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Alleged rape by colonel detailed at Article 32

SHEPPARD AIR FORCE BASE, Texas — Air Force prosecutors charging a senior officer with a string of thefts and sex crimes — including the alleged rape of a civilian office worker in plain view of an office hallway — revealed more of their case in a judicial hearing Monday.

Col. Samuel Lofton III, relieved last May from commanding the 82nd Training Group, is accused of rape, stealing more than $10,000 from the Air Force, four counts of sexual assault, two counts of dereliction of duty and absence without leave. An Article 32 hearing, which began Monday, will determine whether he stands trial for the crimes that allegedly began in late 2005 and continued until spring of 2007.

Attorneys cross-examined two women accusing Lofton of sex crimes. Both of them are civilian Air Force employees — one of them an employee of more than 30 years — and both worked in the same building as Lofton. The Air Force Times does not name alleged victims of sexual assault.

In each alleged sexual assault scenario, Lofton approached the women one-on-one after most of the other workers had left, started with small talk and then placed one of their hands on his trousers, where they felt his erect penis.

One of his alleged victims told Air Force attorneys and an investigating officer that she saw Lofton behind a partition on April 5, 2007, as she was leaving her office. He rounded the side and she saw his erect penis poking through his Battle Dress Uniform trouser buttonhole, the woman said.

She insisted on leaving, the woman said, but Lofton replied, “This will only take a minute.”

Lofton, she alleged, bent her over, pulled her skirt up and raped her. He later asked for her torn pantyhose as a souvenir, she told the attorneys.

The two continued to see each other in the hallway, she said, and Lofton exchanged professional pleasantries as if nothing happened.

Prosecutors also raked through at least $10,000 in travel vouchers and receipts filed by Lofton. They claim he frequently received Air Force reimbursements for trips he didn’t take and would instead travel to other locations.

When confronted in May about the mismatched travel filings, Lofton told Special Agent Amy Bumgarner with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations that he was going through a divorce and had to rely on his service-issue credit card to get by, she told attorneys.

“He said he knew it was wrong,” Bumgarner said, “but his children were not going to go without.”

DISCUSS: The charges