Lt Col Joe Curtis, 47, was investigated by the Army for sexual assault and ‘patronizing prostitutes’ but remains in his position at the US Army Cyber Command
A lieutenant colonel was allowed to keep his position in the US Army Cyber Command despite being investigated over claims he raped, emotionally abused, and pimped out his wife – and cheated with prostitutes – DailyMail.com can reveal.
Joe Derrick Curtis, 47, of Virginia, was charged with sexual assault, assault consummated by a battery, and pandering (prostitution), in relation to allegations made by his now ex-wife Cori Jensen, 40, in 2019.
He was ultimately found guilty of ‘patronizing prostitutes and adultery’ over a 12-year period by a military judge and was given a reprimand in May 2021.
But Jensen claims her ex-husband has received no further punishment, demotion or dismissal over his offenses, and has slammed the Army for its handling of the case, in an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com.
‘I believe the Army didn’t want to have to deal with it,’ Jensen said. ‘I wonder how many people like me have been swept under the rug.’
Curtis’s now ex-wife Cori Jensen, with whom he shares son Roman, accused him of sexually assaulting her and pimping her out to other men at Washington DC clubs in a practice he allegedly called ‘hotwifing’
Despite the allegations and findings, Curtis apparently remains an ‘Enterprise Services Branch Chief’ – a position he has held since 2017 – for the U.S. Army Cyber Command in Fort Belvoir, Virginia. Pictured: A general view of a Cyber Command facility
Curtis was charged with sexual assault, assault consummated by a battery, and pandering in 2019
The investigation into Curtis’s alleged threatening phone calls and sexual assault is ongoing.
And it appears Curtis, who goes by his middle name Derrick, continued to have relationships with sex workers after the caution he received from commanding officers.
One woman who posts naked photos on social media and described her job as to ‘make sure your husband comes home happy’ even posted a photo of herself in a bathing suit with Curtis’s face on it in July last year.
The scandal led Michigan Congressman Jack Bergman to write to top brass last year requesting a review of Curtis’s case and to re-scrutinize his alleged abuse.
Bergman’s spokesman told DailyMail.com that after he sent the letter, his office received calls from a man they believe was Curtis, threatening to ‘use all of their guns’ if Bergman didn’t take back the letter. Bergman reported the calls to the Capitol Police.
In army documents obtained by DailyMail.com, Jensen claimed Curtis raped her multiple times, including an incident her mother allegedly heard through the wall of their apartment.
A previous wife had also written a letter to prosecutors saying the Lt. Col. ‘sexually assaulted her during their relationship’.
Jensen also claimed Curtis tried to pimp her out to other men at Washington DC clubs in a practice he allegedly called ‘hotwifing’ – and says Curtis has been harassing and stalking her since their split.
At first, investigators wrote there was ‘sufficient evidence to provide to command for consideration of action’ and a forensic psychologist said the two women’s accounts were credible.
A July 19, 2019 email from military court staff lists allegations against Curtis as ‘sexual assault’, ‘pandering’ (prostitution), ‘obstruction of justice’ and ‘assault consummated by a battery.’
But the sexual assault charges were later dropped, with documents citing a lack of evidence, after Jensen agreed not to pursue the charges in a civil settlement with her ex.
Curtis was only found guilty of, and reprimanded for, the ‘pandering’ charge. The Army’s investigation into other claims appears to remain open.
The Army officer received a ‘memorandum of reprimand’ for ‘patronizing prostitutes and adultery’ from Major General Omar Jones, on May 26, 2021.
Documents show investigators initially found ‘sufficient evidence to provide to command for consideration of action’ and a forensic psychologist said the two women’s accounts were credible
Jones confirmed Curtis ‘admitted’ to ‘seeing prostitutes in 2001 and continued to patronize them through 2013’ and noted he had been married ‘to two different women during that time period.’
‘Additionally, you patronized prostitutes as recently as 2017, also while married,’ the Major General wrote.
‘As a commissioned officer, you are expected to exhibit high moral standards and behave with decency and decorum. You failed. Your lack of judgment and disgraceful behavior have seriously compromised your character and standing as an officer in the United States Army.’
Though the memo called out his ‘unbecoming conduct’ and his violation of Uniform Code of Military Justice, it appears to have been the only reprimand or punishment the colonel received.
According to his LinkedIn profile, he remains an ‘Enterprise Services Branch Chief’ – a position he has held since 2017 – for the U.S. Army Cyber Command in Fort Belvoir, Virginia.
And pictures posted by a sex worker on social media suggest Curtis may have continued to have relationships with them even after the caution from his commanding officer.
A woman who goes by ‘Jenni Tay’ on Twitter posted a mirror selfie, wearing a stars and stripes swimsuit with Curtis’ face printed on the front, on July 12 2022.
‘What do you think of my new bathing suit for St John,’ she wrote. ‘Don’t go on vacation with me I will embarrass the sh*t out of you.’
Tay regularly posts naked pictures on Twitter, including another mirror selfie with her breasts exposed, and photo of herself wearing a strap-on dildo behind another woman in lingerie.
In October she tweeted ‘Someone just asked what I do for living, truth is many things but my answer ‘the lords work’. Maybe I should have said I make sure your husband comes home happy.’
The tweets came a year after Curtis’s official reprimand, and were not part of the Army’s investigation.
Though the memo called out his ‘unbecoming conduct’ and his violation of Uniform Code of Military Justice, it appears to have been the only reprimand or punishment the Lt. Col. received.
The case is just one of 100,000 reports of domestic abuse in the military since 2015.
After repeated scandals, lawmakers voted in December for an overhaul of how the military prosecutes crimes such as sexual assault, and President Joe Biden signed an executive order making sexual harassment a criminal offense under the Uniform Code of Military Justice last year.
Jensen says the changes were too late for her case.
‘I believe they didn’t want to have to deal with it. So they just didn’t,’ she said.
‘That’s why they stonewalled me, and that’s why they dropped the sexual abuse charges, even after testimony from two of his ex-wives that he abused and raped us.
‘A lot of people don’t have as much time as I have to spare to give my all to this case. I wonder how many people have been swept under the rug.
‘Jenni Tay’ who regularly posts naked photos on Twitter and describes her job as making sure ‘your husband comes home happy’, shared a selfie, wearing a stars and stripes swimsuit with Curtis’s face printed on the front
Curtis received a ‘memorandum of reprimand’ for ‘patronizing prostitutes and adultery’ from Major General Omar Jones, on May 26, 2021, but did not face further punishment
‘It’s made me be so skeptical of any honor that any member of the military has. How sad it is that the ones that do have valor are overshadowed, or are having their glory and honor being taken by these criminals, these people that are abusers.’
In statements to military investigators, Jensen said Curtis anally raped her around spring of 2017 at their home in Bath, England, where they lived while he was stationed there.
‘I asked him to stop and he didn’t,’ she said in the Army documents. ‘He clearly wasn’t stopping, and he didn’t care what I said so I just took it.’
Another alleged incident in August 2017 was overheard by her mother, who Jensen said spoke to investigators but whose name was redacted in the reports.
‘[Jensen’s mother] related that towards the end of her visit…she noticed LTC Curtis demonstrate a controlling behavior over Mrs. Curtis,’ the investigator wrote.
‘[She] stated she saw LTC Curtis and Mrs. Curtis go into their bedroom which shared a wall with the living room. [The mother] stated the walls of the apartment were very thin and she could her [sic] them start to argue with each other, and then she heard Mrs. Curtis say no, stop it, no.
‘Mrs. Curtis came out of the bedroom and cleaned up in the sink. [The mother] stated she noticed that Mrs. Curtis was very upset and had been crying. [She] stated Mrs. Curtis stated LTC Curtis had forced his penis down her throat.’
Jensen said Curtis manipulated her, convincing her to go along with his plans to pimp her out to other men at a gentlemen’s club in Washington DC in a practice he allegedly called ‘hotwifing’.
‘Mrs. Curtis explained that she would look for men and provide their contact information to LTC Curtis,’ one investigator’s report from January 2019 read.
The scandal even led Michigan Congressman Jack Bergman to write to top brass last year requesting a review of Curtis’s case and to re-scrutinize his alleged abuse
In his letter, Bergman asked Army Secretary Christine E. Wormuth to review the file and provide Jensen with an update on the case
‘LTC Curtis would in response contact these men and arrange for them to have [a] sexual relationship with her. Mrs. Curtis stated that she was intimately involved with three men who compensated her with money and gifts. Mrs. Curtis stated she gave this money to LTC Curtis.’
Jensen told DailyMail.com she split with Curtis several times, but kept going back to him after he promised to change or threatened to take their six-year-old son Roman away from her.
The end of their relationship in August 2018 sparked a custody battle over the child. A judge has given them shared custody, but their agreement included a clause about dropping her involvement with the Army’s prosecution.
The 2019 document, filed in a Fairfax County, Virginia court, said: ‘The parties acknowledge that there is a pending military criminal investigation involving the parties. Defendant [Jensen] agrees not to actively pursue said military criminal investigation and her allegation made therein.’
Jensen took out military restraining orders against Curtis in September 2018 and 2019, claiming he made ‘suicidal threats’ and that she ‘no longer feels safe and fears for her life’.
He was ordered by his commanding officer to not have any contact with his wife except to arrange child care.
She shared distressing audio with DailyMail.com of Curtis screaming and sobbing while their child cried in the background. She said she was trying to talk her then-husband down from suicide, shortly after she got back together with him in 2018 for the final time.
‘I thought he was going to kill us, so I set my phone on record while I tried to talk him down,’ she said.
‘Please just leave,’ Curtis can be heard wailing in the recording.
‘No. I am not going to permit you to kill yourself here or anywhere else,’ Jensen replied. ‘Tell me where all the guns are. If you do not tell me where all the guns are I am going to call 911 and I will have them come and take all the guns.
‘Don’t threaten me with things you’ve already done,’ he replied, with a distraught tone.
‘It’s not a threat. You’re threatening to kill yourself inside our home with our little boy and me present, Derrick,’ she said. ‘You’re threatening to kill yourself.’
‘It’s better than being with you,’ he said.
Jensen said that even after she left him, her nightmare continued.
According to court documents, Curtis wrote emails to her employer, DC think tank Americans for Transparency and Accountability (ATA), in 2020 suggesting she was a prostitute, and wrote to her friends using an anonymous Twitter account alleging she had ‘active genital warts’.
She sued him for defamation and won in November last year, though was awarded $0 by the Virginia jury.
Bergman, a retied Marine Corps lieutenant general who works closely with ATA, wrote to the Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth in March 2022, asking for a review of Curtis’ case.
‘Her ex-husband has repeatedly abused her, threatened her work with the NGO that I directly work with, and worse,’ the Republican Congressman wrote.
‘She has not been able to get any insight into the matter regarding disciplinary action. To be clear, I am not asking you to impose any disciplinary action – rather I am requesting that the file be reviewed, and Ms. Jensen be provided an update regarding the abuse she received at the hands of Lt. Colonel Joe Derrick Curtis.’
Bergman’s spokesman James Hogge told DailyMail.com they received ‘threatening phone calls’ after the letter was sent.
‘On March 4th, 2022, Rep. Bergman’s office reported two threatening phone calls to the Capitol Police,’ he said. ‘The man who called threatened to ‘use all of their guns’ on Rep. Bergman if he did not take back his letter to DOD. The call is believed to be from Curtis.’
Capitol Police said: ‘For safety reasons, the USCP does not discuss potential security measures for Members or any potential investigations.’
Curtis’s LinkedIn page still lists his role as Branch Chief of the US Army Enterprise Services in Cyber Command at Fort Belvoir in Virginia.
The US Army Human Resources Command told DailyMail.com Curtis ‘is currently serving on active duty in the United States Army’.