The U.S. Navy SEAL who claimed that he shot and killed Osama bin Laden during a raid on the 9/11 mastermind’s hideout in Pakistan in 2011 was arrested and charged with two misdemeanor offenses by Frisco, Texas authorities last week.
According to numerous news outlets, Robert J. O'Neill, 47, a former member of SEAL Team Six, was arrested and charged with misdemeanor assault and public intoxication on Aug. 23.
The former SEAL was in town to record a podcast at a cigar lounge, according to published reports. O’Neill was released on a $3,500 bond the same day, according to Collin County records.
In a written statement to the Dallas Morning News, Frisco police said O’Neill faces a Class A misdemeanor charge of assault causing bodily injury and a Class C misdemeanor charge of public intoxication. Jail records list only the assault charge.
O’Neill became a household name after detailing how he killed bin Laden in his 2017 book, “The Operator.” According to Fox News, publishing the book was controversial within the special warfare community, which typically abides by a code of silence when it comes to covert missions. The U.S. government has never confirmed O'Neill's accounting of the raid while fellow former SEAL Matt Bissonnette said in a book of his own that O'Neill's story was false. A different SEAL had fired the shots that killed the infamous terrorist mastermind, according to Bissonnette.
In 2016, O’Neill was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence in Montana after authorities said they found him sleeping in the driver seat of a car, which was still running, according to WNCT. He entered a not guilty plea, saying that he had taken “a prescribed sleep aide to help with long-standing severe insomnia.”
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Prosecutors eventually agreed to drop the charge after determining his medication was to blame, though he was charged with negligent endangerment under an agreement that allowed him to defer prosecution while he participated in a treatment plan with the Department of Veterans Affairs, according to Fox News.
O'Neill was banned from flying on Delta Air Lines in 2020 after posting a photo of himself not wearing a mask on a flight, despite a COVID requirement in effect at the time, Fox News reported.
Reach Julia LeDoux at Julia@connectingvets.com.
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