A lieutenant colonel at the Air Force District of Washington at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland is scheduled to face a court-martial in February on three charges, including rape.

According to a charge sheet provided by the district, Lt. Col. Humphrey Daniels III allegedly raped an unidentified civilian woman at or near Minot, North Dakota, on or about July 14, 1998, which would be a violation of Article 120 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

Daniels is also facing a charge of dereliction of duty in violation of Article 92 of the UCMJ. The charge sheet said Daniels allegedly negligently failed to protect classified information by taking classified materials to his home and leaving them unattended.

Humphrey Daniels

Lt. Col. Humphrey Daniels III
Photo Credit: Air Force

And Daniels faces five specifications of violating Article 133 of the UCMJ, or conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman. According to the charge sheet, Daniels allegedly lied to police detectives from Fairfax County, Virginia, four times on December 16, 2014 -- by falsely claiming he didn't go into an unnamed person's backyard a week earlier, by falsely claiming he couldn't give the detectives his official email address, by falsely claiming he was not in an unnamed major's neighborhood on that day, and by falsely claiming he was questioned for two hours at Andrews that day.

The fifth specification of conduct unbecoming is for allegedly misrepresenting to a colonel the basis for his request to be placed on emergency leave, the charge sheet said.

In a statement, Daniels' attorney, David Sheldon, said the officer is innocent.

"The sexual assault allegation stems from an encounter that occurred almost two decades ago when he was serving at Minot Air Force Base, Minot, North Dakota as a second lieutenant in the 91st Missile Wing," Sheldon said. "The allegation was investigated and dropped at that time. Lt. Col. Daniels is innocent and he is confident that he will be fully exonerated at trial."

According to the docket on the Air Force Judge Advocate General's website, Daniels' general court martial will begin at Andrews on Feb. 22 and is expected to end March 3.

In an email Tuesday, AFDW spokesman Lt. Col. Brus Vidal noted that the charges are only accusations, and that Daniels is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

Stephen Losey is the air warfare reporter for Defense News. He previously covered leadership and personnel issues at Air Force Times, and the Pentagon, special operations and air warfare at Military.com. He has traveled to the Middle East to cover U.S. Air Force operations.

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