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Pope airman who claimed gang rape faces trial

An airman at Pope Air Force Base, N.C., who says she was gang-raped by three other airmen is now facing charges of indecent acts.

If convicted, Airman 1st Class Cassandra Hernandez could face up to one year in prison, forfeiture of two-thirds of her pay and allowances for one year and a bad-conduct discharge. Her lawyers say she would also have to register as a sex offender, although an Air Force spokesman refuted that.

Hernandez’s court-martial is scheduled for Sept. 24.

The 20-year-old airman, a member of the 43rd Operations Support Squadron, claims she went to a party on May 12, 2006, in a dormitory room on base, got drunk and was later gang-raped in another dorm room.

One airman was initially charged with rape, but the charges were dropped when Hernandez later declined to testify at the airmen’s Article 32 hearing.

Hernandez said she decided not to testify because she was emotionally traumatized and wanted to move on with her life.

But then the three airmen and Hernandez were all referred for nonjudicial punishment on charges that they willingly participated in indecent acts.

The three other airmen accepted the Article 15, but Hernandez declined the Article 15 because, she said, she did not want to admit to indecent acts when, in fact, she was raped.

She instead requested trial by court-martial.

Officials at Pope did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the case, but they are expected to release a statement.

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