Rape victim: Retaliation is prevalent in military

SAN DIEGO — Stacey Thompson had just been stationed at a Marine Corps base in Japan when, she said, her sergeant laced her drinks with drugs, raped her in his barracks and then dumped her onto a street outside a nightclub at 4 a.m.

The 19-year-old lance corporal was not afraid to speak up.

She reported it to her superiors, but little happened. She said she discovered her perpetrator was allowed to leave the Marine Corps and she found herself, instead, at the center of a separate investigation for drug use stemming from that night. Six months later, she was kicked out with an other-than-honorable discharge, which means she lost her benefits.

Now, 14 years later, she has decided to speak out again, emboldened by the mounting pressure on the Pentagon to resolve its sexual assault epidemic.

She went public with her story Thursday in an exclusive interview with The Associated Press and spoke Friday at a news conference with U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D.-Calif., ahead of this week’s Senate hearing.

“To see that what happened to me 14 years ago is still continuing to happen now, for me that was a big reason why I felt the need to come forward,” she said. “I can finally say I have the strength.”

Senator’s push

Retaliation is part of a militarywide pattern that has prevented countless cases from being reported and investigated, exacerbating the epidemic, according to victims’ advocates. A Pentagon report released earlier this month found 62 percent of sexual assault victims in the military who reported being attacked say they faced some kind of retaliation afterward.

Boxer is pushing for a bipartisan bill that would put the cases in the hands of military-trained prosecutors and not the chain of command.

“Too many survivors of military sexual assault are afraid to report these crimes because they fear retaliation, and they don’t believe they will get justice,” she said. “They deserve a system that encourages victims to come forward knowing that the perpetrators will be brought to justice.”

Marine Corps and Navy officials declined to comment, saying they do not discuss specific cases.

‘It’s getting worse’

All branches have been scrambling to implement sexual assault prevention programs and improve their response to cases amid growing outrage over the Pentagon’s failure to stem the problem as a string of arrests and incidents of sexual misconduct continue to surface.

“It’s an ongoing problem that is not getting better, it’s getting worse, as the latest statistics out of the Pentagon show,” said Brian Purchia, spokesman for Protect Our Defenders, which has been helping Thompson.

“Unfortunately, commanders are conflicted: When a sexual assault occurs on their watch, it reflects poorly on them, and that’s why it’s shoved under the rug. The perpetrators frequently outrank the victims, which is also why there is this bias. They’re going to trust people they’ve known — not an 18- or 19-year-old just new to the service.”