UCMJ Article 121b: False Pretenses to Obtain Services
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Article 121b punishes knowingly using false pretenses, with intent to defraud, to obtain services rather than property: a hotel stay, a repair, a ride, telephone service. The maximum is a bad-conduct discharge and 1 year when the services are worth $1,000 or less, and a dishonorable discharge and 5 years above $1,000. The conduct was a crime before 2019 as well, charged under Article 134.
Five elements of Article 121b
Any person subject to this chapter who, with intent to defraud, knowingly uses false pretenses to obtain services shall be punished as a court-martial may direct.
Source: 10 U.S.C. § 921b.
The Manual for Courts-Martial (2024 ed.), Part IV, ¶ 66.b, lists five elements:
- The accused wrongfully obtained certain services.
- The obtaining was done by using false pretenses.
- The accused then knew the pretenses were false.
- The obtaining was with intent to defraud.
- The services were of a certain value, or of some value.
Services, not property
The Manual describes the offense as “similar to the offenses of larceny and wrongful appropriation by false pretenses, except that the object of the obtaining is services (for example, telephone service) rather than money, personal property, or articles of value of any kind as under Article 121” (¶ 66.c). The meaning of false pretenses is borrowed from the larceny paragraph (¶ 64.c), and intent to defraud means intending to obtain something of value through a misrepresentation for one’s own or another’s use, permanently or temporarily (¶ 70.c(14)).
Because the offense rests on a false pretense used to obtain the service, it is not committed by a person who obtained the service honestly and later could not pay. Failing to pay, without a false pretense at the start, is at most a debt matter; when the failure is dishonorable it can be a separate Article 134 offense (see dishonorably failing to pay just debts).
Before and after 2019
Obtaining services under false pretenses was an enumerated Article 134 offense in the 2016 Manual (¶ 78), which also required proof that the conduct was prejudicial to good order and discipline or service-discrediting. The Military Justice Act of 2016 moved it to Article 121b, effective January 1, 2019 (Pub. L. 114-328, § 5433; MCM 2024, Appendix 17, analysis of ¶ 66). For conduct before that date, the charge would have been under Article 134; the conduct itself was not newly criminalized in 2019.
Article 121b maximums by value of the services
From ¶ 66.d:
| Value of the services | Maximum |
|---|---|
| $1,000 or less | Bad-conduct discharge, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, 1 year |
| More than $1,000 | Dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, 5 years |
Property, cards, and bad checks
Obtaining money or property, rather than services, by false pretenses is larceny under Article 121. Using a stolen or unauthorized credit or debit card to obtain services is Article 121a. Paying with a check the accused knows will bounce is Article 123a.
Sources
- 10 U.S.C. § 921b, Article 121b, False pretenses to obtain services (Cornell LII)
- Manual for Courts-Martial, United States (2024 ed.), Part IV, ¶ 64.c, ¶ 66, and ¶ 70.c(14); Appendix 17, analysis of ¶ 66
General information about military law, not legal advice for any individual case.