Braxton Taylor
A U.S. Military Academy West Point cadet is facing 13 charges related to sexual harassment and assault against four women, according to court documents reviewed by Military.com.
The court documents detail a long string of events between December 2020 and October 2022 in which Cadet Jorge Hurtado allegedly groped cadets’ breasts, genitals and other body parts on or near the campus — all without their consent. He also faces one charge of exposing his genitals.
The case and its allegations are being prosecuted by the Army’s Special Trial Counsel amid its first year of work. Established in December, the specialized legal team is tasked with handling the Army’s most egregious criminal cases, including murder, sexual assault and domestic violence.
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“We’re confident we’ll prevail at trial,” John Buckheit, Hurtado’s attorney, told Military.com.
Hurtado is accused of touching another cadet’s breasts and genitals without her consent in December 2020. Over the next two years, he was accused of 10 more instances of touching another cadet’s genitals without consent, or touching the inner thigh or buttocks.
Hurtado is on unpaid administrative leave, and not being held in pre-trial confinement.
It was unclear why charges are coming so long after the alleged events took place. However, it’s common for victims of sexual violence to not immediately come forward, sometimes out of fear of retaliation.
Last year, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered the military service academies to address increasing reports of sexual assault after a Pentagon survey found that nearly 9% of cadets at academies, such as West Point, reported harassment or assault.
The Defense Department’s most recent data shows 21.4% of female cadets and 4.4% of male cadets reported unwanted sexual contact between 2021 and 2022. That may be an incomplete picture, because it mixes data from all of the service academies. The data also had incomplete figures on the number of respondents, in addition to gaps in the explanation of how some of the figures were collected.
Meanwhile, West Point, which sits among the most prestigious universities in the country, has recently seen a string of legal entanglements among its students and faculty.
Col. William Wright, the director of the academy’s geospatial information science program, is facing a series of charges related to sexual misconduct, providing alcohol to and drinking with cadets, and violating no-contact orders with an entire women’s sports team at the academy. He is also accused of soliciting cadets and another officer to lie on his behalf to investigators. His trial is set for October.
In April, Cadet Tyjaha Batiste pleaded guilty to eight sexual misconduct charges and was sentenced to 21 months in prison and dismissal from the service.
The news also comes after the school’s fired garrison commander, Col. Anthony Bianchi, was found not guilty on charges related to excessive drinking and driving under the influence. He was found guilty of not stopping at a stop sign at the academy ground’s entrance.
Related: Fired West Point Garrison Commander Found Not Guilty on Drunk Driving Charges
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