Army recruiter
in Florida charged with rape
ASSOCIATED PRESS, 15 May 2005
GAINESVILLE, Fla. - A U.S. Army recruiter accused of raping a woman who
was interested in joining the military remained in the Alachua County Jail
on $50,000 bond Saturday.
Thursday's arrest of Staff Sgt. George O. Kirkman, 40, came a day before
the Army suspended recruiting efforts after reported excesses by
recruiters trying to sign up soldiers.
Kirkman has been suspended pending the outcome of the criminal
investigation, said Ted Jones, spokesman for the Jacksonville Army
Recruiting Battalion. He may be transferred to the Army's custody on
Monday. It could not be determined if he had a lawyer.
According to Gainesville police Detective Joe Mayo, the 20-year-old woman
said she had gone to Kirkman's apartment Thursday to take a recruiting
exam on a computer. The two were
reviewing the woman's test scores and sitting on Kirkman's bed when he
raped her, according to an arrest report.
Mayo said police have no information of other allegations against Kirkman.
But police said they learned Kirkman brought other applicants to his home,
a violation of Army policy.
Kirkman started at the Gainesville recruiting station in February 2004,
Jones said. Mayo also said Kirkman was about to end his recruiting tour
and go back to another job with the military.
Friday's "stand-down" order from the Army came so commanders
could emphasize ethical conduct and "refocus our entire force on who
we are as an institution," said Maj. Gen. Michael D. Rochelle, the
chief of Army recruiting.
According to reports, a recruiter in Houston threatened a potential
recruit with arrest if he backed out of enlisting. Recruiters do not have
that authority. Also, recruiters in Colorado allegedly offered information
on fake diplomas and ways to get around drug tests and physical fitness
requirements.
http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?
Military
recruiters sexually abusing High school students
CounterRecruiter,
15
March 2005
Two weeks ago Indiana National Guardsman Sgt. Eric P. Vetesy was charged
with sexually assaulting six young women -- mostly high school students --
who he helped enlist in the military. Vetesy faces 31 counts of rape,
sexual battery, official misconduct and corrupt business influence.
Prosecutors say Vetesy assembled background information on each recruit
and was able to target those he thought most likely could coerce. He most
of the high school students during lunch breaks at school.
"These were very young women who were being recruited out of high
school classes," said Hamilton County Prosecutor Sonia Leerkamp.
"This is one of the most heinous investigations of this type that
I've ever seen, and one of the worst abuses of authority."
Vetesy is not alone.
The Indianapolis Star reported on March 1, "Nationwide, military
recruiters reportedly have been linked to at least a half-dozen sexual
assaults during the past few years, since the creation of the federal No
Child Left Behind Act. This broad education law requires, among other
things, that high schools give military recruiters greater access to
students."
The Indianapolis Star also published background information on the other
cases:
* July 2003: A former U.S. Army recruiter based in Moreno Valley, Calif.,
was sentenced to 16 months in prison for the statutory rape of a
17-year-old girl who was joining the Army. He pleaded guilty to having sex
with the girl in a back room of the Army's recruiting station and in a
government-issued sedan. The girl told authorities the sex acts happened
when the man was her recruiter. She later decided not to join the Army.
* January 2004: A former Marine recruiter in the Baltimore area who was
convicted of fondling a teenage recruit was sentenced to probation and
ordered to seek counseling. The judge was quoted: "You may have
misinterpreted the actions of an outgoing, flirting teenager. She was a
kid. You were her recruiter. You were her mentor. She looked up to you.
She may have worshipped you from afar, but that doesn't mean she intended
to act on it or wanted you to act on it."
* May 2004: A 34-year-old Marine recruiter in Blooming Grove, N.Y., was
charged with six counts of rape, accused of having sex several times with
a 16-year-old girl who wanted to enlist. The school superintendent said
the man apparently got to know the student while recruiting at
Washingtonville High School.
* June 2004: A military jury sentenced a Marine Corps recruiter to five
years in prison for raping a 17-year-old high school student in a
Riverside recruiting office. The recruiter asked the teenager, who was
interested in joining the Corps and was participating in an after-school
Marine exercise program, to enter a back room at the recruiting station,
where he raped her, the girl testified.
* November 2004: An Army recruiter in Riverside, Calif., was arrested on
suspicion of having sex with two 17-year-old Paloma Valley High School
students. The 24-year-old recruiter was charged with four felony counts of
having sex with and giving alcohol to minors. He met the two girls at an
Army recruiting seminar at the high school.
|