Army Probing Claims of Sex Crimes by Instructors

U.S. Army investigators are looking into allegations that three male instructors at an Army training center in Darmstadt sexually assaulted or harassed female students, a newspaper reported Monday.

Stars and Stripes, the unofficial U.S. military newspaper, said authorities are looking into allegations of rape, sodomy, cruelty and maltreatment of subordinates.

The Army instructors, who were not identified, have been removed from their jobs at the training center, the newspaper said.

The training center is a two-week school attended by soldiers assigned to the 233rd Base Support Battalion in Darmstadt, south of Frankfurt, or from attached units. The school has about 30 students at a time and instructors are usually noncommissioned officers, Stars and Stripes reported.

The newspaper said it learned of the allegations from Darmstadt military police documents.

Two women students claimed that on Dec. 27 they were drinking at a military club and agreed to go with two instructors to another club. Instead, they went to the room of one of the instructors.

One of the women had consensual sex with one of the instructors but has accused him of sodomizing her despite her objections.

The other woman says she slept, then awoke to the other instructor “engaging in sexual intercourse” with her. That woman also alleges she was forcibly sodomized.