Two Sergeants Charged With Rape Sex-Abuse Scandal Rocks U.S. Military Training Center In Germany
Two U.S. Army sergeants were charged Friday with multiple counts of raping women soldiers at the Darmstadt military training center. A third sergeant was charged with lesser crimes in the most serious sex-abuse scandal at a U.S. military installation in Germany in years.
Twenty-one women have alleged they were sexually attacked or harassed at Darmstadt, where newly assigned personnel are taught about life in Germany.
Sgt. 1st Class Julius Davis faces 36 charges - six each of rape and indecent assault, one each of attempted rape and forcible sodomy, and 11 each of cruelty and mistreatment of a subordinate through sexual harassment, the Army’s 5th Corps in Heidelberg said.
Sgt. Paul Fuller was charged with three counts each of rape and forcible sodomy, one each of attempted rape and kidnapping, and seven of cruelty and mistreatment of a subordinate through sexual harassment, the Army statement said.
Both Davis, of the 440th Signal Battalion in Darmstadt, and Fuller, of the 77th Maintenance Company in Babenhausen, have been in custody since Feb. 8.
The third man, Staff Sgt. Robert Robinson, was charged with mistreatment of a subordinate and fraternization, and is not in custody.
The Army withheld the hometowns of all three men, who were instructors at the Darmstadt school.
At least some of the acts the three men are accused of allegedly occurred after claims of sexual misconduct were leveled at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland in November. Those accusations led to a broad investigation into sexual harassment in the Army.
The Darmstadt center’s commander, 1st Sgt. George Watlington, has been replaced by Sgt. 1st Class Elizabeth Weaver of Sandusky, Ohio.
Watlington, of Greensboro, N.C., was reassigned to an office of the 233rd Base Support Battalion in Darmstadt that handles security and operations. He has not been charged with any crime.
The Army statement said an investigating officer will recommend whether the men should face court-martial or administrative punishment, or whether charges should be dismissed.