WASHINGTON — The U.S. Naval Academy is investigating allegations that three football team members sexually assaulted a female midshipman at an off-campus house more than a year ago, a Pentagon spokesman said Friday, and a lawyer for the woman says she was “ostracized” on campus after she reported it.
The Pentagon did not make public the names of the players, and the school’s athletic director referred questions to a Naval Academy spokesman, who said the Annapolis military college’s leaders were monitoring the investigation.
Navy criminal investigators have concluded their work and submitted a report with additional corroborating evidence to Naval Academy Superintendent Michael Miller, who closed an investigation into the same allegations last year without charges, said Susan Burke, a lawyer for the female midshipman.
“The entire (Naval Academy) community knows about this,” Burke said in an interview.
The nation’s military academies have struggled for years with sexual assault and harassment allegations, and a string of sexual assault cases has drawn attention in Congress and at the Pentagon and The White House.
Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the chiefs of each military branch are scheduled to testify next week at a Senate hearing, and President Barack Obama raised the problem of sex assaults in the military while recently delivering the Naval Academy commencement ceremony address.
Pentagon spokesman Army Col. Steve Warren confirmed the investigation of the midshipmen Friday but said he had no further details. He said academy officials are evaluating options for adjudicating the case.
The alleged assault occurred in April 2012 at an off-campus house in Annapolis. According to Burke, the woman woke up with bruises after a night of drinking and later learned from friends and social media that three football players were claiming to have had sex with her while she was blacked out.
