WASHINGTON (AP) — The Army is reducing the rank of a brigadier general at the center of a sexual misconduct case by two grades for his pending retirement, in a rare move that will slash his benefits and force him to retire as a lieutenant colonel.

Army Secretary John McHugh announced the decision Friday, saying that Brig. Gen. Jeffrey A. Sinclair “displayed a pattern of inappropriate and at times illegal behavior both while serving as a brigadier general and a colonel.”