was with him. I don't want anybody to have to go through something like that."

Rose says that Bob was fun when they met as teenagers, but it wasn't long before they had relationship problems.

"I had to be with him 24 hours of the day. I couldn't use the restroom by myself. I couldn't shower alone. I couldn't do anything," Rose says.

Rose says he even threatened to hurt her and her baby if she left. Then she says the threats peaked in March of 2002, when in a jealous rage, Bob shoved Rose in a car and took her to a friend's house in Morgan Hill. After accusing her of sleeping with the man, police say Bob Gidding walked up to the man's car with a can of gasoline, doused it, and set it on fire.

After being confronted by police that night, Bob confessed and later pled no contest to felony arson. It was a crime that should have ended Bob Gidding's military career. Felons aren't allowed to serve in the Reserves.

Gidding was sentenced to five months in jail and three years probation, but he never served his time. Instead, he shipped out with his unit on active duty.

After arriving in Kuwait, Bob didn't even bother to hide his felony status. According to two other soldiers, he told the entire group and commanding officer about his conviction.

General Paul Monroe says Gidding should have been sent home immediately. Until recently, General Monroe was the head of the California National Guard. He says the military has no place for people like Bob Gidding.

"They're unpredictable," says Monroe. "You just don't know how they're going to react under times of stress."

But Gidding was allowed to serve, and when he came home a year later on leave, Rose says the treats and the fighting continued.

"He broke our coffee table and slammed it into the wall," Rose says. "I told his commanding officer."

In return, she got a letter from the captain, saying he was "not in a position to take action." But back in Kuwait, not only did Gidding stay on active duty, he was given the job of military policeman -- a felon now charged with upholding the law and protecting his fellow soldiers.

"That's the worst thing they can assign him to," Monroe says. "He's armed, and he's given indiscriminate use of his weapon."

In Gidding's case it was an even worse idea. As part of his probation, the judge in Santa Clara County had outlined a very specific requirement. Gidding was not allowed to have a gun.

"This is a big deal," says Monroe. "You can't do that. He's going to cause somebody to be killed."

We asked the Reserves' top man for the Western U.S., General Robert Ostenberg, why the Reserves would keep a felon in their ranks.

"We didn't know at that time about the events that took place that got him into trouble with the felony," said Ostenberg.

So what about that meeting where Gidding confessed his crime to his fellow soldiers?

"He should have been out of there," says Ostenberg. "This is a serious crime, serious issue...a felony's a felony."

But how many convicted felons like Bob Gidding are there in the Reserves? It turns out that the Army doesn't know. We found that there are no routine background checks on thousands of currently enlisted personnel.

Experts like longtime pentagon consultant Eli Flyer say it wouldn't be difficult to do background checks. Flyer's own research shows there are felons going undetected who could be weeded out with those simple background checks.

"It almost seems mindless, not to make some of the changes that are so evident," says Flyer.

But he says that in times of personnel shortages, commanders are resistant. If commanders lose one individual, they are going to need to find someone to replace them. The question that comes to mind is whether they may have a lot more felons than we know about.

"I'm sure they do," Monroe said "I'm sure they do."

Monroe says the military is under pressure to get every able body it can, and that pressure may have forced officials to overlook Gidding's past.

"Would we openly and willingly keep a felon on? No. Gidding is not so important that he can't be replaced," says Monroe.

Tell that to his current commander. Even though Gidding was quickly arrested on new drug and theft charges since coming home late last year, and he's now serving a year in jail for the arson, his commander still wants to keep him.
In a memo obtained by CBS 5 investigates, Gidding's captain wrote to the judge, asking for Gidding to once again be allowed out of jail on the weekends, so he can rejoin his fellow soldiers in the Army Reserves.

"You're putting your own unit at risk. You can't afford that risk," Monroe says. "You absolutely cannot afford that risk."

We made repeated attempts to speak with Gidding through his lawyer, but they declined to do an interview.

The Army Reserves has now opened a formal investigation into the case and the actions of Gidding's commanders. As for Gidding? General Ostenberg says they have now finally begun the process to discharge him from the military.