The Air Force has dropped a criminal case that could have sent a lieutenant colonel and former Air Force Thunderbird operations officer before a court-martial on charges related to child abuse, a spokesperson for Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada confirmed on Monday.
Air Force Lt. Col. Kevin DiFalco was arrested in Las Vegas in 2022 for allegedly sexually abusing a child. The Air Force said this week DiFalco will not face a court-martial in connection with the arrest.
DiFalco told Task & Purpose he no longer faces criminal charges in the case. “I deny and am innocent of the allegations,” DiFalco said.
“This case has been removed from the Air Force’s trial docket,” said Air Force Maj. Lauren Ott. “The convening authority decided to move forward with administrative procedures, as opposed to court-martial proceedings.”
Ott did not say why DiFalco would face administrative action instead of a court-martial or why the scheduled court-martial had been called off.
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“These decisions are taken seriously and only after consulting with legal counsel, including the Office of Special Trial Counsel, examining the strength of the evidence collected by the USAF Office of Special Investigations, and considering the availability and admissibility of evidence at court-martial proceedings,” Ott said.
DiFalco told Task & Purpose that the Air Force had withdrawn and dismissed all charges against him, but he declined to comment about why. He still faces a board of inquiry. Officials at Nellis confirmed that all criminal charges against DiFalco had been withdrawn.
DiFalco also said he is not facing prosecution in any civilian court.
KLAS-TV first reported that DiFalco’s would face administrative action instead of criminal proceedings.
DiFalco is an F-16 instructor pilot who has spent nearly 20 years in the Air Force, and is currently assisting the U.S. Air Force Weapons School with special projects, according to his Linkedin profile. He previously served as the operations officer for the Thunderbirds, the Air Force’s demonstration squadron, from September 2019 to June 2021.
He was fired in September 2022 as commander of the 57th operations support squadron commander at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada after being arrested at his off-base residence by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department in coordination with the Air Force, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
According to Las Vegas-area media reports, DiFalco was arrested after a girl told her school counselor that DiFalco had groomed and raped her over the course of several months in 2021 and 2022, the newspaper reported.
The child also told authorities that DiFalco had a distinct tattoo in his groin area, which investigators confirmed, according to KLAS-TV.
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