Sex Assault

WASHINGTON — Military recruiters across the country have been caught in a string of sex-crime scandals over the past year, exposing another long-standing problem for the Defense Department as it grapples with a crisis of sexual assault in the ranks.

WASHINGTON  -- The sexual battery arrest of the Air Force officer who led the service's Sexual Assault Prevention and Response unit underscores how far the Defense Department has to go in addressing the plague of sexual crimes in the military, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee said Tuesday.

ARLINGTON, Va. — An Air Force officer who led the branch’s Sexual Assault Prevention and Response unit has been charged with groping a woman in a parking lot.

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- The family of a girl who committed suicide after she was sexually assaulted and a photo of the act was shared in text messages said Monday the three 16-year-old boys responsible were sober when the assault happened.

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Eight days after allegedly being sexually battered while passed out at a party, and then humiliated by online photos of the assault, 15-year-old Audrie Pott posted on Facebook that her life was ruined, “worst day ever,” and hanged herself.

OGDEN — The ripple effects from federal sequestration are swamping the operating budget of Your Community Connection, forcing the service center to turn away potential victims of abuse.

The federal across-the-board cuts, known as sequestration, have reduced the YCC’s 2012-13 fiscal year operating budget by about $79,000. The YCC’s annual operating budget is approximately $1.2 million, but demand for services for abuse victims is up, said YCC Director Julee Smith.

Two federal grants the YCC depends on — the Victims of Crime Act grant and the Violence Against Women Act grant — were reduced by sequestration, she said.

WEST WENDOVER, Nev. -- A 37-year-old Nevada man wanted for an alleged sexual assault in West Wendover more than 15 years ago has been arrested thanks to an anonymous tip to police that the suspect was back in the town on the Utah line.