Midshipmen Charged
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) - The U.S. Naval Academy has charged three midshipmen - all current or former football players - with sexually assaulting a female student at an off-campus house in Annapolis more than a year ago.
The military college said in a news release Wednesday that the male midshipmen are being charged with two violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. One charge involves rape, sexual assault or other sexual misconduct. The other is for making a false official statement.
The academy did not identify the three male students, and it was not immediately clear if they have an attorney.
Two of the students were football players this past season, but they are not on the team anymore. Another is still on the team, but he has been suspended pending the outcome of the case.
The nation's military academies have struggled for years with sexual assault and harassment allegations.
Senator Mikulski
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) - Sen. Barbara Mikulski has called on the nation's defense secretary to increase oversight and accountability of military service academy superintendents in response to increasing rates of sexual assaults.
Mikulski wrote to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel in a letter made public Wednesday that she is "deeply troubled by the lackluster response from the superintendents to increasing rates of sexual assault within their academies."
Mikulski, D-Md., is a member of the U.S. Naval Academy's Board of Visitors, which acts as a board of trustees does at a civilian college.
Vice Adm. Michael Miller, the Naval Academy's superintendent, announced this week he has decided to send the cases of Navy football players accused of sexual assault to Article 32 proceedings, which are held to determine if there is evidence to hold a court-martial.
