A U.S. Army recruiter from the Greeley-Evans area was in jail today, after his arrest on allegations that he sexually assaulted a woman he was trying to enlist, Fort Morgan authorities said.
Sgt. Louis Chapa, 27, was arrested on Feb. 14 and booked into Morgan County Jail where he remained on $150,000 bond, Sheriff James Crone said.
The arrest stems from an alleged assault of a woman in her 20s, Crone said, who was sexually assaulted at her home on Feb. 3.
Crone said the woman’s family contacted the Army a short time after the incident, but that the Army didn’t pass the case along for more than a week.
“The family notified the army on the 5th, thinking that because it was army personnel that had to go through military,” Crone said. “On the 14th the Army notified them that they needed to call civilian law enforcement.”
Maj. Charles Mocilac, chief executive officer of the Denver Recruiting Battalion, which oversees recruiting in Colorado and parts of surrounding states, would not comment about the allegations or why it took nine days to inform local authorities.
Mocilac said the Army takes “these allegations seriously” and is cooperating with local authorities.
Crone said the Army has turned over information and documents as part of the ongoing investigation. Investigators still are searching any possible witnesses in the case, he said.
The victim was going through the recruitment process, Crone said. And investigators were trying to determine why Chapa would have visited her at her home.
“We’re still in the process of trying to find out, but there was some kind of a social interaction that led up to the assault,” Crone said.
Although local authorities had not been notified immediately, the woman did seek medical attention after the alleged attack, the sheriff said.
Crone would not comment as to whether a weapon was used or about other details related to the investigation.
Mocilac said Chapa, if released from jail, would be suspended from recruiting duties and relegated to administrative work pending the results of the police investigation.
Chapa has been in the Army for three years and was assigned to a tank crew in Germany prior to being assigned to the Greeley area recruitment office, located in Evans, six months ago, Mocilac said.
Chapa is scheduled to appear in court on March 14.
Staff writer Manny Gonzales can be reached at 303-954-1537 or mgonzales@denverpost.com
