Fort Campbell soldier charged with taking sexually explicit photos and videos of other soldiers and children

A soldier from Fort Campbell, Kentucky, faces multiple charges of conspiring with another person to take sexually explicit images and videos of children and other soldiers without their consent, according to Army court records. (Samuel Shore/US Army)

A Fort Campbell soldier has been charged with conspiring with another person to take sexually explicit images and videos of children and other soldiers without their consent while in Germany, Army court records show.

Pfc. Whitney Shepherd, 34, was arraigned May 29 and entered a not guilty plea before Judge Lt. Col. Daniel Mazzone at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, where the soldier is assigned to the 101st Airborne Division, court records show. No attorney was listed for Shepherd in an online court filing, and base officials did not respond to a request for that information.

Shepherd is charged with three counts of conspiracy, one count of child sexual abuse, seven counts of other forms of sexual assault and six counts of child sexual abuse, the indictment states. All incidents occurred in late 2022 and early 2023 in Grafenwoehr, Germany.

Shepherd is accused of photographing two other female soldiers – a specialist and a private first class – in January and February 2023 as part of a conspiracy with another person whose name was redacted from the indictment.

She also distributed these images, which, according to the indictment, were taken at a time when the women had a legitimate expectation of their privacy.

The charges, which involve one or more children, accuse Shepherd of conspiring with someone to produce child sexual abuse material by video calling a child and recording him or her engaging in sexually explicit conduct, possessing an iPhone 12 containing the material, and distributing it to another Private First Class.

According to the indictment, Shepherd is also accused of exposing himself to a child on December 26, 2022, for the purpose of sexually satisfying another soldier, a Private First Class.

Shepherd requested a jury trial, according to online court records. No further court dates were announced for Shepherd on Friday.

It is rare for female soldiers to be court-martialed. In 2023, 11 women and 520 men were court-martialed, according to the Army Report on Military Justice for Fiscal Year 2023.

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