Army ‘dismissive and derisive’ toward sexual assault victim, failed to pursue case: report

Federal investigators blasted the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command in a new report for failing to properly pursue a sexual assault case against a soldier in Virginia and being “derisive and dismissive” toward the victim.

According to report from the Defense Department’s Office of Inspector General, the command, known as the CID, did not pursue the case because it claimed there was a lack of evidence to support the sexual assault claim.

However, the suspected perpetrator “could have received punishment for adultery and conduct unbecoming an Army officer,” investigators wrote in their report.

“We found the CID sexual assault investigation was not completed as required by guiding policies,” the IG investigators concluded. The investigators said CID officials should “reopen the investigation and undertake corrective action to properly and thoroughly investigate the victim’s complaint.”

The investigation came after a request from Sen. Mark Warner, Virginia Democrat.

Investigators found that CID failed to follow protocol on updating the victim on the status of the investigation and said that the CID’s “attitude toward the victim was ’derisive and dismissive,’” according to the 28-page report, made public Tuesday.

The CID also failed to inform the suspect’s commander that he was under investigation, “resulting in [the suspected perpetrator] being able to be honorably discharged on August, 24, 2014, without any punishment.”

The victim reportedly informed CID investigators the alleged perpetrator was married and said he wore his Army uniform before and after the alleged sexual assault.

The CID “did not attempt to corroborate the information to ’bolster the victim’s credibility,’” investigators wrote. “Further, CID did not report the nonsexual assault offenses of adultery and conduct unbecoming an officer to the commander for appropriate action as required by policy.”

In a written response to the report, Major General Mark Inch, the CID commanding general, admitted that the “investigative and administrative short-comings” revealed in the report were not completed to Army standards.

He said the CID command has implemented measures to “reinforce existing command policies” and has taken action to correct the case agent’s specific deficiencies in this investigation.

However, Gen. Inch opposed the investigators’ recommendation to reopen the case, saying the CID and a civilian police agency in Virginia had come to the same conclusion after interviewing the complainant.

“That conclusion, formed independently by each organization, was that the events as described by the complainant did not meet the elements of proof under Virginia state law or the Uniform Code of Military Justice,” Gen. Inch said.

The critical report came just a few days after an Air Force tech sergeant was found not guilty of virtually all the changes in another high-profile sexual harassment case in the ranks, raising new questions of the ability of the U.S. military to police its own in such cases.