Braxton Taylor
Editor’s note: This article contains references to sexual assault.
Lawyers for a former recruit are appealing the Marine Corps’ decision to deny her legal claim alleging that the service failed to keep her safe from a gunnery sergeant who was sentenced to a year in prison via court-martial last year for abusing his authority as a recruiter against her.
Now-Pvt. Christopher Champagne, 37, self-published a “memoir” detailing his inappropriate sexual behavior with a 17-year-old recruit applicant in 2023 while he worked as a Marine Corps recruiter in Texas, resulting in an investigation and his sentencing last fall, which included a dishonorable discharge, reduction in rank, and prison time.
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The former recruit and her family previously told Military.com that Champagne’s behavior included alleged sexual assault; stalking; sextortion; plying her with alcohol; and manipulating her interactions with other prospective recruits in an effort to isolate her, among other abuses of power, only some of which were included among his court-martial charges.
Champagne’s ex-wife also alleged a pattern of abuse, including sexual assault, which she detailed to military and law enforcement entities, Military.com reported.
“She wants accountability from the Marines, and she wants this not to happen to anyone else,” Christine Dunn, an attorney representing the former recruit, said in a phone interview Thursday. “And the first step of preventing that is for the Marines to acknowledge that they messed up here and that there was a problem and to do better next time.”
Attorneys with Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight LLP filed a federal complaint against the Marine Corps in February 2024 on behalf of the former recruit, alleging that the service knew Champagne had a “history of sexual abuse,” that he was violating Marine Corps policy, and that the service failed to maintain a safe premises at its facilities.
In January, the Marine Corps denied the complaint, stating that it was legally immune to the former recruit’s claims of harm caused by Champagne because the Federal Tort Claims Act — a provision that allows individuals to sue the military — exempts allegations related to assault, “abuse of process,” and a handful of other exclusions, according to a response from the service provided by the law firm to Military.com.
However, the response from the service did not address the claim that it negligently failed to maintain a safe premises at its facilities and that it “failed to protect her from the unreasonable and foreseeable harms” from Champagne, according to the law firm. On Wednesday, the former recruit’s attorneys filed an appeal emphasizing the claim, citing other legal precedent regarding “safe premises” laws and noting that the service “misunderstood” the original litigation.
“It feels like they are trying to avoid accountability based on a technicality,” Dunn said. Referencing his sentencing, she said that “there’s been an acknowledgment, a decision made that Champagne committed a harmful act against our client, but yet the Marines are holding up their hands and saying ‘but it wasn’t our fault.'”
“He was an employee of the Marines. Our client was there as a poolee, a recruit of the Marines,” she added. “And we think that the Marines owed her a duty to keep her reasonably safe, and they failed her.”
The former recruit and her family continue to live in fear of Champagne, according to her mother, Kathlyn, who spoke to Military.com in an interview Thursday. Those fears were further fueled when Champagne — while incarcerated — apparently started a social media page in an attempt to discredit his victim and reposted the “memoir” to an online publisher late last year, which then included the name of the former recruit, as well as her sister’s name.
Champagne previously used a pseudonym for the former recruit in his memoir. The post, reviewed by Military.com, showed that Champagne intended to write a “second act” to his original memoir.
Military.com is withholding the name of Kathlyn’s daughter — as well as the family’s last name — given her age when the alleged abuse started and the publication’s policy not to print the names of alleged sexual assault victims.
Kathlyn contacted Marine Corps Air Station Miramar’s law center in December with her concerns, asking the Marine Corps for help in stopping what she viewed as continued harassment from Champagne. A representative from the law center said that the service “will be taking follow-on action immediately” and would keep her updated, according to an email reviewed by Military.com.
She said she did not hear back after that.
The family had to fight “for weeks” to get the publisher to take down the “memoir” again, Kathlyn said. The social media page was still up as of Thursday.
Meanwhile, the victim’s family sold their house, moved and liquidated their assets, and the former recruit intends to change her name for fear that Champagne will try to find her once his sentence is up in September, as she continues with therapy and generally “has to disappear from society,” Kathlyn said.
“It’s just pretty much destroyed all semblance of safety and planning we had for our lives,” Kathlyn said. “She’s doing the best she can with what she’s been dealt with, but this man has systematically destroyed her, and the military doesn’t care.”
The former recruit’s original claim requested a sum of $5 million in damages, which Kathlyn said would help her daughter “start fresh” — and disappear — amid looming fears that Champagne will stalk or harm her once he is released. And after he allegedly broke a previous military restraining order amid the abuse, Kathlyn said that future protective orders are unlikely to “stop this maniac.”
Military.com contacted Headquarters Marine Corps on Thursday for comment on the appeal, but it did not respond. The publication also attempted to contact Champagne or his legal counsel Thursday through Naval Consolidated Brig Miramar, California, where he had been incarcerated, but a representative said that he had been moved to the brig at Camp Pendleton in the same state. A representative for the Pendleton brig referred Military.com to Champagne’s unit and did not offer contact with him or his legal counsel when requested.
When asked about the posts Champagne apparently made on social media and through the online publisher — and whether he was using government resources such as internet access to do so — a spokesperson for the service’s Western Recruiting Region said, “Pvt. Champagne remains in the Camp Pendleton Base Brig. The Marine Corps is currently looking into these matters. We take all allegations seriously and have no further comment at this time.”
The spokesperson, Capt. Austin Gallegos, referred Military.com to the service’s Regional Defense Counsel on Friday, which told the publication it could not provide information on Champagne’s legal counsel or comment on the case.
“I would never recommend anybody send their daughter into the military in any way, shape or form — they’re not safe,” Kathlyn said. “Do not send your daughters into the military, because the way it’s structured right now, there are predator men in there who will go after these women, and there’s nothing to stop them, and there is no punishment, and the military is not held accountable in any way.
“And that is 100% wrong, because there should be checks and balances in this organization to make sure our women are safe, and there isn’t,” she said.
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